One Universe within your Hands
by Medigo
Summary: In a kingdom dedicated to the art of games, tradition led to the outbreak of a new card game. Both mortals and immortals alike seek to reach the pinnacle of the human race. The day of games heralds huanity's end, or humanity's revival.
1. 001: Day of Games

**ACT 01: FOUNDATION**

**Mark 001: Day of Games  
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_Today was not just another ordinary day, this day came only once a year. It was on May the 31st that the entire country celebrated the birthday of their first lord, a man that had inspired many once. Though that position had long since been abandoned, and through several centuries of changes only the original tradition remained. This day was a holiday for all countrymen, a day of games and joy. As the lord was known by all as 'the king of games' due to his love for sports and puzzles, this day was called 'the Day of Games'. Not the most original of names, but such was its charm. And as such many events were hosted around this time of the year, growing more and more organized each time. And now in 2011, a well-known company had decided to sponsor a tournament, bringing something to the table which had not been used on such a large scale before. The theme of the day was a specific card game which shared its name with the former lord; a worldfamous phenomenon known as 'Yu-Gi-Oh'._

_And this day would not just be another 'day of games', this was just a prelude.._

For this tournament large sections of cities in the four corners of the country were sectioned off, only the chosen could go beyond the set up borders. They called themselves duelists, gamers that specialized in the card game. Few could resist the competition; the rate was like a hundred for every passing hour. So naturally one arriving a bit later than usual would expect to see a thriving near-chaotic gathering of gamers in the middle of a duel. Yet when one such latecomer showed up at the perimeters, there was not a sound or shade on the horizon. There weren't even any guards standing at the entrance anymore.

"Reliable security set up here.. Did they run out of manpower?"

The man, a redheaded youngster who couldn't be any older than 20, spoke out loud as if he wanted to bait the unseen guardsmen. To no avail, as the only noise heard were his own echoes. _"I suppose I can check myself in." _He did not feel the need to bother with looking for them or ask around. Instead he took out two packs of cards from his trenchcoat and slid them across one of the card readers installed along the perimeter. You couldn't enter this tournament with illegal or forbidden cards after all. Both his decks checked out and he went on his way, entering the quiet parts of this city. That was the curious thing about this tournament; every registered duelist was invited and received an personal keycard. Yet that was all the information given, once you were inside you had to seemingly figure out the rest by yourself.

He would not have it any other way..

Still this silence would not do, the sun was already high up in the sky and he had games to win. "Might as well..." Next he placed down his bag and took out a device, a technological shield that could be strapped to his wrist. But before he could even put it on, his attention was drawn by another. "You..are a duelist?" At last another face, a young man who had a similar device attached to his arm. "Please, duel me. I need one last chance." The latecomer stared at this character, and noticed something was out of place. "Your dueldisk is black." He pointed at the disk, whose highlights were blacked out as if the thing was out of batteries "No. Its just a glitch, I am still in the game.." He whined and shook his head. "Oh? Then show me your card." But the readhead did not buy into that excuse. "What? I.." And the other flinched. "I lost it somewhere. It's all so unfair, you have to believe me!" He could not produce his own ID-card, which could only mean one thing. "So that's how you get eliminated. Heh. Thanks for telling me." He smirked and turned around. "No. Come back, I have to win! The prize, I.." And all those pleas fell on deaf ears, for he could gain nothing from those duelists who had lost everything.

Walking through the desolate streets, the young man thought about his options. _"So its these cards I need. I wonder how many.." _He noticed now that his name was not actually on it. All it had was a series of numbers, a code perhaps? Either way he needed to find a proper duelist, before more improper ones got in his way. And for a second he thought he saw one in the corner of his eye. [i]"What?"[/i] But what he saw disappeared before he could get a good look at it. If this was someone's idea of toying with him, they would not get away with it. Whoever that was he or she could only have gotten out of his sight by crossing the bridge nearby, so that was where he headed for. "I would not go that way if I were you." Until another voice intruded. "Says who?" And this time he turned to see an actual challenger. "Heya. The name's YQ." Behind him stood a kid who looked to be a few years younger than him, wearing an almost uniform-like shortsleeved coat along with, oddly, a captains hat. "I was just warning you..."

"Across that bridge are just more Zero's; duelists who have lost all their key-cards and disk-save files." The latecomer noticed he was holding on to a suitcase. "I see.. so I take it you are a duelist too. And YQ stands for..?" He asked as he pulled out a paper sheet, which held a list of names. "What? No thanks? Well if you must know, its short for Yale Quincy." He sighed. "It's a long story but suffice it to say that I never got into..and hey.. are you listening?" The redhead seemingly ignored him in favor of finishing the list. "You aren't on here." He put it back in his coat. "But I registered..I think." Yale replied without too much confidence. "It is not that kind of list. Look, I appreciate the tip but I need to be dueling elsewhere." He said as he tried to walk away again. "Oh I think you will see things differently." But instead the disk suddenly came to life, so to speak. All lights turned on and all screens gave off data. "This is a dueling hotspot, and two duelists have met eye to eye. We have to face each other now, Urizen.."

Urizens LP: 8000 YQ's LP: 8000

"My name, how did you.." His eyes widened with surprise. "Easy, look at your disk." YQ pointed at the device, which displayed his name and lifepoints. "Oh, right." Urizen grumbled, it had been a while since he used one of these. "Consider this your thanks." Yale opened the suitcase to reveal an equally active dueldisk, into which he placed one of his decks. "Hmph. You know more about the rules than I do." Urizen inserted one of his two decks as well. "Indeed. Did you guess yet, what's on stake?" His opponent nodded and showed the key-card. "Good. I knew you'd have at least one. These dueldisks do not work anymore once you lose them all." He in turn revealed his collection. "Five of them?" Urizen was stunned to see he had this many and yet needed more. "From what I have heard, six is the limit. So if I beat you. I am in the clear." Their decks were shuffled by their disks. "What do you say, wanna bet one for one or take an extra risk?" YQ drew his five cards. "A risk eh? Like betting 2 cards instead of one? That sounds fine by me." So did Urizen. "Very well, if you win I will gave you of my 2 key-cards. But If I win.. you will need to answer a question of mine. Either way I shall start us off!"

YQ drew a sixth card. "Behold Virtual magic! I summon Morphtronic Celphon!" He placed one of his cards on the front slot row, and beams of light emerged from the device and the walls around them. "Because we are in a dueling hotspot, the disk can produce three-dimensional holograms!" On the streets appeared a mobile phone, which quickly transformed to reveal its robotic true self(100/100). "You use Morphtronics?" Urizen knew these cards as a series of miniature transformer machines, that remained morphed as long as they were in defense mode. "So.. one does not impress you. Then let's add triple it!" He played a spell card from his hand next. "Machine Duplication, since Celfon is a machine with less than 500 attackpoints." He was about to explain. "I know what it does, it will summon two more. You even implied as much." But Urizen knew enough about the game to grow impatient with explanations.

"In a rush?" Two more unmorphed Celfons(100/100) appeared from the deck. "Dice app, go!" Suddenly a hologram of a dice appeared. "Celfon picks up cards from the deck, equal to the number of the die roll. And since I have three." Three dies were rolled. "You have an addon just for dice mechanics?" Urizen was surprised they even built those. "Everyone who is up to date, does!" He replied enthusiastically as the results came in. "Three. Five. Two!" He picked up the cards. "If there are Morphtronics among these, I can summon them." Each time he had at least one morphtronic among the pick-ups. "Ugh" So three more were summoned, first came a robot morphed into a magnet(800/800) and an demorphed lighter robot(1200/600). "I will use Morphtronic Datatrons demorphed effect!" The lighter activated its flame. "I tribute a morpher to inflict 600 damage to my enemy!" The Celfon that summoned it was sacrificed and the virtual flames hit Urizen dead on. "Tsk." Finally the third Celfon special summoned a defending Boombox(1200/400)

Urizens LP: 7400

"My turn." He drew a card. "Quite the army of scraps you have there. Now its time to show you my monsters." He activated a field spell, the holograms going as far as to display a large tomb. "Mausoleum of the Emperor." With this card he did not need to tribute cards to tribute summon. "I pay 1000 LP twice, to summon a level 7 monster: Darkness Destroyer!" A winged demon(2300/1800) with claws all over its black hide appeared. "I choose to kill Celfon!" One of its claws stretched out towards the mobile phone morpher. "Then I activate Morphtronic Boomboxens morphed effect! It can negate an attack against a morphtronic once a turn!" The Boombox however pushed the claw away with loud music. "But Destroyer can attack twice a turn!" The demon unleashed its second claw. "Then I use Morphtronic Magnen! It can intercept any attacks!" The claw was magnetically drawn towards the Magnet robot, which was crushed easily. "Hmph. Even if that Magnet was in defense mode, you will be hurt. This demon inflicts piercing damage."

Urizens LP: 5400 YQ's LP: 6500

"Ah." YQ looked on his dueldisk and read the effects of the Destroyer on a holo-panel, another feature Urizens disk did not have. " Yeah.. Ouch, you got me." YQ congratulated him. "Save it for after the game." He placed two trap cards face down on the field. "Its your turn." Yale liked to hear that. "Oh boy. First I reuse Datatron!" The lighter machine sacrificed itself this time, doing another 600 damage to Urizen. "And now.. Time for another round of tele-communication." The remaining Celfons reactivated their effects, the die landing on three and five. Again he picked up two morphers to special summon. "Come out: Radion and Boarden!" This time the robots were a radio(1800/900) and a skateboard(1300/1800) in disguise. "Wait a second. Since when are those things so strong?" Urizen noticed that not only they, but also the initial morphtronics had grown stronger (Celfons: 900/100, Boomboxen: 2000/400). "That is this guy's effect." YQ pointed at the Radion hologram. "It boosts all morphtronics by 800 points while it's unmorphed."

Urizens LP: 4800

"But that's not as cool as Boardens effect." He smirked as he unmorphed the Boombox into its attack position. "What does it do?" Urizen asked as Yale entered his battle phase. "It allows me to attack directly with all morphtronics!" He yelled as the five machines joined together on the jetpowered board and skated off towards their opponent, driving around Darkness Destroyer entirely. "Boomboxen can attack twice, so you will lose 8900 lifepoints in this one turn!" They were about to crash into Urizen when he flipped his trap. "Fiendish Chain!" Chains appeared from the ground, which ensnared Morphtronic Radion(1000/800). "Your radio robot is trapped, and its powers are sealed!" The rest of the attackforce lost its attackboosts (Celfons: 100/100, Boarden: 500/1300, Boomboxen: 1200/400), so their combined strikes did not finish off Urizen. "You had a trap prepared? Then why didn't you use it on Boarden?" Yale questioned his decision, since chaining Boarden down would have prevented all attacks rather than just weakening them.

Urizens LP: 1700

"Well in any case. I discard Gadget Driver to use its effect." He discarded a screwhead machine, which twisted all morphtronics into defense position. "Getting worried I see." Urizen guessed he feared Destroyers counterattack. "Yes but, when Boarden is in defense mode, no Morphtronic can die. So either way, you can not kill my army before the next turn." He placed a trap card and ended his turn. "Is that so?" He drew a card. "This guy disagrees." And payed another 1000 LP. "You're lowering your life even more?" This time he tribute summoned a level 6 demon, an insectoid fiend with large claws on its shoulders(2200/2000). "Gaap, the Divine Soldier. Show him how powerless his army is.." This demon glared at the morphtronics, and his aura alone was enough to switch them back to attack position. "What?" That was Gaaps first power, to lock all monsters in an attacking position. "Now your moombox and skateboard's protective effects are inactive." YQ realized now why Radion had been chained down, so that it could not boost the attackpoints of its allies anymore. "You intend to finish me off on this turn, but you still lack points." He activated another application on his dueldisk, a calculator. "You need at least 400 more attackpoints.."

Urizens LP: 700

"I have 600.." Urizen answered with a smirk of his own. "Oh no." And Yale saw it now on his holo-panel, Gaaps second effect. "I reveal 2 fiend-type monsters in my hand to boost Gaaps power by 300 for each card." The two last cards in his hands were shown; Sangan and Phantom of Chaos. "You leave me no choice!" His last resort was activated. "Trap card: Morphtronic Mix Up! I target two of your monsters when I.." But he did not even get the chance to explain the cards effect. "Dark Illusion." Urizen chained with a counter trap, which destroyed any effect that tried to endanger a dark-type monster. "No way.." And his trap disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "That is the way." Urizen entered his battle phase. "Get as many little machines as you want. In the end.." Gaap(2800/2000) crushed Morphtronic Boarden, inflicting 2300 damage. "Only Power matters." And after that, Darkness Destroyer finally crushed the two phones between its claws, inflicting 4400 damage. YQ was out of life points.

YQ's LP: 0

"I win, you know the cost." They had bet on two, so he expected two. "Dang. I should have expected as much, even with your new deck." He deactivated his disk, the holograms faded away. "What is that supposed to mean?" Urizen did not like his tone, especially not from someone he defeated. "It's not what you think. But I should have expected to lose to an Artani." Urizens left eye twitched. "You knew that too, you recognized me?" YQ merely grinned. "Well not many people have a first name like that, especially a gamer. And it would be very hard to forget the name of the former national champion..."

(To be Continued in Mark 002: Unite and Conquer)

**Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Darkness Destroyer<br>Gaap, The Divine Soldier  
>Phantom of Chaos<br>Sangan

-  
>Mausoleum of the Deceased Emperor<p>

-  
>Fiendish Chain<br>Dark Illusion

**Cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Morphtronic Celfon<br>Morphtronic Magnen  
>Morphtronic Datatron<br>Morphtronic Boomboxen  
>Morphtronic Boarden<br>Morphtronic Radion  
>Gadget Driver<p>

-  
>Machine Duplication<p>

-  
>Morphtronic Mix Up<p> 


	2. 002: Unite and Conquer

**Mark 002: Unite and Conquer**

"Don't call me that." Urizen turned around. "That title has nothing to do with me anymore. Nor does the last name of Artani.." To him the name champion, or even former champion, was all in the past. "Is that why you changed your deck? I did not recognize any of the cards you used." Y.Q. however did not seem to get the hint, in fact he was holding back just how much more he wanted to ask. "I mean. I don't think they confiscate decks from former champions, as far as I know. Yet what I saw looked like a deck put together that deck from random boostpacks. Then again fiends and darkness are very close to.." And the more he spoke the more aggravated Urizen grew, until he reached his boiling point. "What part did you not get? All of that is no longer important!" He declared loudly as he took the deck from his dueldisk. "This is all I need to prove myself now. I do not need any favors, helpful tips or even directions from whatever map application you have hacked into your disk there. I will get through this tournament on my own!"

"Now hand over those two keycards already so I can be on my way." Yale finally noticed the irritation, then again it was no longer easy to miss. "Okay, I did ask for the extra risk." He handed them over, which left him with only three cards. "But don't you wanna know what I would have asked in return, if I had won? I mean you only had one keycard when we began this duel." He had never told him what Urizen was supposed to answer in case he lost. Urizen did not seem to care, not then and not now. "I did not take my defeat into consideration. If I would lose to my first opponent, I would lose everything anyway." He placed the two cards his his pocket. "Oh it was nothing special anyway. I just wanted to ask what the list was for." YQ referred to the sheet of paper he had pulled out before, the one that did not have his name on it. "It does not matter to you, since you are not on it. And unless you want to duel me again to win your cards back, you should stop following me" He turned around once more, seeing the bridge ahead. "I think that's against the rules. I tried that once but the disk froze up and... Wait you're not going to ignore my advice on purpose now are you?" Yale asked, but by now urizen was not even responding anymore and walked away.

"Dang it, hold up!" Yale followed, and after a while they reached the bridge. "I am telling ya its dangerous. I heard reports of muggings, some people are desperate enough to get the big prize to ambush others and steal their cards." This did get Urizens attention. "The prize? Is it really worth all that?" That 'zero' duelist before mentioned something like that too. "Of course it is! You do know what it is..right?" He asked, and to Yale's amazement Urizen shook his head. "You came into this, and did not know that? And you weren't willing to duel me again despite not knowing about the rule against second chances. Just what are you after?" He could not guess what else there was to this tournament besides winning. "Do not get me wrong. I want to win, but this prize is just going to be a happy bonus for me. But my victory will mean nothing to me, if I only defeat people like you." He stopped walking. "So I wont even ask you what this prize is supposed to be. Now stop following me and.." But before he could finally be alone, another voice sounded in the distance.

"Oh, at last.. someone else!"

From around the corner of a street a girl came running, a shorthaired brunette who wore the local school uniform. Although school was supposed to be closed for today. "Oh please, kind sirs. You have to help me." She finally came to a stop in front of them, catching her breath in between pleas,. "Sirs?" Urizen did not know what to make of this display. "I.. I have been.. robbed. By a zero!" She cried, tears streaming down her face. "Oh no!" YQ gasped, Urizen merely frowned. Mostly because this apparently meant Yale was right after all about this section of town. "He took my cards. And my disk too, just to rub it in! So I.. shouted for help. But nobody would come..and..but now." She certainly acted distraught, yet something felt off to Urizen. "And now you want to ask us for help. Is that it?" The girl looked up, smiling happily. "Yes I.."

"To lure us into a trap I presume." He was not smiling however. "What?" And soon neither was she. "That is the plan isn't it? You lure us with a sob story, when in fact you are just one of them. And by ambushing the two of us you can steal our cards." He looked down on her. "Am I right?" She was utterly stunned, and could not look him in the eyes. "No... I..I am not lying!" She shouted, tears still on her cheek but with more anger in her voice. "Well whatever. Take me to whoever this guy is." He shrugged. "Wait what?" This surprised Yale, who thought the trap theory sounded like it could very well be true. "Trap or no trap, if this guy is on my list in any way, I must duel him." He glared at the girl. "What is your name, by the way?" She flinched as she was still perplexed, not so much by his accusation but moreso by his decision. "Ada.. Ada Wolfram." She bowed even, as a show of gratitude. "Urizen is my name..now show me." Ada nodded excitedly. "Yes, last saw him at the park! I bet he is still just gloating and everything!" She dashed off. "Do you even know what you are doing?" Yale asked Urizen one last time. "Why do you care?" He snapped back and pursued Ada. YQ merely sighed and watched them leave.

A minute later Urizen and Ada entered park grounds. This area too was oddly empty for such a busy city and on such a busy holiday. "Aha! There he is!" She pointed at a man sitting against a tree. And immediately he caught several warning signs that basically confirmed his theory. "Heya." The man was a young dark haired boy, about the same age as Ada, but also wearing the same type of uniform as her. "Same school, same plans." He stopped moving, and so did she. "Tsk. I knew you should have hanged out of that uniform Ali." Ada sighed, the tears were gone now. "You could have done that too." 'Ali' complained as he stood up and took his dueldisk out of a large backpack. "All warfare is based on deception Ali! My uniform adds to the innocent image! The skirt alone.." Ada no longer sounded very sweet or sad either. "Hey, do you hear me complaining about that?" He yelled and turned his attention to Urizen at last. "Well, sorry about this. But you will be the last, so that's an honor right?" He laughed and activated his disk.

"So that was it, the whole trap? Just two students luring me into a park.. I am not impressed." He ." He noticed the lights on his dueldisk were on again, so this was a hotspot too. But this seemed like a lot of trouble to simply set up a duel. "You havent seen anything yet man. But if its is any consolation, we aren't Zeroes." The man showed off four keycards. "Hmm, so If you beat me, you will be through. So we're betting two cards?" He did not care either way, he was not going to run away now. "Nope. three." Ada said as she did something surprising. "What?" She took out a dueldisk, hidden under some grass and leaves, and activated it. "We're going to win together, we the prime members of the North Academy gaming club!" She revealed five keycards. "What is this, a duel royal?" Urizen wondered if this was supposed to be 1 on 1 on 1, or 2 on 1. "Fraid not." Ali took the first turn, and placed a monster in faced down defense position. "This park here is our territory, our rules apply." He ended his turn. "Guess I will find out as I play along, wont I?"

Ali's LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

He drew his cards. "I summon the Mad Archfiend!" A bone-demon(1800/0) with red hair just like Urizens showed up. "It inflicts piercing damage." The archfiend sent out a hail of bone spikes to skewer Ali's monster, a praying mantis type(1400/900). "You killed my Flying Kamikari..thanks!" The attack hurt him, but now he could use the insects effect. "I special summon a wind-element monster with 1500 attack or less." From his deck came a winged blade warrior (500/300) wearing a bird mask. "Say hi to Dragunity Tribus. He discards a dragon from my deck when its summoned." And here was where the game started to show its odd nature. "Hey." Because it was the girl who used the effect, Ada discarded a Totem Dragon. "What are you doing?" He asked as he ended his turn, the Mad Archfiend switched to defense position by its own effect. "Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight, mister Urizen. We made some modifications to the network in this region, so we can duel people like this." And she drew. "We can fool the disks into thinking that were are one player, with one field and one set of lifepoints. When in fact.." Now she summoned a monster, a lance-wielding dragon(1800/1200). "We're two.."

Ali's LP: 7100

He got it now, somehow they both had turns but shared everything else. The standard 2 on 1 rules were stripped away. "Anyway, I will face your piercer with one of mine. Attack Lancer Lindwurm!" The Lindwurm had the same ability as the archfiend, so its lance would take 1800 lifepoints away from Urizen. "Then I shall sacrifice it!" He suddenly discarded a fiend monster, Gaap the Divine Soldier, from his hand. "Huh?" At the same time the mad demon disappeared. "By tributing a demon on the field and in my hand, I can special summon Darkness Neosphere!" From his hand appeared an enormous entity, a blind redhaired devil/angel hybrid(4000/4000) in defense mode. "Jesus almighty, that thing's attackpower is through the roof!" Ali took a step back just to see him in its entirety. "Calm down. You know what you must do." She said as she called off her attack. "I set two cards in the magic/trap zone and end my turn." Then another nasty surprise followed. "I draw!" Ali's turn followed right after hers. "Bring it then!" Urizen refused to let this get to him.

But his powerful monster would not be able to comfort him for long, a small bird holding a sphere(100/100) appeared. "I summon and activate the effect of Transforming sphere!" The sphere opened up as Ali discarded a card from his hand. "I can absorb a defending monster!" And it sucked up all of Darkness Neosphere. "No!" The powerful demon was now merely fuel for Transforming Sphere's own attackpoints (4100/100). "Heh, a sphere absorbed by a sphere. Anyway..Direct attack!" He did not hesitate to strike with it, and the bird bombarded Urizen with its now darkened orb. "Grr. I know what that monster does. Neosphere returns to me during the endphase. And besides.." he activated yet another monster effect. "You are only strengthening my side." When he took battle damage he could summon Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness(2700/1500) from his hand. "Oh dear." At the same time Gorz would create a token, whose attack was equal to the damage his master had suffered. Next to the male envoy came the female envoy Kaien(4100/0). "Is it my turn yet?" He asked with a smirk.

Urizens LP: 3900

"Nah.." Ali chuckled and took the Kamikari card out of his graveyard, along with Transforming Sphere and Tribus from his field, which destroyed Neosphere in the process. "By banishing three monsters, one dead and two living, I can special summon The Atmosphere!" The trio of wind beings merged together to form a greater winged beast(1000/800), also holding a sphere. "It can absorb monsters too, but does not require a discard or the monster to be in defense position!" The sphere sucked up Gorz immediately (Atmosphere: 3700/800). "But I still have the token, whose attack is greater!" He growled as the turn passed back to him at last. "Doomcaliber Knight!" He summoned the skeletal horseman(1900/1800). "_If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him." _But Ada apparently had a trap ready. "Spiritual Wind Art- Miyabi. The sacrifice of a wind-elemental will send a monster back to the deck." She tributed Lindwurm for the trap to remove Kaien from the field. "No!" He planned to kill their two remaining monsters with his, but now he could kill neither. "Ggh. I set a trap and end my turn." He just could not keep up with two duelists. "Hey what is going on?" But by now Yale showed up in the park as well. "You're still following me?" Urizen could not believe it.

"Oh its you." Ada smirked. "Who is that guy?" Ali asked. "Nobody to worry about." She said casually and entered her turn. "A double team trap? I should have known. But I can even the score." He proclaimed as he tried to activate his dueldisk. "What?" Only to find out that he could not connect. "Good luck with that. We protected our modified hotspot well, nobody else can log in once we start a game." She then activated the effect of a dragon in her grave. "I revive Totem Dragon." The totemic one could be special summoned if one only controlled dragons in a graveyard, her grave was still separate from Xaviers. "Tsk." But this meant Doomcaliber would be forced to use its effect; sacrificing himself to stop another monsters ability. "Bye bye." The demon horseman and dragon both sank back into the grave. "Twinheaded Behemoth, go!" Then a two-headed dragonoid(1500/1200) was summoned which pelted directly Urizen with a double fire burst. "Finish him off, Xavier. If you do, you wont have to carry our backpack for a week!" Her turn was over.

Urizens LP: 2400

"I like that prize, but the other prize is.." He wanted to draw, but the disk would not let him. "..just as good?" He looked to his left. "Hey!" And saw YQ drawing instead. "How did he.." The student pair were stunned, he managed to enter the duel after all? "Celphon!" He must have, because the cards he played turned into holograms. "Dice roll!" The celphone morpher(100/100) rolled a two, and Yale managed to pick up a morphtronic from his deck. "Radion!" He special summoned the radio machine, who boosted his monsters power (Celphon: 900/100, Radion: 1800/900). "Oh and before I forget. I activate the spell card: Morphtronic Accelerator." He sent Morphtronic Datatron from his hand back to the deck. "To destroy a monster on the field and draw a card." The accelerator released an energy beam that blew up the Atmosphere and its prisoner. "How did you!" She asked loudly as he entered the battle phase. "Oh it was easy." Radion destroyed the Behemoth with its cord, Celphon attacked directly. "Once I knew how you hacked this spot, I copied the trick."

Ali's LP: 5900

(To be Continued in Mark 003: Double Take)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Mad Archfiend<br>Darkness Neosphere  
>Gorz the Emissary of Darkness<br>Doomcaliber Knight

**Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Flying Kamikari<br>Dragunity Tribus  
>Lancer Lindwurm<br>Totem Dragon  
>Twinheaded Behemoth<p>

-  
>Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi<p>

**Cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>Transforming Sphere<br>The Atmosphere

**New Cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Morphtronic Accelerator<p> 


	3. 003: Double Take

**Mark 003: Double Take**

Urizens LP: 2400 Ali's LP: 5900

"This is your fault!" Ada snapped at her partner in crime. "How do you figure?" He snapped back at her with equal volume. "'If his forces are united, separate them!' I thought you said these modifications would keep everyone out! What kind of programmer are you!" They were apparently fuming about YQ's sudden intrusion into their duel. "Oh would you rather have set this up with that guy Blake, or whoever else you tried to rope into this scheme?" He in turn almost felt sorry for breaking through such an elaborate trap. "Kids, kids. Calm down. I merely copied your coding to force my way into this duel. Thats all." He pointed at his blacked out lifepoint meter, the same as Ada's displays. "I fooled the system too now, Urizen and me are the same player in a way." He ended his turn by setting two trap cards face down. "Ah finally someone that appreciates my skills." Ali smirked as he drew a card. At the same time Ada's Twinheaded Behemoth(1000/1200) revived itself with its own effect. "In this case, you will lose alongside your friend here."

"He is not my friend." Urizen protested. "Whatever. I summon Garuda, by removing The Atmosphere in my graveyard from play." Garuda, the Wind Spirit(1600/1200) could be special summoned by banishing a dead wind elemental. "Then I sacrifice it and the Behemoth." He tribute summoned a level 8 monster, a glowing four-winged golden bird(2900/2000). "Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry." And it immediately unleashed a fierce virtual storm across the park. "Ggh. When its tributes have all been of the wind element, two monsters are returned to the players hands." Urizen knew about it's effect and what it would be used on. "This is the end for you both." Yale's morphtronics were sent back to his hand, leaving both players defenseless. "Direct attack!" Simorgh sent out a flurry of golden feathers. "Trap card: Morphtronic Scramble!" But YQ's trap came in time to stop it. "I can stop an attack when I have no monsters." The feathers bounced off of an invisible wall. "And special summon a morphtronic from my hand." Celphon(100/100) reappeared.

"Damn it." Urizen could no longer say he was dueling on his own, Yale had saved him twice now. "Why do you insist on helping me." He had not helped him at all, he took his keycards even. "You were outnumbered, Urizen. Your defeat would not be fair." He explained. Meanwhile Xavier placed a trap and ended his turn. "Feh. At least now this is my turn now. I set a trap card." Next he summoned a new demon, a shapeless ghost(0/0). "Phantom of Chaos; it can copy the effects and attackpoints of a monster in my graveyard." The Phantom rearranged its own form, imitating the great demon Darkness Neosphere in every way except color(4000/0). "I attack Simorgh!" A blast of darkness headed for the ancestral bird. "You think attackpoints alone are enough to stand on your own?" Ada sneered and activated her second trap: Half or Nothing. "Gah." He now had to either halve his monsters attackpoints, or end his battle phase. "Nothing." He chose the latter, since the former would allow Simorgh to fend off the attack and kill the weakened Phantom.

"See? 'If your enemy is in superior strength, evade him'." She drew a card and placed it down. "You sound like you keep quoting someone." Yale pointed out. "She does, doesn't she? That's what you get when you are also president of the book club." Ali laughed. "Its from the Art of War, you illiterate. I told you that, how many times?" She revived Totem Dragon(400/200) once more. "Yeah.. But I just don't see how that applies to this game." Xavier shrugged. "Every duel is war. Thats a quote of my own." She summoned a level 5 monster, a shield-carrying whip wielding birdman(2200/1600). "Wait you did not tribute.." YQ quickly checked the scanner on his disk. "Ah.. Because Simorgh reduces the tribute requirements by one for all wind monsters." So her level 5 became a level 3 monster. "Yes and my Dragunity Primum Pilus here has enough power to end this. Especially with its effect. It can equip one dragunity monster unto a winged beast when summoned." Primum Pilus chose itself and gave itself Dragunity Brandistock, which transformed into a pole-weapon. "And to make sure he does.." Xavier suddenly activated his one trap card; Icarus Attack. "Not that trap card!" YQ didn't need his disk to know what that did.

"Oh yes. I tribute a winged beast, to destroy 2 cards!" Simorgh was offered. "I choose your two face down cards, mister Urizen." She grinned as lightning came down from above. "You intend to kill me by attacking a now powerless Phantom. This time, I will not let you!" He activated one of the traps however. "Dark Spirit Art - Greed! I tribute the dark monster: Phantom of Chaos, to draw two cards!" This trap could be negated if either opponent showed a spell in their hands, but so far neither had even played spells. "It seems your deck is mostly traps and monsters." Indeed the effect went off without a hitch and he drew twice. "So what? Your other trap still goes down, and you are unprotected." She entered the battle phase. "A monster equipped with the Brandistock can attack two times every turn. I will cleave through that Cel phone thing and then bring your life down to near zero." The winged warrior raised its dragon-weapon. "Sorry. Its my turn to protect again. I activate Morphtronic Bind." But the weapon was repelled by an energy net, emanating from Celphon. "My opponent can not attack with level 4 or higher monsters as long as I control Morphtronics." With Simorgh dead, Primum had become a level 5 monster again. "Rats.."

Yale took his turn again. "Roll it." Celphon rolled the die, which landed on a six. "Lucky!" He picked up six cards and had plenty of morphers to chose from. "I summon Slingen!" He decided to call out a mechanical slingshot(1200/800). "I can tribute a morphtronic to destroy an opponent's card. I will sacrifice Celphon." The mobile phone robot placed itself in the sling and was launched away, straight towards Primum Pilus. "Of course I chose that card." Its chest was pierced through and the birdman collapsed. "And then I sacrifice Slingen." He could still tribute summon this turn. "To summon Gadget Hauler." In the slingshooter's place now stood a large truck(1300/0). "By discarding morphtronics from my hand, I can empower the Hauler by 800 points." He sent the Radion and another morpher in his hand into the machine's trailer. "Direct attack." The entire vehicle(2900/0) transformed into a large cannon and hit Ali with a powerful blast. "Man. Can you be the lifepoint bearer next time, Ada?" Even for a hologram that attack kinda stung.

Ali's LP: 3000

"Nonsense. 'If he is taking his ease, give him no rest'. Do not let him think that trailer of his is going to scare us." She replied as his turn came again. "I know. I know." He summoned a new winged beast, a fistfighting bird warrior(1200/800). "Dragunity Legionnaire. He can take one lowlevel dragunity monster card in the graveyard and wield it." He chose the card he had discarded two turns ago for Transforming Sphere's effect: Dragunity Aklys. "Legionnaire can then discard his equipment to destroy one face-up monster." Just as he equipped himself with a javelin-type weapon, he hurled it into the Gadget Hauler. "Furthermore when Aklys is sent from the field to the grave while it was treated as an equip card, it destroys a card too." The red dragon plowed through the Hauler, blew it to smithereens and wiped out the energy barrier from Morphtronic Bind at the same time. "Now it is about time you started taking some hits as well." Legionnaire wound up a punch and delivered it to Yale, a hit to him would weaken Urizen too. "That is it from me."

Urizens LP: 1200

"I have had enough or all these narrow escapes from defeat!" Urizen drew again, now his hand had all he needed. "Dark Creator!" And he summoned a dark monster, but not a fiend this time. "When I control five or more dark monsters in my graveyard, I can special summon this dark deity. And by letting it banishing 1 dark monster in my grave, it will revive me another." The winged dark one opened a black hole which sucked up the Phantom of Chaos card, but brought back Gorz - the Dark Envoy(2700/2500). "Destroy!" He wasted no time and the emissary used his sword to separate Legionnaire's head from the rest of its body. "Trap card!" But because Ada and Ali were still sharing a field, she could respond to this. "Liberty At Last; the consequence to killing our monster will be the removal of two of yours!" The Liberty trap targeted both Creator and Gorz, sending the two back into Urizens deck. "Just how many traps do you people have." He placed a card in the magic/trap zone and ended his turn. "We appear when we are not expected, Urizen."

Ali's LP: 1500

"A narrow escape is all that you can hope for." She added as she drew her next card and brought it out. "I sacrifice Totem Dragon for a high-level dragon, in which case the Totem will be counted for both tributes." The dragon split into two and disappeared, making room for a large armed red dragon(2600/1200). "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten; the strongest Dragunity monster." The dragon dug its claw into the grassy soil and pulled out a weapon. "It can equip itself the same way Legionnaire did." Leyvaten now brandished the Dragunity Brandistock card, so it could strike twice this turn. "And if you wanted to see a spell, here is one. Normal Spell Card: Forbidden Lance." It gained another weapon, but this one weakened it(1800/1200). "I exchange power for spell/trap immunity for this turn. Now we can't be stopped." The great red dragon readied all of its weaponry. "This begs to differ." But as the first spear reached out, a loud noise sent it back. "Battlefader!" Urizen special summoned a bell-sounding demon(0/0) from his hand, an effect that triggered when a direct attack was made and which ended the battle phase. "Ugh. You complain about us liking traps, but you keep tricks of your own in your hand." She set the last card in her hand face down.

"As you can see Yale, I did not need your Bind last turn." Urizen had drawn the fader through the Dark Spirit Art, so he was save all along. "Perhaps." He drew a card. "But we're not safe yet. I activate my spell card, Junk Box. to revive a Morpher in my grave. In this case it is Morphtronic Vacuumen." A Vacuum cleaner appeared in its defense position(0/0). "I think it is time to give you a taste of your own medicine. Vacuumen will take in your Dragunity Arma!" The cleaning machine turned on and began sucking in air. "Do not try to get poetic with me, mister Yale." But even now she could chain with her traps. "Burst Breath! I tribute Leyvaten to destroy all monsters whose defense is lower than his attack." The red dragon(2600/1200) was far superior to the defenseless battlefader and vacuum, they would certainly be destroyed by the burst. "Heh." But this was what Urizen had been waiting for all this time. "Trap Card: Nightmare Archfiends." Battlefader was sacrificed and three nightmarish demons(2000/2000) showed up. And then with little warning..

Ali's LP: 0

The game was over..

"What just happened?" Xavier hadn't been able to keep up with it all. "How did we lose lifepoints?" But she knew. "Nightmare Archfiends; you tribite a monster and give your opponent three tokens. When a token dies, its controller takes 800 damage." So before Burst Breath could resolve, three archfiend tokens with less than 2600 defense had been given to her. They died in the burst of dragonic energy and caused the student pair to lose 2400 lifepoints. "That truly was a victory for a team." Ali sounded disappointed, yet impressed at the same time. "Gah. We were so close! The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand I should have added even more traps, or spells.." Ada was just plain frustrated. "So what did you bet on anyway?" Yale asked, since he had not been around for the start of the duel. "Ehr. Three keycards. So." Ali took three of his own, since he knew Ada was not in any mood to give away hers. "Here you go." He extended his hand. "Hold it." But Urizen only took one. "Give two to him." He glared at YQ. "Huh? if that's how you wanna split it." Xavier did not mind. 'I guess you like my help after all then?" And Yale would not decline. "No. I just don't want to owe him anything. Now you can pretend you never met me even."

"This was a waste of my time either way, neither of you are on my list. But I had to be sure." He was about to turn around. "Wait you two really are not friends?" Ali was surprised, Yale had come to his rescue and all. "No. But I just did not feel like I could abandon him to an ambush, he deserves a better defeat." YQ replied, though Xavier did not get it yet. "Why? Is he supposed to be someone special?" And now Yale was surprised. "You don't know him?" The name Urizen was well known in dueling circles. "No. But then I haven't played this game until recently. I.." He stopped when he caught Ada behind him, scowling silently. "We.. started playing when rumors of the big prize hit the academy." Urizen stopped moving. "This prize." And looked at the student. "Do you people even know what it is?" Ali shrugged again. "Official statement says its a lot of money. Rumors say there is more involved, personally I would be happy with just the money." But Urizen merely rolled his eyes. "So a lot of build-up for nothing, typical."

Yet he stayed still. "Actually. I do have another question, just how many saps fell for this trap?" He was mostly curious, but had other reasons for asking this. "Us? Well we had marginal successes, avoided larger parties and friends from school. But we defeated six duelists here." He explained, retaining some pride from how they set it all up. "That's strange. Then you can't be the sole cause for all the zeroes running around near here." YQ said, though he knew that was unlikely anyway. "Oh you mean the whole disturbing quietness of the city? That was not us, no. In fact we decided to set up our game here because of him." There was a bit of a panic in his voice now. "Him?" Urizen was interested now. "Yeah, haven't you heard? He is back and at it again, eliminating every single last duelist out there... the Dueling Reaper."

(To be Continued in Mark 004: Champion Not Found)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>The Dark Creator<br>Battle Fader

-  
>Dark Spirit Art - Greed<br>Nightmare Archfiends

**New Cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Morphtronic Slingen<br>Gadget Hauler  
>Morphtronic Vacuumen<p>

-  
>Junk Box<p>

-  
>Morphtronic Scramble<br>Morphtronic Bind

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Dragunity Primum Pilus<br>Dragunity Brandistock  
>Dragunity Arma Leyvaten<p>

-  
>Forbidden Lance<p>

-  
>Half or Nothing<br>Liberty at Last  
>Burst Breath<p>

**New Cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>Garuda, the Wind Spirit<br>Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry  
>Dragunity Legionnaire<br>Dragunity Aklys

-  
>Icarus Attack<p> 


	4. 004: Champion not Found

**Mark 004: Champion Not Found**

"The Reaper. Two years ago there was a single duelist who eliminated scores of players from a large-scale tournament in the southern regions, there was not a single part of the city that he could not dominate. It took dozens to even get rid of his lifepoints, yet he kept on coming, he kept on winning. In the end none were left standing and he just disappeared. Nobody could tell who he was, since he never showed his face and the authorities could not track him down. It was a major disaster in the end, which made the general public against the very idea of Battle Cities. It took two years and a lot of money from game companies like R-Tech to even arrange this tournament right here. but as you can hear the place has gone silent once more, the reaper must be haunting north city next, haunting it until he alone is left standing... Or at least that's the story behind him." Ali's own words even sent a shiver down his spine. "I find this story unlikely." Urizen stated rather coldly. He had not heard it before because he had been too busy with national competitions at the time.

"If anything that sounds more like a player killer. It would be just like the company to send in elite players hidden among the crowds, to weed out a lot of duelists so they have less money to spend on who remains." That could explain the emptied out town as well. "Well whatever, its too scary to go out there." Ali moaned. "Though I am getting hungry. And we are out of snacks." He casted a pitiful look in Ada's direction. "We can't leave now.." She protested meekly. "But it took an hour before these guys showed up. We can't wait for another lucky encounter." They needed to find six keycards in record time. Ïf you want, you can come with us." Yale suddenly proposed, catching Urizen by surprise. "What? These two tried to hustle my cards away from me. Is there anyone you wont befriend?" He shook his head in disgust. 'There is strength in numbers, we could use their help for if a player killer or reaper does show up." He smiled, and Ali looked enthusiastic about this. "But you have to promise that you won't be hacking any other hotspots to cheat." YQ still had to draw the line somewhere. "That's cool, it takes too much time to do that again anyway. What do you say ada, shall we leave this park?" He asked cheerfully. "Fiiiine." She gave in, less cheerfully.

A few minutes later, the group of four were headed for an open square in the distance. Establishments like restaurants and cafes were still open for this holiday. "If you want to be alone, why are you still with us?" Ada asked Urizen who was taking the same street but stayed a few feet behind. "Our destinations are merely the same, open areas where one can eat and drink will obviously attract other duelists." He grumbled and looked away._ "Hey." _And then he caught something again in the corner of his eye, a black shadow disappearing behind a building. _"That again? But then it was not this girl that stalked me before." _He had at first assumed the first instance was just Ada scouting ahead. _"Feh, if the coward wont come out, he is not worthy anyway." _After that the group finally reached an appropriate location, a large market square with plenty of places to choose from. "That looks like a good spot." Ali pointed at an large cantina and ran off towards it before Ada could even give her say in the matter. "I am not paying for you!" She yelled and pursued.

Unfortunately here too there were few duelists to be found. There were only two people at the bar, a bar which did not even seem to have a link to the network. "Wait. Is that.." But before Yale could find a seat for himself, while Ali was already ordering several drinks at once, one of those two present caught his eye. "Hey is that. It is.." He stared intently at a man snoozing in a chair, both his legs resting on the table. "..It can not be." Urizen saw the similarities as well. "His clothes are shabbier yes, but I'd recognize that face from anywhere. Its Nathan Ashworth, the northern duel Ace." Ada caught wind of the conversation. "Duel Ace? What does that mean?" She put down her menu and focused on him instead. "An ace is a regional champion so to speak, one class below national champions. He won regionals here last year so that makes him the Ace of Spades, one of four aces from the four corners of the country. But then..I thought champions were deemed ineligible for this tournament." Something was off here. "That is because that's not me."

And at that point Nathan woke up, or he had been awake the whole time and only now bothered to respond. "I overheard you talking. Please.. call me Nate.. or Ash. Whichever." He stood up properly and extended a hand. "Oh.. well its a pleasure to meet you." Ada was the first to shake hands, and found herself staring at him. "You're quite handsome." Behind his unkempt hair and unshaven face was a rugged appearance she thought. "Hey, what am I? Chopped Liver?" Xavier quickly felt overshadowed. "What do you mean?" Urizen broke up the greeting. "You are not the ace after all?" And Nate shook his head. "Nope. I mean I could have been, since I won and all. But I declined the position. All those benefits are outweighed by the duties an ace also has to perform. And I.." He sat down again. "Am a lazy lazy man." He looked at Urizen again. "Hey don't I know you?" One champion would not find it hard to recognize another. But the other did not answer. "Well in any case. I did not want to miss out on this day of games because of a title.."

"Hey, maybe we should duel him." Xavier spoke up, feeling a sudden urge to prove himself. "You can't take him, Ali." Ada stated rather coldly. "Says you!" He got up from his table, but Nate stopped him before he could get too into it. "I fear you can't. Not anymore at least. And it's not that I doubt your skills." He took six keycards from his coat, cards with their codes erased. "But I am already through, I beat 5 duelists in a row just so I could take the rest of the day off. And since I checked these in at that card reader over there." He pointed at a booth installed at the center of the square. "I can not duel anyone anymore, not officially at least." Urizen turned away. "Hmph. That seems just like you, not putting your title on the line. Then there is nothing for me here after all." He started to walk away to look around.

After he left, though he mostly loitered around the area within their range of sight, Ashworth went back to his daytime nap. "Aw. I wanted to see him in action." Ada sighed, while Xavier was seething in the background. "That can be arranged." Yale sat down and pulled a laptop from his suitcase. "What are you doing?" The students asked as he logged in and went online. "His best duels are up on the dueltube. Here I will show you the one that would have made him regional champion." He started a video labeled 'North Zone Finals of 2010: Nathan Ashworth VS Kein Schiver Part 3. Apparently the previous 2 parts had already been deleted by one of the sponsors. "This other guy must be good as well." Ali pointed out that the opponent had summoned the dreaded Demise, King of Armageddon whose effect wiped out Nate's field. And Nate had few lifepoints left. "Yes, Kein was known as the greatest ritualist. But this is where the comeback started for the greatest synchronizer." Yale said, as the video showed Ashworth starting his turn.

_Nate's LP: 500 Keins LP: 5000_

_"Tuner Monster: Junk Synchron!" He shouted as he summoned an aviator-like warrior(1300/500) "It's effect allows me to summon a level 2 monster from my cemetery: Krebons!" Another monster appeared, a cyberspace psychic(1200/400). "Furthermore when a monster is special summoned, I can bring out Doppel Warrior from my hand." The third card was a black-uniformed soldier(800/800). "Synchro summon!" And he then performed a special type of summon, by adding the level 3 tuner Junk Synhron to the level 2 Doppel Warrior, a level 5 synchro exited the extra deck. "Come out Junk Warrior!" A more machine-like pilot warrior appeared(2300/1300). "When Doppelwarrior is used for a synchro summon, it will also create two tokens." The Doppler split itself into two identical warriors(400/400). "And Junk Warrior gains the attack from all level 2 or lower monsters on the field." Krebons was a level 2 along with the tokens, so Junk Warrior(4300/1300) was now stronger than Demise._

"Impressive." Ada commented in between. "This is just the tip of the iceberg."

_"That wont be enough Ashworth, all you have is Junk. Next turn I will scrap it all." The opponent sneered at his army. "Don't look ahead just yet, Schiver. I have another synchro to summon!" Krebons was a tuner too, so he tuned it with the two tokens to special summon a level 4 synchro. "What?" A mechanical claw(1800/1200) appeared. "Armory Arm. This one can equip itself to another monster and boost its attackpoints." Junk Warrior attached the claw to itself like a gauntlet(5300/1300). "And then when it destroys an opponents monster, he loses lifepoints equal to that monsters attackpoints!" He entered the battle phase and Junk Warrior blasted into the air. "No. No this can not be possible!" Kein coul only watch helplessly as the synchro barreled down on his Ritual monster and blew him up with one mighty punch. The energy released in the aftermath took away all of his lifepoints. "No!" Ashworth had won the finals, and the crowd erupted in cheers. _

"Amazing." Ada had never seen such a smooth victory. "I could have done that." Xavier muttered, even though it was hard to even afford Synchros.

"Hm?" Meanwhile, Urizen noticed someone else entering the square, a short lanky guy with greasy hair carrying around a dueldisk. He was a lively fellow though, and Urizen would have approached him, but he noticed the man already had six cards in his hand. "Damn." The man approached the booth and inserted his six cards. But.. "Argh!" His scream did not fit the attitude of a winner. "What's his deal?" The cry of outrage had even interrupted Nate's nap, for a short while. "Blasted cards!" Angrily the new guy tossed several of his cards down on the ground. Only then did he realize he was drawing attention. "What? Don't look at me like that. This thing is broken." He kicked the thing. "We did not say anything.." Yale replied softly, but this too aggravated him. "I did not make fake keycards if that is what you are suggesting!" But that thought had not entered anyone's mind. "Uhmm.." Until now. "Shoot. Forget I said that." He laughed nervously and picked the cards back up. "You forged keycards? Does anyone in this city play fair?" Yale let out a sigh.

"Wait." The kid stared at Urizen now. "You are.." And Urizen had the same feelings. "If you want to say: Urizen Artani, the national victor of 2009, then you'd be correct. And who are you?" He asked as he took his list out again. "John Gray... You're telling me you forgot my name?" He sounded insulted. "There have been many like you. But that is what this is for." He crossed out a line. "You are on here, and I do remember facing you now." On the sidelines Yale started to understand what the deal was. "Oh. His list has names of people he dueled before?" Ali and Wolfram had trouble keeping up with all the information. "Wait. That guy is a champion, a national champion?" She gasped, while he clenched his fist. "Great as if I did not feel inadequate enough yet." Urizen quickly activated his dueldisk. "This one is mine you three, stay out of it." He would have to duel him anyway, since the booth also served as a dueling hotspot, and their disks had come within range of each other. "You want to duel me again? Why?" John put the keycards back into his coat.

"I have my reasons." Urizen inserted his deck of cards. "Hmph. It is not like I hadn't wished for another chance like this. I remember how you defeated me last time."

This setup seemingly intrigued Yale, but he could not find any records of their past duel on the internet. "What happened back then?" So he had to extract it from the source. "Nothing much. I just had an amazing combo lined up to beat him. I was one of the few duelists who had a chance at one-shotting the famous Artani." He showed a card from his deck. "Machina Cannon, this card gains 800 attackpoints for each machine I discard from my hand. Through liberal usage of Gadgets, Ultimate Offerings, bouncing cards and a Limiter Removal to cap it off, I was at the peak of power. Then guess what he did.." Urizen did not say anything, and the others just waited for the answer. "Magic Cylinder. That lucky bastard had the Cylinder waiting for me, sent all that attackpower back to me and one-shotted _me _instead." He shuffled the card back into his deck and finally activated it as well. "I guess this time you want a proper game." Their lifepoints were set, they each drew their cards. "In more ways than you can imagine."

Johns LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

But in that case I do not want to to end up with any of your fake keycards. So I better hope you have at least one real card." John cringed. "I won at least one duel, you know." He wagered two keycards. "I only needed another to check the variations, after that I just used my equipment back at home where my equipment is to forge four more cards. Ah the benefits of living inside the sectioned off parts of the city." Urizen began the duel by setting one monster card face down. "You were that affraid to lose?" He wondered if his confidence was shaken up, possibly because of how easily he broke down his Machina Cannon combo. "All is fair in love and war, they say. But I did not know you were no longer the national champion, Urizen. It makes me curious about the one that finally managed to bring you down from your throne." The duelist drew his sixth card. "It does not matter who is the champion now, I left that throne on my own terms." Urizen glanced at Nathan. "Not like he did. He at least deserved his title. I..am a false king."

"But step by step, I will take the path to become a real king."

(To be Continued in Mark 005: Machinations from an Obsessed Mind)

**Past Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Demise, the King of Armageddon<p>

**Past Cards used by Nathan 'Nate' Ashworth**  
>Junk Synchron<br>Dopple Warrior  
>Nitro Synchron<br>Junk Warrior  
>Armory Arm<p>

**Past Cards used by Psyche**  
>Machina Cannon<p>

**Past Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Magic Cylinder<p> 


	5. 005: Machinations from an Obsessed Mind

**Mark 005: Machinations from an Obsessed Mind**

Johns LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"I do not know what you're talking about. But I do not mind if you are still champion or not. Because." John Gray summoned his first monster, a robotic knife-wielding armyman(1600/1500). "My Machina deck, an homage to the Ace of Diamonds, is rebuilt. This is Machina Soldier." He then special summoned another robot from his hand, a three-wheeled droid(500/400). "When its normal summoned while I control no monsters, I can special summon another Machina from my hand. Like this Machina Peacekeeper here." It was a Union type, which allowed John to combine it with his Soldier, giving it a set of wheels. "Next I activate the spell cards: Machina Armored Unit and Machina Assembly Line." Both were permanent spells, and the latter added attackpoints to all machines on the field (Machina Soldier: 1800/1500) "It strikes!" The Machina sent out its knife and cut down Urizens facedown monster. "Huh?" But as it sliced through a dark festering mess of a monster(1000/100), it split off into two. At the same time it released spores which damaged Johns lifepoints. "The Giant Germ?" He had slain the germ that summoned two more from the deck upon its destruction. "I do not remember you ever using that card before." He ended his turn. "My deck changed too."

Johns LP: 7500

"I sacrifice the two germs!" He did not waste much time when his turn started. "To tribute summon the Darkness Destroyer." Once again came the clawed abomination(2300/1800). "That one is new too.." John stated just before it struck. "Smash the soldier!" One claw slammed down hard, but machina Soldier sustained the hit, even if it did damage his controllers lifepoints. "I can save it by sending the equipped Peacekeeper to the grave." Union monsters always took the first blow for their wielders. "At the same time, when Peacekeeper is sent to the grave, I can add one Union monster to my hand." John took out a different Machine from his deck. "The Destroyer can attack twice in one turn!" The second claw was raised and this one did manage to crush the soldier. "But every time a machine is scrapped, you trigger my spells!" Assembly Line gained two counters for each destruction while Armored Unit would put together a new machine of the same element from the deck, as long as it was weaker than the destroyed machine.

Johns LP: 6500

"Scrap Recycler." He chose to summon a junkyard maintenance droid(1100/1200). "When summoned it sends one other machine to the scrapheap." He sent a Machina Sniper into the cemetery. "Then in my turn it can recycle two level 4 earth machines for one new card." The Recycler returned Sniper and Soldier into his deck, and allowed John to draw once. "And now Deus ex Machina." He had drawn a spell and he played it. "I discard one Machina from my hand, Machina Fortress, to draw two new cards." He added a monster and a very special spell to his hand. "Perfect." He summoned the Union monster he added to his hand earlier: Machina Gearframe(2000/0). Its effect allowed him to take a Machina from his deck and put it into his hand. He chose Machina Sniper. "Perfect indeed...Limiter Removal!" And then the spell came, which doubled the attackpoints of both his machines (Recycler: 2200/1200, Gearframe: 4000/0) "Already?" Urizen did not expect this, and could do nothing against the onslaught that followed. "They destroy your monster!" Gearframe kicked the Destroyer while the Recycler nearly ran over Urizen. "Tsk. You used it early..your only Limiter Removal." By now Urizen realized his opponent was not setting up for a Cannon combo

Urizens LP: 4100

_Deus Ex Machina, Normal Spell  
>Discard 1 earth-attribute machine-type monster to draw 2 cards.<br>You cannot special summon during the same turn you activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Deus Ex Machina" per turn._

"The combo you defeated so easily was too fragile anyway, like a house of cards. Now I am going to take it slow and savor the duel. I am not suicidal.." Before he ended his turn and allowed Limiter Removal's second effect to destroy his machines, he placed a trap card and used Gearframe's union effect as well, uniting it with the Recycler. "I admit I did not expect to ever see you again, because champions can not enter here. But maybe you were looking forward to this more than I was." Gearframe would then, during the endphase, sacrifice itself to save the Scrap machine from its own selfdestruction. "I wonder who else is on that.. list"

By now YQ, Ada and Xavier had closed in so they could hear more clearly. Nate meanwhile just continued his snoozing. "Do you know just how many people I defeated during my stint as King of Games?" He took out the list again. This time the others could see how long it was, and that a lot of names were already crossed out. "That is what this list is, a way for me to check who I still need to defeat and who I have already proven myself too. Some took more tries than others." They saw how some names had several marks next to them. "I entered this tournament here today because I just so happened to be closest to this city, but now that I am here I do not intend to lose either. The best on this list will undoubtedly be coming for the price as well." He was done explaining and drew a card, yet John needed more information. "But then I have to ask you.. why?" Urizens eye twitched, this was something he would rather not reveal. Not near these other people. "They wounded my pride, for two long years. This time I duel on my own.."

"Fiends Sanctuary." Urizen activated a spell, summoning a devils token(0/0) inside a pentagram field that filled half the square grounds. "I sacrifice the token." It was immediately replaced by a demonic armored emperor(2400/1000). "Caius the Shadow Monarch. It banishes a monster from the field after its tribute summoning." Caius opened his dark cape and revealed a black hole within that sucked up Scrap Recycler. "Death by banishment does not trigger your continuous spells. And now he attacks directly!" Caius gathered shadows and sent them towards Gray. "Funny, even if these monsters are new for you, you speak as if you are attached to them already." John activated his continuous trap card: Ultimate Offering. "But I see them just as machines.." He payed 800 lifepoints to summon the Machina Sniper(2000/800) in his hand, the shadows quickly swallowed him whole. But this gave the Machine Assembler two more counters and allowed John to summon the Machina Soldier(1800/1500) from his deck.

Johns LP: 5600

"Your deck is well built, I give it that." He placed two cards and passed the turn back to John. "I am not so sure if I like hearing that from you." He normal summoned a Machina Defender(1400/1800) from his hand. "You are hiding something." Next he tributed the Assembly Line, to revive a machine who had as much level stars as the spell card had counters. In this case he rebuilt Machina Sniper(1800/800) (Soldier: 1600/1500, Defender: 1200/1800). "But whatever it is, it will not matter once I defeat you!" Finally he payed 800 lifepoints again for Ultimate Offering, to bring out the Commander Covington(1000/600). "I do not believe it. he is going for that combo?" Yale knew that Covington could merge the Soldier, Sniper and Defender into one machine monstrocity: Machina Force. "I will finish you with a combo that suits the new you, Urizen Artani." he chuckled. "I am afraid you will have to come up with something else, John Gray." But he flipped his trap card: Fiendish Chain. "Crap!" Which chained down the commander robot.

Johns LP: 4800

"You stopped it." Covingtons effects were sealed, Machina Force could not come out. "In that case I will defeat you with numbers." He revealed a card in his hand, the Machina Cannon. "But not as I tried then. By discarding 8 levels worth of machines from my hand, I can revive Machina Fortress in my graveyard!" A blue/red tank(2500/1600) appeared. It looked like a cross between Peacekeeper and Gearframe, due to its colors and triple wheels. "Will a triple assault be enough, ex champion?" The Fortress aimed its barrel at Caius. "Not yet." But he tributed the Monarch, and discarded Doomcaliber Knight from his hand. "Oh! He is gonna use that card!" Ada knew what was coming. "I special summon Darkness Neosphere." The blind one(4000/4000) took form, overshadowing all the machines. "A weaker deck he says. That monster is stronger than anything you used in your other deck." John cursed. "Even if I had Machina Force, I would not be able to kill it. Because it can not be destroyed in battle." He ended his turn. _"But Machina Fortress destroys a card if its killed." _He did the math, and had Neosphere not been summoned in defense mode, he could still have won this turn. "All that power and you're still forced to defend.."

"..Before the next two turns take place, I want you to understand something. But I am not sure if telling you this will help your performance. And I am almost certain it will not do any good." Urizen said as he drew his card and looked at it. "Then just tell me. Stop beating around the bush!" John yelled, fed up with the teasing. "Well.." Urizen sighed, it was going to be revealed one way or the other. "I did not find this out myself, not until much later. And I can not even be certain, but my victory over you that day may have been a false one." Johns eyes narrowed. "Does that mean, what I think it means?" The others were thinking the same thing. "I fear so. I eventually discovered that they had been helping me with my duels, whenever it was necessary. And not in the right way. They gave me a disk fit for a king, a dueldisk that gave me the card I needed to win every time." John gasped. "No.. you didn't.." This changed everything. "Do not tell me you beat me, at the hight of my career, with a card you should not have drawn!"

"I do not know that, there are no records of it naturally. But they could not keep it a secret from me forever, and when I found out.. I left. Another family got to promote their prodigy in my absence, another national champion whose name I care not enough about to mention." He continued to talk, but John did not hear much anymore. "I knew it, I knew it all along. That trap was too convenient." Urizen shrugged. "We are here now. I can not move on unless I can prove to myself and my pride, that I can beat you fairly. With my own cards, my own luck." He entered the battle phase and Neosphere fired a blast of blackness. "To hell with your pride, how do you think I feel!" Machina Sniper's effect was to absorb any attack aimed at other Machinas, so it was destroyed. "Then continue as you were, the only way to destroy that past is to defeat me!" He then activated the effect of Darkness Neosphere. "He returns all my face-up traps to my hand." The demonic chains released Covington and left the field. "I reset them as well." His turn was over. "Ugh." Urizen could reuse his chains on the Fortress if he wished. Neosphere was in attack mode now, like he had hoped. But he needed to destroy the Chains or else his attack would not work

Johns LP: 2600

"Dark Catapulter!" So with the effect of Machina Armored Unit, he special summoned another earthen machine from his deck, a capatult dragonmachine(1000/1500). "During my standby phase it gains a counter, and I can remove that counter to destroy a spell or trap." He however knew what to hit. "The left one." The catapult shot a blast at the facedown card, and the chains were shattered. "I know how to defeat you.." Fortress would suicide into Neosphere and his other four machines would end this 'rematch'. "Are you sure?" But Urizen had one trap left. "That is the same one you set last turn, so it has to be harmless. And you said it yourself, you changed your deck. It can not be Magic Cylinder." That was the only thing he could be affraid of right now. "So here It comes, the end of your pride!" The Fortress cannon took aim. "My Pride is too strong for you John, for you and your hatred!" He flipped his trap; Hate Buster. "When a demon does battle, both monsters will die and the attackers points will damage his controller." A bomb fell between the two cards and blew them to pieces, John took 2600 damage. "No, No, NO!" He fell to his knees, dropping his keycards in the process. "It's the same.. the damage was my own fault." Hate Buster might as well have been Magic Cylinder

Johns LP: 0

"Are you happy now? You left me now where you left me then!" He got up and did not even bother with the dropped cards. "If you had to make fakes, you never even left in the first place. Your confidence in yourself simply is not strong enough." He picked the cards up, he would figure out for himself which ones were fake. "You tricked me, you told me that story to get me angry." John felt he would not have rushed the duel had he not been aware. "You and your damn pride, its an obsession! You will never get over it, never find them all!" He shouted one last time before he ran off. "Well that could have gone smoother." Yale commented once it was all over. "You do not want me to be friends with him now too, do you?" Urizen replied, having almost forgotten they were still around. "Please do not tell me you added that trap to your deck just so you could give such a one-liner away." Ada said, referring to his Hate Busting sentence. "That was just a happy coincidence. But I believe in it. Hatred is an emotion for fools.."

He finally figured out which keycards were real, as the fake ones had actually been damaged by the card reader in that booth. Another countermeasure he supposed. "Hey you have six of them, dont you?" Two were indeed real, and he won then fair and square. "I am not through with this place yet." but he put them into his pocket instead of letting them get checked. "Unlike the Not-Ace over there, I do not intend to quit early." He pointed to Nate, who must have heard that as he instantly rose from his seat. "Aw man, not another one.." He sounded almost irritated. "Another what?" They did not understand why though. "You're not the first duelist who came by here and decided to hold on to the keycards, just so she could duel as many as she wanted, with the promise of giving them all the keycards they need." This story was very familiar. "You don't mean, the Reaper?" Xavier gulped. "Reaper? No that's a fairytale as far as I know. But this girl I am talking about, she's the real terror, and the reason why this place is so empty if you ask me."

"Trust me, you do not want to cross paths with miss Ramirez."

(To be Continued in Mark 006: Nothing up Her Sleeve)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Giant Germ<br>Caius, the Shadow Monarch

-  
>Fiends Sanctuary<p>

-  
>Hate Buster<p>

**New Cards used by John**  
>Machina Soldier<br>Machina Peacekeeper  
>Scrap Recycler<br>Machina Gearframe  
>Machina Sniper<br>Machina Defender  
>Commander Covington<br>Machina Fortress  
>Dark Catapulter<p>

-  
>Machina Armored Unit<br>Machine Assembly Line_  
>Deus Ex Machina<em>  
>Limiter Removal<p>

-  
>Ultimate Offering<p> 


	6. 006: Nothing up her Sleeve

**Mark 006: Nothing up Her Sleeve**

So it appeared that there was a duelist out there who continued to duel even long after she had qualified herself for the price. A girl known as Ramirez only that walked the streets, looking for challengers that wished to gain 5 keycards in a single duel. Nate could only share them what he knew because she had come to the square as well. "It's not that I feared her, but I could not duel her anymore either, which she seemed to look forward to. But then she proceeded to duel everyone else around and beat every single last one, even duelists that already had six keycards and were greedy for more. She never bets less than 5 cards. Lord knows how many keycards she has now." That was what he told them, she was the one who eliminated all the others. "I am saying there are better options then her if you need more keycards, that's all. You seem like nice people. So if you see a girl with long black hair, pale skin and a long coat, do not engage." And those were his words of warning, after which he promptly went back to his nap.

"Tsk. I should have known it would not be that easy." Urizen grumbled, as the group of four were once again looking for a duelist who was still in the game. "What are you talking about? You already won." Ada did not think he had the right to complain, he had six keycards while they did not. "No. I should have been faster, who knows how many people on my list she defeated already." That was all he cared about. "In hindsight, I should have known. There had to be a reason why they included the keycard system, rather than making it a tournament where everyone duels until only one remains. At first I thought a time limit was in place, or only the first eight to check in would pass through. Something like that. But if you can not get six cards, you lose as well." Yale wondered whether or not this Ramirez was sponsored in any way, if she was a player killer. "There has got to be someone left." Xavier was worried because he and Ada still needed six cards. "We should have stayed in the park." His former partner in crime sighed.

"Wait." YQ looked at a monitor on his dueldisk. "I detect a presence!" His disk also had an application that told him when a duelist was near, and right on cue one showed up in the distance. "Oh." he looked equally surprised to see other duelists. "My Lucky break!" He ran towards them. "You would not believe how long it has been since I saw a duelist. So don't tell me you are through already." Yale smiled and shook his head. "Nothing to worry about, we.. well most of us, still need keycards as well. My name is YQ, and these are my.. companions: Ada Brown, Xavier Ali and Urizen.." The former two greeted him, the latter ignored him. "Well hello, my name is Bob." He shook their hands. "Hmph, not him." Urizen cursed, there was not even one Bob or Robert on his list. "Do not mind him. He has already won anyway." Ali laughed. "So, how many keycards do you have? We need 3 each, and Yale here needs 1." Upon hearing that bogs face turned sour. "Oh. Now I feel bad for you, I can only give you two cards. As I said, I havent seen a duelist in forever."

He appeared to have won only 1 duel this whole day. "That is not enough." Ada muttered, though Xavier heard this. "It is a start though. Cheer up Ada." Yale then activated his disk"Then how about this, we bet 1 keycard each time. That gives you two chances, and us as well. Since my disk registered yours first, I will be the first to duel you." Bob agreed to this. "Sounds good. I just got so bored from all this emptyness that i do not even care how much I win or lose." He looked at the students. "But after him, which one of you two want to try?" He wanted to have a go at all three if he could help it. "Ladies first, right?" Ali wanted to suggest Ada, but she said nothing at first. "Hey, it can not be that bad to duel one on one for once. Or if you trust me, you can.." though she spoke up eventually. "You do not need two for this. In fact we'd be wasting time. 'Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.' "You go ahead and duel him and put one/two keycards on the line."

"But what will you do?" Xavier was surprised to hear her talk like that. "I am gonna go check some malls and see if anyone is hiding inside." If they were to split up, they might as well do it properly. "If that's what you want." She looked away. "It is." And walked off, disappearing in the market streets. "She sounded angry..Did I say something bad?" Xavier suddenly asked. "Don't look at me. You know her best." Yale shrugged. "Has she ever dueled on her own before though?" He was more concerned about her chances in a fair duel. "It's been a while. We prepared the park setup for such a long time." In fact he was not even sure if he would do well without her, but he did not feel like telling Bob that. ".." Urizen said nothing, yet focused on the girl as she left. "What, are you worried about her too?" Xavier asked. "Caring about people I already defeated..Nonsense." He answered coldly. he had only one reason he stuck around with these people to begin with._ "She knows which duelist will give her keycards the fastest.."_

"Stupid Ali. We should have stayed, someone else would have come by eventually. We're wasting time looking for people who we may not even able able to defeat. And I.." Ada rambled on to herself, as she paced back and forth between mall shops. "I need that money, damn it." She cried out as she came to a stop. _"Okay, calm down. Remember what you learned.. " _She breathed in and out, letting the frustration get vented away. _"There is a better way to do this."_ She clapped her hands together. _"I have to find this Ramirez person. If what Nate told me is true, she has enough cards to get us both through." _She did not share her thoughts with the others, but she could guess where that woman was staying. The fact that she carried many keycards implied that she would not be moving around much. And since she visited the square earlier, Ramirez must have been scoping out areas where duelists could get their keycards checked out. The Mall was another place with a booth installed, but she did not find her. "She must be.."

"Here." However someone had found Ada first, before she could. "Huh?" The student turned around and saw a young woman coming down the rolling stairs. "Oh!" And her appearance fit Nate's description "You're Ramirez." Although he left out her piercing grey eyes, which already made Ada uncomfortable in her presence. "Yes." Her voice was like iron, flat yet overpowering. "How many." She said as she activated her dueldisk as soon as she was on the same floor. The device was actually painted black, while its highlights were red. "Not one for wasting words. I have one card with me. But from what I hear, you always go all in." Ada turned her dueldisk on as well, inserting her deck. "Yes." She replied, with the exact same tone as before and tossed five keycards randomly in front of her feet. "They are yours, if you win." Ada nodded. "And you get to have a measly one if you win. I wonder what you're doing this for. Do you work for the company?" Both players drew their cards, their lifepoints were set. "No."

Ada's LP: 8000 Ramirez's LP: 8000

Ramirez took the first turn. She placed one monster face down and three trap cards at the same time. Her turn was over after that. "Oh I see. A trap heavy player. Those have been rising in number ever since Heavy Storm got banned." She entered her turn. "I summon Dragunity Tribus." The small birdwarrior appeared and with its effect a dragunity monster from her deck was sent to the grave. "I discard Dragunity Brandistock. And after that, I special summon!" Tribus was sacrificed for the special tribute summon of a golden feathered and scaled dragon(2100/1500). "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn, it can be special summoned by offering a Dragunity Monster. And he equips one dragunity from the grave onto himself." Mystletainn took Brandistock from the cemetery and wielded it as a pole-arm. "Now it can attack twice!" In her battle phase, the Dragon brought down the Brandistock and its own sword. "Trap." But Ramirez responded with a normal trap: Full Salvo. "Discard twice." She could inflict 200 damage for each card discarded from her hand by this trap, and two missiles were launched that damaged Ada. "That will not stop my strike though!" The weapons came down still. "What?" Yet the facedown monster(1200/1700) withstood both attacks.

Ada's LP: 7600

"Infernity Guardian?" The student looked at a floating shield with a demonic face on it, it was a monster she had never seen before. "It can not be killed if the controller has no cards in her hand?" Ramirez had fired off her entire hand for a reason. "If that is the case. I activate the spell Cold Wave!" She sent out a freezing wave across the mall floors, encasing her traps in ice. "You can not set a spell or trap card during your next turn, so if you draw one.." She ended her turn and allowed her to see for herself. ".." And after Ramirez drew, she simply went straight to her endphase. "Heh. That happens." Whatever she drew, she could not play it. "I see how it is, how you win so often. 'The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him'. I will not play along with your game." She could kill the Guardian now, but was worried about her other two traps. "I am in control." She activated another spell. "Release Restraint Wave; I can sacrifice an equipment card to destroy all face down cards!"

However before that plan could be implemented, a tornado appeared without warning to destroy the Brandistock in Mystletainns hands. "Dust Tornado?" Ramirez used her magic destroying trap to destroy the equipment before it could fuel the Restraint Wave. And Dust Tornado had an additional effect. "Set." The pale woman was allowed to set one card from her hand on the field, which she did. "Nothing in your hand again. But I will not let you hide behind one Guardian." She sacrificed Mystletainn instead, and brought out a rather muscular dragon(2400/1000). "I tribute summon the piercer, StrongWind Dragon! He also gains half the attack of the monster that was tributed." Strongwinds muscles bulged up(3450/1000). "Attack Infernity Guardian!" And it unleashed a fierce tempest of energy. However while these strong cutting winds phased right through its master. She simply snapped her fingers and put up a trap barrier. "Argh. Spirit Barrier? Seriously?" This shield prevented battle damage as long as the duelist controlled a monster.

"Grr. I set a trap card and end my turn." So this was why it was so difficult to defeat her, she never budged an inch. "The Archfiend." Ramirez then drew a demon monster(1800/1200) and actually special summoned it. After which she added a spell from her deck to her hand. "Infernity Archfiend? Another monster that gets an effect when the player has no cards in his hand?" She read the card text and saw that the demon could be special summoned if it was drawn with an empty hand, and he added 'Infernity' cards to that empty hand when he was special summoned. "Set. End." Ramirez added an Infernity Launcher spell card and set it down. "You may feel safe behind your traps, but I have a way around them. I summon a tuner monster: Dragunity Corsesca." The summoned spearhead dragon(800/700) was a level 1 tuner. "I tune it with the level 6 strongwind!" Her muscled up dragon and tuner combined, to synchro summon a level 7 dragon. "Synchro monster: Explode Wing Dragon(2400/1600)." When it attacked it inflicted effect damage along with battle damage, so the Spirit Barrier could not deflect that. "And to make sure both your hellions die." Ada flipped her trap card, Miracle Locus. ".." This trap forced Ramirez to draw a card, but that was not all.

"Now Explode Wing gains attackpoints and can attack twice!" Miracle Locus prevented its users from doing battle damage, but she could not inflict that right now anyway. "So, at last, I shall break your defenses." The synchro released two flame bursts, one incinerated the archfiend while it inflicted 1800 damage to Ramirez. "Trap." Yet the second flame could not consume Infernity Guardian. "Hey!" And Ada was shocked to see that her opponents fingers held no cards again. "How. You.." It was a continuous trap card: Phantom Hand. If one owned an Infernity monster, they could remove all cards in her hand from play every turn. "At least I damaged you." She ended her turn. "Yes." Nevertheless Ramirez retained her unyielding demeanor. "A little.." She drew a card and activated it. It was a permanent spell called 'Wave Motion Inferno', which seemingly empowered all Infernity monsters like her Guardian (1600/2100). "Not enough." And then she finally used her face down spell, Infernity Launcher. "Wait, this is not.."

Ramirez's LP: 6200

A cannon appeared which fired two monsters back onto the field, the Archfiend(2200/1600) and a bigger hideous demon called Infernity Destroyer(2700/1400). Since the Archfiend had been special summoned while his owners hand was devoid of cards, she could add another Infernity to her hand. This time she added and normal summoned a monster, the canine Infernity Beast(2000/1600). "So many monsters. In one turn. How did she.." The Guardian was switched to attack mode, and the battle phase began. "But I... I did not want this." The Destroyer slayed the Exploder dragon with one swing of its claws, which also inflicted effect damage, while the remaining three Infernities unleashed rotting flames, dark energy and hellish summons to deplete the rest of her lifepoints. "Why did I do this?" She never even saw it coming.

Ada's LP: 0

"It was Not enough." Ramirez repeated as she walked over to a numbstruck Ada, and took the keycard from her hand. "Just one?" For a moment she sounded confused, but that emotion quickly faded. She was no longer interested in this girl anyway, but in another duelist who now showed his face. "So that is how you fight, miss Ramirez." Urizen stood at the mall entrance, smirking. "Very impressive."

(To be Continued in Mark 007: Inferno Invaded)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Dragunity Arma Mystletainn<br>Strongwind Dragon  
>Dragunity Corsesca<br>Explode Wing Dragon

-  
>Cold Wave<br>Release Restraint Wave

-  
>Miracle Locus<p>

**Cards used by Ms. Ramirez**  
>Infernity Guardian<br>Infernity Archfiend  
>Infernity Destroyer<br>Infernity Beast

-  
>Infernity Launcher<br>Wave Motion Inferno

-  
>Full Salvo<br>Dust Tornado  
>Spirit Barrier<br>Phantom Hand


	7. 007: Inferno Invaded

**Mark 007: Inferno Invaded**

Bobs LP: 0

"Awww." The duelist sighed as the last of his lifepoints were wiped out by Xavier's winged beasts. "Sorry about that man. I just got some good draws is all." He had lost against him and also YQ, so now Bob was without keycards. "Oh well. It was a good game either way. At least I had some fun today." He gave his last card to the student, now he had four of them. "Hey." Or rather, he had six. "Wait, two of these are Ada's. Why did she leave them here?" He could not imagine her wanting to duel with just one card between her and elimination. "The girl you mean? She hasn't come back yet has she?" The duels had been to engaging for the three to notice that half an hour had passed already. "And now that champion guy is gone too." They did not even know when or why he left the scene. "I mean that was probably inevitable, that guy is obsessed with his list and all." Xavier was not worried about him dueling on his own. "..I think I know what she is planning." YQ sighed. "But for her sake, I hope she has not gone that far."

...

Whatever his fears were, for Ada the worst possible outcome had come to pass. "My plans.. my.." Ramirez had beaten her soundly, she never stood a chance. "Very interesting monsters, they all get effects if your hands are clean, so to speak." Urizen watched it all happen. "Infernity. That family is mentioned nowhere on the official lists. It must be one of the unofficial classes." He looked at Ada, who was still mumbling. "You could not have prepared for that, Ada Wolfram. So stop blaming yourself for your loss." He said as nicely as he could put it, as her losers attitude annoyed him. "Every duelist had to register their decks in advance and could not change once they were inside the city, so you have the advantage of surprise." His eyes turned back to Ramirez. "I do not know how you got such cards, but that is not what I came here to ask." She never averted her gaze either. "Do you even remember the names of the people you defeat?" He had to know if she had dueled people on his list. "I forget." Was her simple yet straight reply.

"Typical." This got him nowhere. Ada meanwhile stood up at last. "Is that all you came here to do? Are you sure you didn't watch me lose just so you stood a better chance?" She felt like she had been used. "I followed you here yes, but we both had the same idea. Miss Ramirez would be at the where she was guaranteed to find duelists, at the places where they had to check in to escape this madness. Because.." His dueldisk was already active. "As long as you do not do that, you are in danger." Urizen had six keycards, but still he had been forced into dueling mode because they stood on a hotspot. "So she even fights those who are technically already winners? Why?" The girl asked, but the woman did not listen to her anymore. "I can answer that. It's a way of measuring your worth, isn' t it? Only those stronger than you are given the right to win today." She still did not speak, she merely reshuffled her cards. "Well the reasons are unimportant, the results are. If I defeat you, I will prove myself stronger than those you defeated. That is all there is to it." he was about to shuffle his own deck. Yet within the next instant, she was right in front of him. "What the.." And took out another pack of cards from his coat. "No. Use this."

She had taken out the other deck and handed it back to him. "You want me to duel you, with this? How did you even know I had it with me?" She went back to her silent state. "What's wrong with that deck?" Ada was confused and intrigued by whatever could be inside that pack. "You must have registered it, so..you can use it." Urizen grit his teeth, he had resolved to not use this deck against just anyone. "Is that..your old deck?" Wolfram now remembered his story, and how he supposedly discarded that deck when he abandoned his title. "There is no problem. If this is what this woman wants." He inserted the other deck. "I will not back down., and I will not fall top your mindgames." Now he was at least at his strongest. "Six for six. "She dropped Ada's keycard down next to the pile, indicating that she would take all of Urizens cards if he lost. "Fine by me." The feeling of that risk felt good to him. "Then, I begin." Again Ramirez took the first turn. "Set." Three traps were once again placed face down along with one monster.

Ramirez's LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"The same opening even. I am ready for it." Now his turn began."_If she has that infernal guardian set, the one who cant die when her hand is empty, I have a countermeasure."_ But he could not summon it yet in this turn. "Stygian Street patrol." For now his hellish road warrior(1600/1200) would have to do. "Let's see what you got." The hellway patroller raced over to her side of the field, and pulverized it. "The archfiend?" And he recognized the remains as the infernal demon(1800/1200). "You used it first, without using its effect?" That seemed like a waste, until he discovered what her plan was this time. "No." She flipped her trap card, Rope of Life. "Discard." By sending all cards in her hand to the cemetery, she could revive the killed archfiend and make it stronger to boot. "But you take 100 damage for every level of a monster my patroller kills." The Archfiend had 4 level stars, so she lost 400 LP. "But that thing gets its effect whenever it is special summoned, not just during the draw phase." He noticed as Ramirez took an Infernity Launcher from her deck, the Archfiend(2600/1200) had its powers enabled as well, thanks to the trap of life. _"And now everything is ready for the launcher combo."_ This was not good, he was playing into her hand already.

Ramirez's LP: 7600

Urizen ended his turn after he placed a trap card face down. ".." She started hers by summoning a monster. "Infernity Dwarf." A small dwarf(800/500) with a flaming axe appeared. This one was new to Ada and Urizen. "That card gives all your Infernities the ability to inflict piercing damage. In that case." He flipped his own trap. "Hidden Soldiers. I special summon a level or lower dark monster from my hand." He called out his Giant Germ(1000/100) in attack mode. That way he would take less damage. "Good" Was all she said before she activated the dreaded spellcard. Infernity Launcher was activated and special summoned the two Infernities in her grave which had been discarded by Rope of Life: Infernity Beast(1600/1200) and an Infernity Beetle(1200/0). Now her hands were free. "It separates." The horned beetle had an effect as well, it could tribute itself to special summon two more copies of itself from the deck to the field(1200/0). "Five monsters in one turn." Ada was stunned to see how easy that was for her.

"Now. This will hurt." She extended her cardless hand towards Urizen as she entered the battle phase. "Destroy." And all Infernal creations were unleashed, the Beast melted the first germ down with its breath attack, while the two germs summoned afterwards were cut down by the Beetles. "You take 500 damage each time you slay a giant germ." Urizen pointed out. But he had taken 1000 battle damage at the same time. After that assault the Archfiend summoned a hellish seal that sucked the Stygian into the depths of darkness. Finally the Dwarf swung its brimstone axe across the duelist. "Ggh. _It could have been worse."_ She was done, nothing more could attack and nothing more could be set. "Then now Is the time to show you the power of this deck." He drew a card. "Stygian Street Patrol can be banished from the grave, to special summon a fiend from my hand if it has 2000 or less attackpoints." He did so and called out an demon with insect wings(1700/0). "So that's your first decktype, the Steelswarm?"

Ramirez's LP: 6100 Urizens LP: 5200

That was a rare series of cards. "Then I sacrifice the Caller for another Steelswarmer." The black insectoid started to twitch and spasm, until a level 7 horned fiendbeetle(2600/0) erupted from its skin. "Gack!" Ada did not expect the disk to have such an elaborately gross animation in its software. "Steelswarm Girastag. It can be tribute summoned with just one steelswarm tribute. If its summoned this way, he can send one monster to the graveyard." This would have been his answer to an Infernity Guardian, but now he had stronger targets. "I choose the Archfiend." The stagbeetle planted its tendril-like tail into the floor, which emerged beneath Infernity Archfiend only to drag it underneath the mall as well. "In return I gain 1000 lifepoints." Now he had regained the lead. "Furthermore, when the Caller is tributed for a Steelswarm tribute summon, he can special summon another level 4 or lower Steelswarm from my deck." From the Callers hollowed out body, another Caller was born(1700/0). "This is what you wanted! I attack!"

Urizens LP: 6200

Girastag powered up the cannon on its arm and released a blast of dark energy. However.. "Trap." Ramirez snapped her fingers to activate another face-down: Infernity Force. "A Force barrier?" And just like the well-known Mirror Force card, this trap reflected the attack and sent it back to the Stagdemon, destroying it. "It takes life and gives life." Infernity Force's second effect revived Infernity Archfiend(1800/1200), which let her add an Infernity card to her hand again. She took another Infernity Force. "But you have to set it first!" The second Caller could still attack, so it flew over to the Dwarf and cut it down. "Still not enough." The damage did not bother her at all, because everything Urizen had accomplished was because she allowed it to happen. "I set another trap card. It's your turn."

Ramirez's LP: 5200

She drew and placed Infernity Force face down. Then she summoned what she had drawn, for this one she tributed one of her two Beetles. "Destroyer." It was the demonic giant(2300/1000). "Infernity Destroyer. When it 'destroys' a monster, its controller takes 1600 effect damage as well." He knew what it did because that was the effect which had been the one-turn downfall of Ada. "Destroy Caller." And he knew that his lifepoints would drop to zero just as quickly if he did not stop her. "Trap card!" So he raised up a series of bloodred glass shields that the Destroyers claws could not break through. "The Red Screen. As long as I control this card, you can not attack me. However in return I must relinquish a thousand lifepoints during my endphases to maintain this Screen." Since she could do nothing about this, she switched the rest of her monsters to defense mode and ended her turn. "Wait, that card has a second effect." Ada noticed there was more to it, but Urizen could not use that effect at this point in the game. "You have.."

"No. I do not." Screen of Red required a certain Synchro if he wanted to take advantage of its full potential. "That is the one card I could not secure. But I do not need synchros like that to defeat her. I know what to do." What his deck gave him this draw phase instead was good enough. "You may be thinking your Infernity Force can protect you again, Ramirez. Yet that trap can not be sprung, if you have cards in your hand." He smirked as he tributed Steelswarm Caller again. "Steelswarm Moth!" As its name suggested, the next demon to leap from a Callers shell was moth-like(2400/0). At the same time he special summoned a third Steelswarm Caller(1700/0) from his deck. "The Moth has a tribute summon-enabled effect too. It takes 1000 of my lifepoints to send two of your monsters to your hand: Destroyer and Archfiend!" It almost looked as if she was amazed, as she had to take the two monsters back. "I call the shots now!" In his battle phase Moth used its tail to strangle the Beast, while Caller chopped up the Infernity Beetle. Neither attack damaged her lifepoints, since both monsters were in defense mode. And since Urizen payed 1000 LP for the Screen as well, he was below her again. But it felt good to catch her off guard for once.

Urizens LP: 4200

She started her turn by placing one trap face down. "I felt that." The woman did not sound startled or annoyed, in fact it was more of a satisfied tone. "Not many, last this long." She activated her third face-down card, a spell called Magical Stone Excavation. "Gah." She could discard two cards to add one already used spell back to her hand. Naturally she reclaimed Infernity Launcher, which was usable now that her hand had been freed from cards. "So much for hoping she would be delayed by not having any way to summon her Destroyer." Now instead she revived Infernity Destroyer and one of the Beetles from her graveyard. "You are one of few, that made me summon this." And to Urizens dismay, it turned out that her Beetle was also a tuner monster. "Synchro summon." As the level 2 beetle turned into synchronizing rings, allowing the Destroyer to combine its 6 stars with the 2 floating about. The colliding light revealed a new hideous entity, a horn-nosed dragon(3000/2400) with a crowned skull that revealed part of its brain. "Infernity Doom Dragon?" She had a Synchro too. "But I feel. You will be the last to see this.. today." She added, which alarmed Ada. "The last? What do you mean with that? The day isn't over yet!"

"The dark is coming.."

Meanwhile on the far side of the city, near the borders, a Zero duelist was still loitering about. Some had given up at this point, but this particular keycardless duelist was persistent. He had barely rested in between his pursuits of someone who was kind enough to duel him. He ignored his own hunger and the fact that his disk was sitll offline. "Please. I need that price. I need.." But he stopped eventually. Not because his body could take no more, but because something changed. "What is.." His disk had been turned on again, and he too felt oddly re-energized. "This is." A card in his deck was glowing as well. "With this..we can win!" He started to laugh, barely audible at first, but then it devolved into outright maniacal glee. "Yes!" He ran off, missing the fact that just around the corner were more zero duelists, all of them unconscious.

(To be Continued in Mark 008: Your World Upside Down)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Stygian Street Patrol<br>Steelswarm Caller  
>Steelswarm Girastag<br>Steelswarm Moth

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>Hidden Soldiers<br>Red Screen

**New Cards used by Ms. Ramirez**  
>Infernity Dwarf<br>Infernity Beetle  
>Infernity Doomdragon<p>

-  
>Magical Stone Excavation<p>

-  
>Rope of Life<br>Infernity Force


	8. 008: Your World Upside Down

**Mark 008: Your World Upside Down**

"Oh? You're back?" Nate was still taking his time relaxing at the square when he saw Yale and Xavier return. "Yeah, and guess what." The latter flashed a smile and showed off his six keycards. "Ah cool, you made it." He saw the two both had the right amount, yet saw two were missing as well. "But where did the girl and the grumpy champ go off too?" He asked as Yale let his cards be read by the booth reader. "I was hoping they'd be here already, actually. But if not this place they must have found another point in the city where you can check yourself out." YQ too had figured it out by now, that Ramirez was stalking checkpoints. "I don't want to let these cards get read yet though, it feels wrong without Ada with me." Ali was not ready to quit the tournament yet. "Well there should be another point nearby, you can look there." Nate explained and looked up at the sky. "And you better be quick, the sky aint looking so pretty anymore. It might even rain soon." Grey clouds formed high above the city. "That would ruin a fun day.."

Ramirez's LP: 5200 Urizens LP: 4200

"The dark is coming? That's such a cliche line. Almost as bad as saying there is a storm brewing." Ada complained about Ramirez's word choice. "Heck, the latter may even be true." Even through the glass ceiling of the mall could the duelists see the darkening sky. "There is less time then I thought." Ramirez however continued to talk to Urizen, as if Ada was not even there anymore. "Time for what?" He at least could get a response from her. "Time.. to confirm." Her newest monster, the Doomdragon(3000/2400), raised its claws. "Whatever you want to confirm, you can not attack yet." But Urizen had the Red Screen still active, to shield his Steelswarm Moth(2400/0). "Death." Yet the creature struck anyway, by shooting fire from its claws which bypassed the screens. "An effect assault?" The Moth demon was burned down to a crisp and the remaining flames washed over Urizen. "And not just that, but it does damage too?" He lost lifepoints equal to half the attackpoints of the Moth. "Damn it." Only his Steelswarm Caller remained.

Urizens LP: 3000

But she could not attack it even if screen had not been there, Infernity DoomDragon could not attack in the same turn it used its effect. "I know a way out of this nightmare." So it was his turn now and he immediately activated the spell: Recurring Nightmare. "Ugh, there you go again with the dramatic puns." Ada rolled her eyes. "I mean it this time too. I will not dream of a world where I can be kicked around like this!" Recurring Nightmare would let him take back two dark-type monsters with no defense points. And almost all Steelswarm monsters had zero defense. "I retake Moth and Girastag. And I tribute my final Caller to summon the Moth!" Steelswarm Callers effect activated at the same time, from his hand came a tribute summoned Moth and from his deck came a very tiny insect demon(200/0), a Steelswarm Scout. "I then pay 1000 lifepoints to activate Moth's effect." He would send her Dragon synchro back to the extra deck, and one of her traps back to her hand. "That is not it." But she snapped her fingers once more to flip a countertrap. "Infernity Barrier?" If the player controlled an Infernity monster, this trap would kill any effect along with the card. The Moth's tendrils were pushed back by a forcefield and it was electrocuted to destruction.

Urizens LP: 2000

"That series even has its own counter-trap." It looked like he lost control of the game's pace again. "What are you looking for then. If I am not it.. then what is?" He ended his turn, unable to do anything more but pay another thousand lifepoints for his Red Screen trap. "You may be it." In her turn she used doomdragons effect again to burn down the tiny scout. It was not much damage. But there was no point to let him keep the amount he needed to pay one final time, as a duelist could not willingly drop his life to zero like that. "It depends on the next few turns. Nobody survived the dragon of death." She placed a trap. "And if you can not survive this 'nightmare', you will not survive reality." And neither duelist had any clue what she was talking about. "I do not know who made you judge, jury and executioner. But I am my own judge.."

Urizens LP: 900

"You know what is coming." The turn passed back to him. "And I have the means to summon him. When my opponent controls a monster, and I do not, I can special summon a Steelswarm Scout!" A tiny round black beetle(0/0) was given shape. "I sacrifice it as the tribute for Girastag!" And for the second time this duel he called out the stagbeetle fiend(2600/0). "It sends your dragon to the grave, giving me 1000 lifepoints back in return!" The demon sent its tail into the floor once more. "Trap." But a finger snap later, and the tails prey was nowhere to be found. The dragon melted into a puddle. "Destruct Potion." This card he did know about, a trap that destroyed a monster on the field and gave its former master lifepoints equal to the monsters attackpoints. "You deny me at every turn." So Ramirez gained 3000 lifepoints, yet immediately lost 2600 due to a direct attack from Girastag. Still the overall result was a net gain for her. "Damn. I do not get back 1000 lifepoints from a miss either." He could no longer uphold the Red Screen.

"There you are!" And at last, YQ and Xavier had found their companions. "Third time is the charm my foot." They had been fortunate enough to try this checkpoint right after the open square. "Guys." Ada said rather quietly, she was not too thrilled to see Ali again at least. "Why the long face Ada? I won you know.." He was eager to show off his winnings, until he realized who Urizen was dueling right now. "Hold it. The hair, skin, coat. It is her, the reaper woman!" He immediately hid behind Ada. "Not the reaper, remember." She sighed. "But then that means. You sought her out?" He did not get an answer from her, but he could see for himself that she had no keycards left. "Oh no. But wait, you still have two. I do not know why you gave them to me though. And why did you get so desperate?" He had alot of questions, but those would have to wait. She was not in the mood to answer and Urizen was not in the mood to listen. "Sort your mess out later, I need to beat her first!" He yelled as he placed a spell and ended his turn.

"Necromancy." This time she drew a monster, she summoned the Infernity Necromancer in defense position(0/2000). "That monster is summoned in face-up defense mode?" And the name implied something worse. "Revival." The Necromancer, when she had no cards in her hand, could bring back one Infernity to life. "That's bad. Killing that thing once isn't good enough." And she brought back the infernal dragon. "What the hell is that thing?" Ali gasped. "Hell, is right." It was about to use its effect again, and if it destroyed Girastag, Urizen would lose all of his remaining lifepoints. "Can you survive?" The flames of death were released. "Hell... Yes!" But now Urizen had an escape clause, a quickplay spell. "First Steps Towards Infestation: I send one Steelswarm on the field back to my hand to draw one card!" He was more interested in the first outcome, as this allowed the Stag Steelswarm to avoid Doomdragons effect. "Oh." This time Ramirez definitely looked surprised, even if she did not sound it. "You are..strong. Who are you?"

"Wait. You knew about my Steelswarm deck, but you did not know about me?" He was confused by that, but liked the feeling regardless. "I am Urizen Artani, son of Gaunt Artani." His pride in fact never felt better. "And now, when I control no traps or spells!" He started his turn with renewed vigor. "Steelswarm Scout can revive itself!" The tiny scout insect from before came back. "Let's try this again!" He tributed the scout to tribute summon Girastag for the umpteenth time. "I send Doomdragon to the grave, hopefully for good this time!" Finally the Steelswarmer could feast on dragons, as it dragged the synchro to an early grave while he rejuvenated his master. "And I have not forgotten about your facedown trap either, I play Mystical Space Typhoon." A small tornado blew across the field to shatter the face-down Infernity Force, which Ramirez could not have used up until the coming attack. "So, remember my name. Ramirez. Remember it well." And in the battle phase his demon destroyed hers, one blast decimated the Infernity Necromancer.

Urizens LP: 1900

"Yes. You may survive. And if they.." She looked at Xavier, Ada and YQ each in turn. "Are your friends, they will last too." She spoke as at least Yale was already beyond her influence. "You talk as if you are worried for us. Not as if you think we don't deserve to win, but as if we should not win." Yale wondered if Ramirez was really that much of a nightmare herself. "No. She can not be like that, she has no remorse." Ada saw it differently, this woman was too lifeless to feel sympathy. "Ali, you have to check in. Before this duel ends." The girl suddenly turned to her partner in crime. "What, what about you? Isn't Urizen dueling to get your cards back?" He saw both players had six on the floor, so he assumed he was trying to win six for Ada's sake. "Absolutely not. I don't even think the rules bend that way." He quickly refuted that idea, and ended his turn. "You have to hurry, Ali. If I can not win, you can still go on!" Ramirez ignored the argument and placed a monster card face down. "But _you_ are the one who needs it more, dont you?"

As if he had said too much, he quickly shut his mouth and took a step back. "I did not mean.." She went quiet too, this was something she did not want to talk about in the open. "Feh. If it matters that much." Even Urizen found it hard too overlook how pathetic she looked right now. "We shall see." First he needed to win. "I revive the Scout from my cemetery again and then Girastag Attacks!" Another blast came from its black cannon arm, only this time the energy did not get too far. It slammed dead on against a shield-monster(1200/1700). "Crap. The Infernity Guardian. I can not kill it until she has a card in her hand." So he had finally gotten her on the defense, but he could not break through it so easily. "I set a trap card and end my turn." And with her as an opponent, it was dangerous to let her draw even once. "Time..is running out." She said, but her gaze was not focused on him anymore, she placed a trap in her turn, but did nothing more. "But I am not sure, but there is not enough time." It was as if she disagreed.. with herself. "If time is off the essence, stop stalling then! We.."

It was then that it became clear what could have caused Ramirez so much concern, the light of her dueldisk started flickering. "What now?" So did theirs, in fact all the lights in the mall building started losing power. "A black-out?" Yale looked outside the windows. "It is happening all over the city!" Not just that, but car alarms and cries sounded in the distance, all panicked voices. "This is not the right time for that!" Ada freaked out and looked at the card booth. It too was fading in and out. "No!" She suddenly pushed Xavier down and took his keycards away. "Ada, what.." Then she ran off and pushed all six into the reader. "Ada!" Due to her quick actions, all six were checked out in time. Less than a minute later, all energy went out, including the checkpoints. "Why did you do that? Some of those cards were yours.." Xavier finally got up and approached her. "Idiot. Who knows how long this blackout lasts. I..I did not want you to lose your chance to check in because of it. And in the end, I feel like the cards we won together, were never mine to begin with."

Of course, the duelists's disks lost power too, all holograms shut off. "No! The duel was not over yet!" Urizen was furious, this result gave him nothing. "It is here. I am sorry." Ramirez did not seem to mind it. "You are close, but you are not ready. You do not see it yet." She picked up all keycards on the ground and put them back into her coat. "No. This is not over, and.. what are you even talking about!" He was fed up with her riddles. "There is a whole world around you, which you choose not to see. But soon you will catch a glimpse, Urizen Artani. Or maybe you already have." He flinched when he heard that sentence, and remembered all the times he thought he saw someone spying on him. "Hey. Are you saying..wait." But when he tried to ask her more, she was already gone. "Where did she go? Where did she go!"

The sky no longer had any patches of blue or openings for sunlight, it was the right weather to leave. But before Ashworth could even get up, the power fell out in his area as well. "Whoa. Is everyone alright?" He asked to the restaurant staff. "Oh!" But while they seemed fine, they looked distressed by something going on besides the black-out. "Behind you!" They were not alone on the square anymore, and this was not someone who came here for the drinks. "Huh?" Behind Nate stood a duelist, who had his eyes trained on Nathan as if he was his prey. "Hey.. you;re that guy." And he knew this man. "I dueled you this morning..'

"Yes. We remember." His voice sounded as if he had swallowed gravel. "We came back. For you." He activated his dueldisk. "Well I do not know how you got back into the tournament, but I can't duel you even if I wanted to play for the fun of it. See my dueldfisk has been taken.." He stopped in mid-sentence, because his disk was not depowered anymore. "Off..line?" This was not even close enough to the hotspot, so they should not have been connected together. "You will duel me, Nathan Ashworth. Or you will be buried!" The opponent growled as an eerie yellow light started emanating from the ground beneath him.

(To be Continued in Mark 009: Scratch on the Surface)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Steelswarm Cell<br>Steelswarm Scout

-  
>Recurring Nightmare<br>First Steps Towards Infestation  
>Mystical Space Typhoon<p>

**New Cards used by Ms. Ramirez**  
>Infernity Necromancer<p>

-  
>Infernity Barrier<br>Destruct Potion


	9. 009: Scratch on the Surface

**Mark 009: Scratch on the Surface**

"Yes. It Appears so." A man in a black suit stood alone in the middle of a bridge, looking at the horizon through a scouting device while talking to an outside party with his headset. "Activity has been spotted here too now." He stared at the lights in the distance, it was similar to a localized aurora borealis effect. And close by him were unconscious duelists who had already lost their keycards. "What does the satellite say?" The man asked, and whatever the answer was it was enough to draw a chuckle from the stranger. "Really? It's that one. Well I can take care of it before it gets too much out of hand. I am within its perimeter." But the response after that was less amusing. "What? He already engaged? Who is he dueling?" And the final question had the worst answer to this man. "Ggh. Of all the people..." The man clenched his fist. "Well, let's see if he can show us what happens when one loses to it."

Nate's LP: 8000 Zero's LP: 8000

"Stand back fellas. This could be serious." Nate warned the restaurant staff behind him, as he was forced into a duel with the nameless duelist. He had never even gotten to ask his name the last duel either. "Look, guy. You do not have to do this. I don't think you can win anymore. And now is not the right time anyway." But the zero duelists could only laugh at his words. "Hah..who do you think arranged this? Why do you think this is happening?" The man drew five cards, giving the initiative to Nathan. "What? You cut off the power? If you ask me, that's a little bit overboard." Not to mention, how did he even accomplish that feat? And there was the question of how they could duel without a working connection. "Enough talk! Show me the man that should have been an ace." Nathan then drew his six cards "Well I do not have much of a choice." Nate scratched his head, unsure of how to handle this. "I guess I will summon this monster!" So he called out a little rodent with screws bolted in its back(800/800) "Quillbolt Hedgehog. And then I end my turn."

The enemy's left eye twitched in response. "This is how you begin? This is how you mock me!" He summoned a new monster. "If you think this will be the same as last time, that you can take it easy. think again!" He called out an helmeted ape(1900/1200). "Ape Fighter, destroy that joke!"And with one punch it broke the hedgehog into a pulp. The fragments scattered around scratched against Nate's skin. "Nnhg? _That felt.. real."_ He rubbed his wrist and saw there were cuts on his sleeve. _"It was?"_ He heard of lifelike holograms, but this was just impossible for a hologram to do. "I hope it was worth it, I hope you had your laugh. Ape Fighter only grows stronger from it." The Ape(2200/1200) gained 300 attackpoints each time it killed a monster. "Odd. I do not remember you playing that monster last time either. _This an entirely different fight." _

Nate's LP: 6900

"Oh it was more than a joke." Nate started his turn. "Speed Warrior!" And he normal summoned an armored skater(900/400). "It can double its original attackpoints during the turn he is summoned." But that would not be enough, so he equipped it with an equip spell card. "Go, Unstable Evolution! Since my lifepoints are lower than yours, thanks to you, it will increase Speed Warriors attackpoints." And now its(2400/400) own effect would help a lot more, as the equip changed the original attack stat. "He strikes with Sonic Edge!" The warrior(4800/400) dashed around and delivered a quick spinning kick to the Ape's temple, smashing his helmet off and killing the beast. "That is just like you, coming at me with unusual combos like those." But now that his lifepoints were lower than Nate's, the Speedsters attack was set to one thousand. "And you changed your deck into a beast type I presume. What is this a tribute to the Ace of Clubs?" He placed as trap card down. "No. This is for the sake of my new power, and for my glory."

Zero's LP: 5400

"Playful Possum!" He summoned a possum beast(800/400). "Uh oh." And Nate did not know what every card in the game did, but he realized what his opponent was trying to do. Especially since it was preceded by him using a spell. "I activate Foolish Burial to send Green Baboon from my field to the grave." It was the Guardian of the Forest he was after. "Since your monster is stronger than mine, Possum can kill itself!" The animal curled up and disappeared. "When a beast dies by an effect, the Defender comes out of the woods!" The Green Baboon(2600/1800) he discarded was back at the cost of 1000 LP. "Smash his tricks to pieces!" The monkey used his club to flatten Speed Warrior(1000/400). Once again the scattering bits of metal hurt Nate. However he noticed that his opponent did not flinch or react at all to the pain he was receiving, if he received pain in this game at all. "You will have to do better." The nameless one grinned as the lights around the two grew more intense. "And what's up with this lightshow.."

"..lightshow anyway?" Urizen complained as the four duelists were looking around town for signs of life or any activity at all. But everywhere they looked there was no power, just more panicking people in their homes. There were no authorities yet either. "Well I do not know about you guys, but I think we have seen enough of this place." Yale did not want to be here any longer then he had to. "If I leave now without checking out, what would happen?" Urizen asked no-one in particular. "I do not know. And Ada.." Since she had lost her keycard, she could not win anything here anyway. "That is if we even can leave." They came upon another duelist who approached them. "What's that supposed to mean?" They did not like the sound of that at all. "Just that I went that way earlier, you know towards the border they installed here? I tried to leave that way myself, but I could not get through. It's as if these lights are casting a wall in our way." He swept his arm around. Änd this light is all around us, we are trapped by it!"

Nate's LP: 5300

"Well. Whatever your name is, I will just have to teach you a lesson with a patented synchro of mine!" He summoned the tuner monster, Junk Synchron(1300/500). "Its effect revives a level 2 monster in my graveyard." Speed Warrior(900/400) reappeared. "In addition to that, I can special summon my Hedgehog! Quillbolt comes from the grave if a tuner exists on my field!" The machine rodent was back in defense mode this time. "I synchro summon Junk Warrior!" Junk Synchron pulled its cord to turn itself into synchronizing energy circles, through which the speedster jumped. Its two stars and the synchrons three stars became the five stars of the Junk Warrior(2300/1300). "It gains the attack from all other level 2 monsters on the field." The Hedgehogs attack boosted the Warrior(3100/1300). "Bye bye Baboon." One energized fist sent the Green Baboon to its grave. However the baboon and the ape fighter were banished from the grave afterwards by another effect. "Yellow Baboon?" Because Zero had to banish them to special summon his yellow furred archer(2600/1800) of the forest. "Next thing you are gonna tell me is that you will summon the Crimson Ape card just to complete the color set." He placed two cards down and ended his turn. "Close.."

Zero's LP: 3900

In his standby phase, Playful Possum(800/400) would come back to life. But he could not use it again because Green Baboon had been banished. "Ape Magician." But he had his ways. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can take control of one opposing monster." The spellcasting ape for instance could just discard another Green Baboon from its masters hand. "Oh boy." And with its staff it chanted a spell that took control of Junk Warrior, which hovered over to Zero's side. "We shall see how you like it, to feel the pain of this monster." Now he could and did use the Possums selfdestructive effect. "Ggh." Zero payed 1000 lifepoints a second time to revive the second Forestdefender(2600/1800). "You lack the lifeforce to sustain the coming storm, Nathan Ashworth. That also is typical of you." He shifted into the battle phase. "Destroy his last defense!" And the Yellow Baboon started off by firing an arrow that pierced the hedgehog and destroyed it. The hedgehog was then banished by its own effect.

Zero's LP: 2900

"Is this your end already? How pathetic.." The defender raised its claw, as the Magician blasted Nate with a spell. "Junk Warrior will finish you off." Then the baboon brought its club above Nate and slammed it down. "Reinforce Truth." But the club was nowhere near its target when it stopped. "This trap special summons a level 2 warrior from my deck." It hit a monster instead, a fourlegged/armed concrete warrior(600/1200). The shield it held up was cracked. "Fortress Warrior can negate all damage done to it and survive a battle once a turn." So the Junk Warrior was needed to break through it. "Tsk. then how do you say.. lets scrap fist it!" So the synchro sent out its burning first to reduce the walking fortress to rubble. "I am thinking my end will not be that pathetic." Nate smiled, as he got off with minor damage for this turn. And Junk Warrior would return to his field afterwards. "Fine then. The more you prolong this game, the sweeter victory will taste." He placed two cards down and ended his turn.

Nate's LP: 4500

"You know, you did not sound half this upset last time I saw you." He summoned a new warrior, the Junk Blader(1800/1000). "There are other ways to get money, if that is the reason why you want to win so much." Nate never bothered to ask if the price was anything more than that. "You think we care about the same things? I am not like you or any other duelist anymore!" Of course Nate figured this guy had a few screws loose, but the longer this went on the nuttier the whole situation became. "I am sorry if my beating you made you snap, but if I have to do it again to solve this mess. Guess I will." The Blader swung his sword at the Ape Magician. "You will fail!" But the sword missed its target, as it was used for an activated trap. "Super Rush Recklessly, by destroying a beast I can return one monster on the field to the deck!" The Ape charged towards Junk Warrior instead and was about to rush it back into the extra deck. "I do not think so, I play the trap Star Shift!" But the Synchro disappeared on its own, and the ape simply died.

_Star Shift, Normal Trap  
>Select 1 Synchro Monster you control. Return it to the Extra Deck, then Special Summon 1 other Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck with the same Level in face-up attack position.<br>_

"You flee yet again. But now you can no longer overpower me." This other Junk Warrior(2300/1300) had no level 2 or lower monsters to draw attackpoints from. "I will manage." Yet it struck anyway. "Battle Tuned!" And before he could be called suicidal, he activated a quickplay spell card from his hand. "I banish a tuner: Junk Synchron in my graveyard, to channel his attackforce into my Warrior." The synchro(3600/1300) powered up during its descent and tore through the Yellow Baboon without stopping or slowing down. "I set a trap card again and end my turn." Junk Blader could not do anything this turn sadly, the Green Baboon was still too strong for it. "You keep taking this lightly, you have no idea what you are up against." The nameless one said, his fists trembling. "Then why don't you tell me?" He asked as his opponent started his turn. Playful Possum came back to the field one final time. "You talk as if you are more than just an angry duelist. The way this duel has been going on, I could believe that."

Zero's LP: 1900

"We are older than you can imagine, stronger than you can comprehend." He summoned a tuner monster next, a ghostlike Dark Ape(0/0). "It is only through the hands of fate and the passing of time that you still walk. But your time is running short, and we will have what we want from you." Next he activated the spell card: Level Tuning, which reduced the levels of all monsters on the field by 1. (Green Baboon = 6 stars, Playful Possum = 1 star, Dark Ape = 1 star). "Well if you tell me what you want, I would be happy to give it to you. This city does not need to suffer all this chaos just for that." The longer this went on, the greater the chances were that a mass panic broke out. "Their lot is of no concern to me. And what we demand from you can not be given willingly. It has to be through the games of darkness." The man said, as even he started to look like he was straining himself. "Synchro..summon." He tuned the now level 1 dark monkey with the baboon defender, to form a level 7 synchro monster. "Zeman the Ape King." A very royally dressed yet very demonic ape(2500/1800). _"That Synchro.. I do not recognize it." _This game only got worse and worse. "What is this something I can not just give?" He really did not look forward to the answer for that question.

"Your soul. Ashworth. Your soul.."

_Dark Ape, 2/0/0 Dark/Beast/Tuner  
>When this card is used for the Synchro Summon of a Beast-Type Synchro Monster and sent to the Graveyard, you can draw 1 card.<em>

A few blocks away, but still inside the range of the lights that seemed to enclose a large section of the battle city, a group of people oversaw almost all. "Man. Will ya look at that." It was because they were working on the top floor of the highest building in the city. The only tower around high enough to see all the lights at once. "That light, it's not just random. It's forming a pattern isn't it?" They did not think this was ominous by itself. But the blackout that seemed to occur only within that part of town did raise a few alarms. "Is this part of that tournament they were hosting?" We have to report this." During all the talk, one guy snapped a few pictures of it from various angles and put and looked at them. Now he could almost see something in it. "Wait..is that.. a monkey?" Though he had no idea what this meant. "Nah. You're just seeing things." His co-workers laughed. But he could not see anything else in it.

(To be Continued in Mark 010: An Undying Hatred)

**Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Quillbolt Hedgehog<br>Speed Warrior  
>Fortress Warrior<br>Junk Blader

-  
>Unstable Evolution<br>Battle Tuned

-  
>Reinforce Truth<em><br>Star Shift(+)_

**Cards used by Duelist Zero**  
>Ape Fighter<br>Playful Possum  
>Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest<br>Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest  
>Ape Magician<em><br>Dark Ape (++)_  
>Zeman the Ape King<p>

-  
>Foolish Burial<br>Level Tuning

-  
>Super Rush Recklessly<p>

_(+) Based on the Trap card used by Yusei in the 5Ds Anime episode 108_

_(++) A normalized version of the Dark Tuner Monster used by Demak in Yugioh 5Ds_


	10. 010: An Undying Hatred

**Mark 010: An Undying Hatred**

"Yeah. Ow. That's not just light." Xavier said as he pressed his hand against the luminous energy that cut them off from the rest of town. "Then we can not get out?" The duelists tried but could not push through at all. "I found no openings myself. I can not even tell if this is coming from the ground or from the sky, but no natural phenomenon can explain this." The other duelist with them said. "Wait.." Yale was also closely examining the light and found something rather interesting. "It curves here, I can.." He walked through a part of the light where it was not as bright. "Oh. That is why." But what he found was not an opening, just a new pathway. "This is not just circling around us, it's a maze of energy." That implied there had to be one way out. "Guess we just have to follow the way the light bends." But Urizen was not hopeful. "That way just leads to more of the same. Following that will more likely take us to the source." But then again maybe they should go there. "The source of the problem, we might want to take care off."

Nate's LP: 4500 Zero's LP: 1900

"My.. what?" Nate was sure he heard what his opponent wanted to claim, but that could not be right. "Did you say.. soul?" This man wanted to get his soul as a price. The adversary did not answer, he just drew a card with Dark Ape's effect. "You heard him right." The restaurant keeper in the background spoke up. "And I do not know if he is just crazy or a fanatic, but this ends here. Tournament or not, this is not something to be settled in a game." He tried to rush the zero duelist, having had enough of just standing around doing nothing. "Wait." But before he could get anywhere near, a burst of invisible energy struck the man and sent him stumbling back. "Stay out of this. You do not decide influence here." He was knocked unconscious by the blast and quickly dragged back into the building by a waitress. "Argh. I told them to stay back." Nate wanted to ask how this kid pulled of that trick, but was worried he would just demonstrate it again on someone else. "The stupidity of your kind can never be underestimated."

"But you _are_ our kind too. You really are nuts." He kept mixing up first person with third person referencing and now he talked as if he was no longer human. "I have been chosen for a higher purpose, we have.." He entered the battle phase at last and sent out Zeman the Ape King(2500/1800) to exterminate Junk Blader(1800/1200). "No traps can stop us now. Zeman is immune to them during a battle." The dark synchro destroyed the warrior with his accursed magic, leaving Nate with just Junk Warrior(3600/1300). But Zero was after that one too. "Ebikyo Drakmord." He equipped the synchro with a spell, which infected the warrior with a black dust virus. "Now your monster can not attack, and will perish in your second turn." Junk Warrior dropped to one knee, too weak to even stand up. "Your turns are numbered, your souls turns." And Nate drew a card again. "Okay, see... That is where I get confused. I mean I am not saying I do not believe in souls, but how are you supposed to get one? And what do you even want with it?"

Nate's LP: 3800

Once again the zero duelists found it more pleasing to watch in silence than to respond. "Well don't explain it then. I can already tell you I do not like the sound of this one bit." He summoned another tuner monster, a green racing machine called Turbo Synchron(100/500). "I will find a way to end this on a happy note. Synchro summon!" The level 1 tuner tuned together with the level 5 synchro. "Come forth, Turbo Warrior!" The result was a red mechanical warrior(2500/1500) that looked like someone had given a 19th century car a human shape. "It halves the attackpoints of synchro monsters it does battle with!" The warrior lunged forward with one claw. "Fool! Zeman can negate any attack with a sacrifice." The Monkey King offered Playful Possum(800/400), letting it technically take the blow for its ruler. "D'oh. I should have read the fine print." That was the problem with these monsters he did not even know existed, he was not used to having to actually read what a card did. "I end my turn." He sighed. "Of course you do."

"But what shall I draw next? A monster to prolong your futile struggles, a trap to nurture your fear, or.." He took the card from his disk. "... a spell that further clarifies the difference of power between yus!" He played it immediately, a field spell took over the square. "Closed Forest!" Not just holograms, but actual trees sprouted from the ground, roots literally bursting through tiles. "Okay. It's getting almost impossible to deny that magic is happening here.." Nate would have been impressed on any other day, but he had to see it first in a situation like this. "For every creature you slew or I have sacrificed, my beasts will grow in strength." There were five monsters in his cemetery (Possum, Yellow/Green Baboon, Ape Magician and Dark Ape), and Zeman(3000/1800) gained 100 attackpoints for each one. "Be gone!" It casted another magical curse which destroyed the red synchro warrior. "Now the same can be asked of you. Will your sad deck give you another trap, just to laugh at your already helpless state, or another monster to satisfy my cravings."

Nate's LP: 3300

It was up to Nate's deck indeed, only a spell could get him out of this mess. "Guess I woke up on the right side of bed then." And he was fortunate enough to get such a spell. "I activate Axe of Foolishness: it negates a monsters effect and adds 1000 attackpoints to it!" He did not have any monsters of his own to equip the axe too, but he did not need one. "It's yours!" Zerman(4000/1800) grasped the weapon with his free hand. "The controller also loses 500 lifepoints every turn." He continued explaining as he ended his turn. "Axe of Fools is right! Only a fool would give me this, the weapon I need to finish you off!" Zero lost 500 lifepoints, true. But he could now kill Nathan in one hit as well. "Yes. But Zemans effects are negated, do not forget that." He pointed at the trap he had set down two turns ago. "Suddenly your great king is not so invincible anymore, is it?" He could finally spring this trap, if Zero still decided to attack. "You think you can make me fear you, you? Nothing you can ever do will stop me from.." The Monkey raised his axe and swung it down. "returning to what we once were!" And the blow had not been stopped at all. But on the other hand, Nate was not down yet either. "I was hoping you'd still attack me.."

Nate's LP: 1300 Zero's LP: 1400

"Reanimation Wave!" He revealed his trap. A series of waves had weakened the axe blow, so he lost half of the 4000 lifepoints he would have lost. "This trap halves damage, but also reanimates a synchro monster whose attack is lower then the attacking monsters attack!" And he of course chose to revive Turbo Warrior(2500/1500). "You.. you will not succeed!" He placed a monster down in defense mode. "But you can not sacrifice any monsters anymore, the axe is still sealing off Zemans effects." Zeman had no means of stopping the next attack. "So I am liking my odds." He drew a card and placed it down in his magic/trap zone. "And I hope you don't have any other surprises, because here I come." Turbo Warrior used its effect to halve the attackpower of Zeman(2000/1800). "Accel Slash!" And it crushed the kings head with its mechnical hands, letting the rest of its body explode into fragments. _"But I wonder if this is enough. Destroying his synchro is probably not enough to get him to quit."_ He ended his turn.

Zero's LP: 900

_"He is strong too." _Nate by now had gathered quite an audience, though most held their breath since they did not want to end up like the restaurant manager. _"Is he like Artani?"_ But his most special guest was probably the black disk duelist, Ramirez. She had missed her chance to challenge him, but now she could see how capable he was. _"But he does not feel the same. And.."_ The air around them grew colder as Zero drew his next card. _"We are out of time." _Whatever he had drawn, it removed the frustrated expression on the duelists face. "Eheh. I can end this.. at last." First he flipped his face-down monster, a Super Nimble Mega Hamster(1100/1800). "Well that's a mouthful." Nathan could chain his trap card to the summon of that beast, yet his curiosity got the better of him. And he did not want to activate it right away as it would leave him wide open. "The Hamster sets a lowleveled beast from my deck when flipped." He took out an Ape Magician and placed it down. "But it is not him that will destroy you..that will take too long" The duelist flashed a nasty smile. " It is this." Nate realized he was going for a tribute summon. "Why is he.." The Hamster and Magician were sacrificed and what took their place appeared high in the sky. "!"

"What is that!" It was so high up in the sky that every duelist and citizen could see it, an odd heart-shaped rock with yellow veins. "Ugh." Ada suddenly felt a strange pressure on her chest. "What's wrong?" Xavier asked, but he soon felt it too. His heart was beating like mad. "Is that thing the cause?" Urizen seemed less affected, or more resistant. He noticed the thing started to pulsate too, as if it were a real heart. " hey, what are you doing?" Meanwhile back at the square Nathan saw how everyone around was clutching their chest. "This is it. The release of god! Now all mortal souls are forfeit!" The beating rock started to draw in more yellow energy. "I thought this was between you and me!" He shouted at him. "You will be the last to be claimed, but Cusillu demands offerings." More yellow lines started to form around the heart, taking the frame of a gigantic monkey. "Then it is time to nip this in the bud. I activate my counter-trap card: Gravity Collapse!" Just then the beating stopped. "WHAT?" And the yellow energy started to fade.

"I sacrifice my synchro monster to negate the summoning of your monster, and destroy it!" Turbo Warrior literally imploded, leaving behind a tear in time and space. "No. You can not do this, you can take it away from me!" The hole started to suck in the Immortal heart. "I have to. This kind of crazyness just will not do!" The god disappeared, sent to the grave before it could take a solid form. The people on the square could once again breathe easy. "No..No..." Duelist Zero was reduced a whimpering sniveler, even the harshness had left his voice. "He has..left me. I can not hear Cusillu anymore." He dropped the card, the image of which blanked out before it hit the ground. "This is enough then." The duel was not over yet, but the fight had left his opponent. He did not say he ended his turn, but he could not do anything else anymore anyway. "Marauding Captain." So Nate summoned the troop commander(1200/400) to deliver the final blow. Two swords swung down to reduce his opponents lifepoints to nothing. He did not even feel it anymore.

Zero's LP: 0

"What was all that about?" The light barrier dissolved into thin air, the power was slowly restored to the city, and the duelists no longer felt that strange pain. "It was as if someone was clawing at my heart." Yale explained. "Yeah. What kind of weird trick did they pull on us?" The duelist with them complained. "You think the tournament hosts are involved?" Urizen did not think this was the doing of a mere man. "Well whatever happened, I think we need to ask him." Before the heart had appeared, they had gotten close enough to the center of the light maze to see who might have started it. "Ashworth dueled someone?" They saw Nathan standing over an unconscious man. "He checked out, that should not be possible." They had to get to bottom of this, so they ran to the square grounds. The people closest to the duel took longer to recover, so they were the first to approach him. Though by now Ramirez had once again left the area. "Hey, Nate. Do you have any clue what the hell happened?"

"Oh you're back. Well I don't have a clue, actually." He shrugged. "This guy came up to me, and forced me to duel him. And not a regular duel either, those holograms somehow did this." He showed off his more ragged than usual sleeves. Especially that last direct attack had done a number on him. "You're bleeding?" Ada was shocked to see a red stain on his shirt as well. "Oh? I didn't even notice that one." Nate laughed nervously. "Now I have even less of an idea of what went on. I just got lucky that I stopped him from summoning his big monster and after he lost his lifepoints he just dozed off." So for now they could not ask this guy any questions. "If this was a publicity stunt, it was a very scary one. The only other explanation I can think off, that there was something mystical taking place here. If you believe in that stuff." Now that the experience was just a memory, he found it harder to think of it as real. "I regard magic the same way I regard those phony psychic duelists everyone keeps talking about." Urizen grumbled.

At that time a loud screeching noise filled the air, which soon changed into a human voice. "People of North City." And Artani felt a shiver run down his spine, as he recognized that voice. "And duelists of this tournament." Someone was speaking through the PA-network, speakers were set in every major corner. "Do not be alarmed. What you just witnessed was a disturbance in the dueling network. An oversight in the connections between the hotspot and dueldisks caused a feedback malfunction, which might have sent shocks into nervous systems. The oversight is now under control. But if you still feel symptoms, you may report to the border guards to receive medical care." This was the explanation they gave, and most actually accepted it. "That's the story they are giving us?" Ada and company were more skeptic. "Hey. Urizen, you look upset." Yale however noted the odd look in Urizens eyes. "There is a reason for that." He replied with a grim tone. The speaker continued "At any rate, today's tournament will end at 5 PM, so stay tuned for another message from R-Tech. This was Gaunt Artani, your sponsor and host."

(To be Continued in Mark 011: Off Record)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Turbo Synchron<br>Turbo Warrior  
>Marauding Captain<p>

-  
>Axe of Fools<p>

-  
>Reanimation Wave<br>Gravity Collapse

**New Cards used by Duelist Zero**  
>Super-Nimble Mega Hamster<br>Earthbound Immortal - Cusillu

-  
>Ebikyo Drakmord<br>Closed Forest


	11. 011: Off Record

**Mark 011: Off Record**

"I am telling you, that's what I saw. Do not call me crazy just because you can not see it." Now that the malfunction had apparently been fixed and the panic went down, people could freely walk the streets again. Like a few of the tower workers who had seen the lightshow from high up. "Then what are you saying, this was not an accident?" One coworker was rather insistent on a theory, while others doubted it. "No malfunction could cause that pattern, I.." They wanted to go to a local bar to take some time off. "What is this?" But found that the road was blocked off by caution tape. "The tournament is not held here, is it?" This was no normal scene either, there were officers present and tents had been set up. "Whoa, did something bad happen here?" He asked a shade-wearing guy in a suit, who oversaw the proceedings. "That information is classified." He said rather harshly, and took one look at the man and what he was showing to everyone. "Also.." And without asking, he snatched the phone from the mans hand. "Hey!" Which he naturally objected too. "All information regarding this incident has to be confiscated I am afraid. You'd be better off forgetting what you have seen." He said before walking off. "Damn it, that thing cost me an arm! Who do you think you are!"

Meanwhile back at the square, things had quieted down, though it would take a while before life could resume its normal ways. The zero duelist had been taken into the restaurant and was kept under close observation. The others had recovered at last. "So that was your father." Yale talked with Urizen who had just heard Gaunt Artani speak to the city. "Well obviously. You know what he is, the president of R-tech. Of course he'd want too boast about the tournament his company sponsored." He never did like hearing that mans voice, so he tried to ignore the subject. "R-Tech? is that the company that started this King of Games card game?" Xavier asked, and Yale nodded. "They developed the dueldisks as well. And through other corporations they managed to set up this dueling network system." He would even have elaborated on their advances. "Damn it!" But Urizens own voice carried too much volume. "What is the problem?" He was clearly annoyed, because he started hitting the checking booth in front of him.

But this outburst was not for family reasons. "This checkpoint does not work. It will not read my keycards." He slid all six into the reader, but they were rejected. "Hmm. It says the code's status is undetermined. That's odd." They both knew Urizen had won his cards legally. "Others managed to use it just fine though." Ada said, while sighing. "It's not your fault Ada, you could not have known the power would come back on." Xavier tried to comfort her, about the fact that she checked out Xavier while ensuring she could no longer win anything. "I would have done the same thing now too." She quickly answered. "Yes I could have used that money. But I was not going to screw you over just to give me another chance." Even now she saw no more duelists to duel anyway, and time was almost up. "You're not just saying that because you think I will share the price money with you, right? Then again I probably would do so anyway.." He could not resist her desires either way. "Well, now that you mention it.." At least he got her to smile again.

"No!" Urizen suddenly shouted, as a clocktower in the distance sounded. It was 5' o clock, the deadline was upon them. "Why!" And he still could not use the checkpoint. "Duelists of North City!" At that time Gaunts voice returned to reverberate across the streets. "This marks the end of the day of games, the tournament is over. All winners have been accounted for by our network, and will receive access to our intermediate rewards. However we of N-Tech have another announcement to make. If you would look upwards." The duelists did so. "You will see further instructions for those who chose to accept the next stage in this event." A blimp was hovering in the air, hovering high enough for the whole city to see. "Tsk. Show off." The son rasped as the father went on. "You see, the day is over. But this competition transcends the old standards, the lucky few who have conquered this battle city are granted access to the Battle Garden, where you will encounter your fellow conquerors from the West, East and South!"

Many gasps and much awe came from the crowd upon this revelation, the blimp had a digital display which revealed the location of this new stage. "Indeed. Tomorrow a bus will take anyone who wishes to the Battle Garden located near the capitol of the country, all you need to do is reveal the same scanned keycards." The display shifted to show off six keycards, all sliding into one whole card. "You can soon exchange your keycards for a region card. Much like today you will be putting your region card on the line in a duel against the best from the other major cities. It will be the ultimate National tournament! And because you made it this far, you have free access to our archives to obtain whatever card you want for the decks you will use. Of course if you can not, or do not want to, test your skills and risk your rewards. You can always cash in your keycards now and just take the money. But I already expect that most of you will not let this opportunity go to waste." The excited cries supported Gaunts prediction.

"However, one word of warning. This time you will not be alone." The digital screen showed off four profiles next, four duelists. "Each regions Ace has also been invited to the Battle Garden. You may engage them for bonus points, but the risks may outweigh the rewards. More will be explained upon arrival, but for now you get an update on their appearance. Just so you know what you are up against." The display showed them off one by one. First was a thin man in a black suit. "Kein, the Ace of Spades and Champion of the North." Next was a masked man. "Lincoln, the Ace of Diamonds and Champion of the East." After that a tall shorthaired man wearing glasses. "Richard, the Ace of Clubs and Champion of the South." Finally there was a rather flamboyant young man wearing a sort of shakespearean costume. "Macbeth, the Ace of Hearts and Champion of the West." And after that came one more image, an obscured profile. "And if all four Aces are defeated, who knows? Maybe you get to duel the King of Games himself." Urizen twitched as he heard that, that was the title he had abandoned after all. "I am looking forward to seeing you all in person. Don't miss this glorious event!" Gaunt yelled proudly at the end of his speech, and the speakers turned off.

"Still the master of verbosity." Urizen sighed to himself. "Guess it runs in the family." Ada said, still in good spirits. "Hey guys. What are they doing?" Xavier pointed at the restaurant. It turned out that while Gaunt had given his speech, several officers had entered the square. "Hey. They're taking that guy!" Ah saw them carry the unconscious duelist zero out of the joint and into a parked van. "That does not look like a hospital vehicle to me." Of course with how nuts that guy had been, he might have been better off at an asylum instead. "You do not have to concern yourself children. This man is our responsibility now." One of the men with the officers spoke up, it was the shaded man in the black suit that had been seen by others before. "Oh!" But to the duelists he was more known as a certain champion. "You are.. Kein!" Before them stood the Ace of the North region, Kein Schiver. "And a fine day to you too duelists." He replied rather politely, going as far as to bow for them. "I trust that this day has been kind to you."

"Hey Kein!" Most were surprised to see him here, but Nate was familiar enough with the man to open a conversation straight away. "I see you decided to grow a mustache and goatee, eh? Did you want to look more mature now?" Nate joked, and those looking close enough could see the contortions in Keins face. "Nathan." Was all the greeting managed to get out of his mouth. "Good thing you were here to engage that duelist. The malfunctioning dueldisk was his, and the error would have persisted had you not defeated him." He too stood behind the glitch story apparently. "Oh and It seems Wolfram is here too." The student girl flinched because she did not expect to be noticed. "Father unemployed, mother can not support children, daughter tries to win tournament no matter what it takes to hep out family: the standard story of many competitors. Yet for some reason the network registered you as a four-times winner. Keycards were never given to you. It almost looked like someone had hacked the network, a desperate act for sure. But that is of course..." He smirked very briefly. "Not possible." Before turning face someone else. "What?" She was left to stand there, confused and again in a bitter mood._ "It never worked to begin with?"_

"Urizen Artani. I did not expect to find you here." The ace stood before the champion from two years ago. "You knew I was here though. After all you had people spying on me the whole day." The shades watching him in the background had to be his people. "Paranoia does not become you, son of Gaunt. We would never betray your privacy like that." And Urizen knew he would deny it, this guy had become a tool of dear old dad just like the new national champion. "Whatever. It's not my fault your security was so full of holes. I could walk right through and even then I took the trouble of registering my decks." He showed them off, just to prove they were scanned in. "Yes, one of which is technically property of N-Tech. No other duelist in the world has the Steelswarm series. But.." He took off his shades to look him in the eye. "... there should have been a guard at that post. Every other part of the perimeter was monitored at all times. If one guard has neglected to fulfill his duties, he will be reprimanded." But Urizen held his gaze.

"Actually now that you are here, you can help answering a question." He pointed at the booth. "This thing refuses to check my cards out." Kein raised an eyebrow. "That is unusual. Unless.." He took an odd sort of meter device from his pocket and used it to scan the cards. "Ah. Therein lies the problem, I am affraid your cards are classified as 'unknown variables'. Which means that their possession status is undetermined due to an unfinished duel." Urizen gasped, it was because of the duel with Ramirez?. "What? But that wasn't my fault, the power went out!" If this was going to cost him the chance to enter Battle garden and the ability to take on people from the other cities. "Ah, so you do care about our tournament after all." But Kein did not sound like he cared for his plight. Though he maintained his humble tone. "There are ways to compensate you for this, you could always call in a favor from your father." He suggested. But that was the last thing Urizen wanted, to crawl back to that man and beg at his feet.

"No. I do not need him, but.." Urizen took his second deck and inserted it into his disk. "..you will do, Kein schiver. I just remembered that your name is on my list too." He grinned as he activated the device. Now that the tournament was over, duels could once again take place on the normal grid. "That is right, I recall battling you a few years back. I was but a rookie at that time." Kein did not exactly answer the call for a duel yet, his hands remained at his side. "Urizen, you want to take on this guy now? He is still the champion of this region you know!" Yale yelled at him for being so reckless. "It's probably the only way. If I beat him, he will have to qualify me for the next stage. If he can not do that, I might instead just ask him what really happened in that duel Nate just had." Kein just stared and put his sunglasses back on. "It is clear to me that I can not persuade you to drop this venture." He pulled up his sleeve and revealed a metallic attachment underneath which unfolded into a dueldisk. "... so I accept your challenge."

Keins LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"But beware. Us Aces do not normally duel for a reason. Do not think that a duel against me will provide you valuable information." He drew five cards. "As the instigator, you may proceed first." Urizen did not say no to that and drew six cards. "You're using your Steelswarm deck for this guy?" Ada asked him, because she did not see him go back to the old deck. "I am not that prideful that I would risk my future in such a way." He explained as he placed one monster face down. "He is one of the five who has to be faced at full power." He also activated the spell card Gold Sarcophagus. "I seal the spell card Recurring Nightmare from my deck." The golden coffin would relinquish that spell two turns later. His turn was now over. "Forgive me for asking, but are you acquainted with my other title?" He summoned Manju, of the Ten Thousand Hands(1400/1000). "Yes, yes I am." That monster was a well known ritual card enabler, Kein could now add a ritual monster or spell to his hand. "The Ritual Master."

The Ace of Spades took a spell called: Ritual of Grace from his deck. "The lost art. I play the spell cards: Ritual Cage and Ascending Soul." He played two continuous spells; the first was a golden energy cage that would protect all ritual monsters from targeting effects and battle damage, the second was a card that shuffled one ritual material back into the hand every time a ritual summon was performed. "You probably still remember, but I will explain it to the other onlookers how this works." He activated the Ritual of Grace." By tributing 7 levels worth of monsters, I can summon this level 7 ritual monster." He revealed a dark-blue bordered card in his hand. "I tribute from my hand, the Djinns of Rituals: Presider and Procogstinator." He discarded two devil monsters, one level 3 and one level 4. "Come out your Divine Grace, Northwemko!" The divine queen(2700/1200) was ritual summoned, her wand touching the two continuous spell cards on the field. "Urizen. I intend to honor the fallen champion. However if you can not defeat me, you are not worthy of a better title."

(To be Continued in Mark 012: Four Corners of Eden)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Gold Sarcophagus<p>

**Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Manju of the ten Thousand Hands<br>Djinn Presider of Rituals  
>Djinn Procogstinator of Rituals<br>Divine Grace - Northwemko

-  
>Ascending Soul<br>Ritual Cage  
>Ritual of Grace<p> 


	12. 012: Four Corners of Eden

**Mark 012: Four Corners of Eden**

Urizens LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000

"Divine Grace Northwemko(2700/1200) is the Goddess of Salvation. When she is ritually summoned, she selects two cards on the field to safeguard her." Now as long as Ascending Soul and Ritual Cage existed, she could not die in any way. "Ascending Soul allows me to take back one of the ritual sacrifices." Kein reclaimed the Djinn Procogstinator. "You made a mistake choosing that deck, Urizen. Unless you mixed things up, I know all the cards that rest in there. So, I know what your facedown could be." He sent Manju(1400/1000) to attack first, rather than his stronger ritual monster. "Tsk, you killed my Mystic Tomato." When it(1400/1100) died in battle, a dark elemental with 1500 atk or less would come from the deck. "So I special summon a second." Unfortunately he had to call it(1400/1100) out in an attack position. "Sublime Deliverance!" And Northwemko erased it from the field with rays of light emanating from her staff. "Because of the Djinns I sacrificed for her rising, Presider and Procogstinator, I can draw every time she vanquishes a foe and my opponent must relinquish a card every time he suffers her holy energy." So Kein drew a card and Urizen begrudgingly discarded one of his. "I will set the card I gained and end my turn."

Urizens LP: 6700

"But thanks to my second Mystic Tomato I can summon this!" From his deck this time came a four-legged plated fiend(1500/1900), which he switched to defense mode as his turn started. "She may be safe from destruction, but how about the rest of your field?" As his turn started, Urizen could revive the Steelswarm Scout(200/0) he discarded, because he controlled no spells or traps. "I sacrifice the Scout for Steelswarm Moth!" Out came the moth whose effect allowed him to return 2 cards on the field to a players hand at the cost of 1000 LP. "Your Ritual Cage protects her from monster effects, so I will just target that Cage and Ascending Soul!" If he were to return those two, they would no longer count as Northwemko's safeguards. "I am afraid I saw that coming too." However what returned was Ascending Soul.. and Manju. "What?" Kein revealed the cause, his counter trap card. "Skill Revolution. I decided which cards you targeted with Moth just now. And I thank you for letting me use Manju's effect again." He smiled.

Urizens LP: 5700

_Skill Revolution, Counter Trap  
>Activate only when your opponent activates an Effect Monster's effect that targets 1 or more cards on the field. You select the targets of that effect.<em>

"I set one card down and then I summon Steelswarm Sting." A dark demon bee(1850/0) appeared. "I thought you already normal summoned?" Xavier did not get why this was allowed. "It's because Gatekeeper enables a second normal summon whenever a Steelswarm is tribute summoned." Kein explained for them as Urizen finished his turn. "Now. Your old deck had six trap cards, including one which can destroy my spells." He glared at the Needle fiend. "When Steelswarm Sting dies, a Ritual/Fusion or Synchro monster dies as well. Without my Cage it could sting my Goddess." Urizen said nothing, though he was clearly annoyed with his insights. "Therefor.." He resummoned the thousand-handed Manju and added a Ritual Monster to his hand. "I will destroy it now! I activate the Ritual of Destruction!" Urizen gasped. _"Another ritual, so soon?" _Kein discarded the Djinn Procogstinator again and sacrificed the level 4 Manju on his field, to ritual summon a level 7 demon. "The Devil of Destruction, Garlandolf!"

A blue horned devil(2500/1400) was summoned and immediately unleashed a violent storm of dark winds. "It kills all others upon its arrival, and gains 100 attackpoints for each victim." Northwemko was unharmed thanks to her own effects, but the Steelswarms did not do so well. "First Steps Towards Infestation!" Urizen managed to rescue one from the grave with his quickplay spell. "I return Moth to my hand and draw a card." Sting and Gatekeeper were what remained to be wasted by the now powered up Garlandolf(2700/1400). "Very well. But we still have a battle phase to go through." Northwemko unleashed more rays of light. "Savage Perdition!" And the DevilKing sent out flares of darkness. Both attacks hit and both forced Urizen to discard a card from his hand. He threw away Steelswarm Moth and Steelswarm Cell "Malevolent Catastrophe!" But he at least managed to set off that trap Kein feared. And for good reason as it destroyed the golden cage. "I do not fear you, Ace of Spades."

Urizens LP: 300

"I know you do not. The one you fear is Ansoni, isn't it?" Kein ended his turn. "As If. I bet he is just like how I once was. Fathers new mascot, only good because R-Tech wants him to be." Kein did not answer to that accusation. "I make my own future now." Two turns had passed, so Golden Sarcophagus opened up. "I take and activate Recurring Nightmare." He took two dark monsters with zero defense, Moth and Cell, back to his hand. "You do not have the lifepoints you need to use Moths effect." The ace stated calmly. "That was not my intention. I play Allure of Darkness!" Urizen could draw twice but had to banish a dark monster from his hand afterwards. "I banish Moth. Because I have something better now." Then, when he controlled no monsters while his opponent did, he could special summon the Cell(0/0) from his hand. "I then activate Inferno Reckless Summon!" A quickplay spell followed the Cell. "When a weak monster is special summoned, I call two more from my deck." Two more Cells appeared. "Oh, I can see where this is headed."

Kein in turn could summon two more a of a monster on his field. However his ritual monsters could not be summoned that way. "Even if you can see, you can not stop it. I sacrifice the three Cells." The little bugs erupted into fierce black tempest which took a solid form. "To tribute summon Steelswarm Hercules!" It was the biggest steelswarm(3200/0) in existence, spikes protruded from all over its shell and its armor was as strong as diamond. "I can pay half my life, to eradicate all other living things on the field." Northwemko no longer had any safeguards, and the Cage was gone. The Herculean demon wiped both her and Garlandolf out. "And then a direct attack!" Hercules swiped its tusked claws across Keins body, nearly taking half his LP away. "Yes. You hit hard, son of Gaunt. That I also recall." He did not seem to mind this much. "This is my own power now." He ended his turn. "I did not say otherwise. Yet I worry for your sake." He pointed at the lifepoint meter. "Your playstyle has gotten selfdestructive, you are too far behind."

Urizens LP: 150 Keins LP: 4800

"So I wonder, if all your new power is good for just one hit. Because to me, you appear..fragile." He activated a spell, the Preparation of Rites. "No!" Urizen knew it all too well, a ritual duelists best friend. "I take a ritual spell out of my cemetery, and a level 7 or lower ritual monster from my deck." He reclaimed the Ritual of Destruction and gained a second Garlandolf. "But he has no tributes!" Ada protested. "He has." But she was wrong, for Keins Ritual Djinns could be sacrificed even if they were deep in their graves. "I banish Presider and Procogstinator, to ritual summon the Devil king." The female and male djinn were banished from the cemetery, and unsealed the second King of Destruction(2500/1400). He of course immediately killed the Herculean Steelswarm with its effect. "Savage Perdition." And right afterwards it delivered the coup de grace to Urizens lifepoints. "No.." He had lost. The former national champion did not even last four turns against the Ace of the North. "It appears that you will not be able to duel in Battle Garden after all.."

Urizens LP: 0

"That is not true, technically." A very annoying man suddenly spoke up. "Ashworth? What are you.." At least he was annoying from the perspective of the Ace of Spades. "There appears to be no rule against bringing along one friend or custodian, as far as I can tell. One of his friends could just invite him along." He looked at Ada and Xavier, as the same applied to them. "Is that true?" She perked up instantly. "I don't know, I could always take Vanessa from my history class." Ali said, scratched his chain. "Joking, joking!" Before narrowly dodging her fist. "How could you possibly know this?" Kein asked, again as nicely as possible. "People tell me things, Schiver. I have some benefits left over from my career." He put a big grin on his face, which just aggravated the northern champion even further. "Fine. You are correct, Urizen can join the Garden that way. However he will be forbidden from dueling anyone who has not yet been eliminated, and he certainly can not challenge one of us four again. And finally." He swiped the deck from Artani's disk. "Hey!" And put it in his coat. "This belongs to N-Tech. Rest assured, i shall keep it safe." He gave one last glare from under his shades at Nathan before leaving. "This is not over, Ashworth."

Urizen was left there standing, down one deck and barred from the rest of the tournament. "Am I..supposed to like this?" His hands were shaking, clenching tightly. "This is where I stand? Below him and unable to proceed!" If he could not even duel one Ace, there was no chance of him ever facing Ansoni. Not in a way that would make everyone recognize him as the king of games again. "Hey. It's okay. There will be plenty of people from your list there, right?" Yale said as he approached him. "If you want me too, I could be the one to invite you as my traveling companion." The duelist extended a hand. "Tsk. You.."Which Urizen rudely pushed away. "You are always there to help me, aren't you? Why? What is in it for you?" He looked him straight in the eye. "And do not tell me it is because of 'kindness', I do not believe in that. Everyone wants something! But I will not take it from others or give it to others!" He then turned away and started walking. "..you can still say yes!" YQ shouted after him. "Don't bet on it."

And with that the day of games had finally come to an end, overall it was a great success aside from the mess that they had to clean up in all the cities. That was par of the course though, it became like a ritual. However not just physical matter had to be cleansed, there were certain articles that had to be discussed away. "So. They managed to reach the surface world again." Someone stayed behind in the sectioned off area of the city, even when most had been asked to leave. "But I was too late to make contact with it, and it could not stabilize." This person spoke into a communicator. "Were you in danger?" The voice on the other end sounded old and stern. "Never was. It appears we truly are immune to their powers, which may help us in negotiations." The mysterious one chuckled. "Do not get ahead of yourself, there are other parties involved here and you must remain hidden. Simply continue your observations and report to me again when another of the Immortals arises." The old man said, and the other nodded. "I will not disappoint you."

And the next day it was the dawn of the new tournament. More information about it had spilled unto the internet or come out in other ways. It would supposedly last the entire weekend and the buses that took them to Battle Garden were waiting for the northern duelists at the city central station. In the mean time they were allowed to edit their decks and add whatever they wished from the storage facilities R-Tech put at their disposal. "You're an idiot Ali." Ada and Xavier both made good use of this, or at least he thought he had. "You wasted all your credit on Blue-Eyes White Dragons? You should have gotten some good dragon synchros instead!" It appeared the student had given in to a past obsession of his. "I can not help it, these things are so cool. And the support cards will help me too." They were two of the first to arrive at the station. Though they were not the first. "Oh." A certain woman was already there, sitting silently in back of the bus. "Miss Ramirez." Just the name got Ada's blood boiling. "Now relax Ada, what's done is done." He tried to calm her down. Mostly because he was not sure whether or not she would want him to duel her next. "You're right. But for now, we will wait outside." She did not want to go near her either way.

Soon more came, including Nate who quickly took over two seats just so he could take another nap, and Yale. "Urizen is not here yet is he?" The students shook their head. "Figured as much. Well it's his choice." All in all it did not seem like there were many duelists from the north region that made it to the national stage. Barely a double dozen, which was not even enough to fill one bus when the company had reserved three. "You know. He did have a point. If he does not see us a friends, why do we?" Ada had given it some thought and found out she did not have all that many 'nice' memories of him. "I just felt bad for him. he won six cards but then lost them because of the incident. He deserves to come with us at least." But soon some officiants from R-Tech arrived to scan the keycards from the present duelists. But then at last a certain someone showed up at the terminal. "Yo!" Urizen walked towards them, still with the same frown on his face. "Dont make this worse, just do what you have to do." He grumbled softly. ".Good enough."

So the handful of duelists got themselves checked in, along with their guests. Not many had taken along friends though. "All on board?" The bus driver asked the crowd once they were all inside, a mixed gathering of cheers and shouts was the answer. "Very well. Next stop: Battle Garden." And so they drove off, into what was for some a part of the country they had never been too before. Along the way the driver gave a short story about how the battle garden was built near the former palace of the old king himself, and now it was a major tourist magnet. When asked if they could duel in there too, he had no answer. During the drive the duelists talked with each other, swapped stories and strategies. Ashworth kept getting interrupted in his sleep, Urizen refused to talk to anyone, and most people just avoided Ramirez. But soon after a few hours they were on the scene. Their bus arrived last, the duelists from the east, south and west regions had been here for a few minutes already. "Well will you look at that." The fun had only just begun.

(To be Continued in Mark 013: Go, Go Destiny Ranger!)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Mystic Tomato<br>Steelswarm Gatekeeper  
>Steelswarm Sting<br>Steelswarm Hercules

-  
>Allure of Darkness<br>Inferno Reckless Summon

-  
>Malevolent Catastrophe<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Garlandolf, King of Destruction<p>

-  
>Ritual of Destruction<br>Preparation of the Rites

_-  
>Skill Revolution<em>


	13. 013: Go, go Destiny Rangers

**Mark 013: Go, Go Destiny Ranger!  
><strong>

The Battle Garden was not so much a garden as it was a large resort. Sure it had gardens all around, but at the center of it all was a series of hotels with pools and palm trees. It had every luxury you could imagine. And on the horizon stood the mighty skyscrapers of capitol city, a place Urizen used too know all too well. The buses from the four sides of the country all stopped around a large stage set up near an even larger fountain. You could tell royalty used to live nearby because of the sheer size and number of decorations strewn about. The duelists stepped out and were given a new card as they did so, which they had to exchange in their old keycards for. But before they could spread out or even talk to others, a helicopter arrived. It landed on a runway between two gardens and from it four individuals came. They were recognized as the four Aces. The one who stepped up to the microphone was the tallest of them: Richard. He took off his glasses and started reading from a sheet. "Welcome to the Battle Garden, we are your hosts. The four Aces.." But before he could continue, one of his companions stole the mic. "The people did not come here to listen to your stiff speeching, Rich." It was Macbeth, who wore a musketeer outfit this day.

"You came here to duel, am I right folks?" He asked loudly, and they replied with even louder cheers. "I knew I could count on ya. This crowd had passion!" In the background Kein coughed. "Ehrm. Anyway, I will keep it short. The rules are simple enough and most has been explained already. It's a duel til you drop weekend! You have to challenge a duelist from each other region, and once you have collected four region cards you can challenge the four of us in sequence. But there is a trick to that, and we hope you discover what it is. If you want to find us, we are staying at the palace" They all understood him so far. "Dinner and breakfast will be served at the hotel, it has a wifi connection too. Also your room numbers are printed on the back of your region card. So that was it, go nuts!" He clapped excitedly before walking off. The crowd was just as jubilant. Some even asked the Aces to sign their favorite cards, though only Macbeth and the fourth member Lincoln obliged. After that they flew off towards the palace in the distance. "That guy has some style." Ada admired his shamelessness when it came to appearance. "... Meanwhile my best outfit is this uniform here." Ali wished he could have worn something classier.

When the commotion diminished once again, everyone was left to their own devices. Literally. Some duelists immediately jumped in to fight another, and chose a good spot in one of the many gardens. Others wanted to relax first. At any rate it appeared this was not like Battle City where a duel could be forced on another. "So which one of these is first?" Xavier cracked his knuckles, he felt ready. "Idiot. There are so many reasons to not dive into like that, that I cant even quote them all." Ada wanted to wait and watch. "Either way let's stick together. We can not duel each other yet since we only have our own regional cards." Yale looked around, he recognized some duelists already. "Huh look at that guy." He pointed at a hooded duelist, his cloak had the mark of an eye on it. "Is he supposed to be one of those psychic duelists?" For a while now there had been talk about a special school of psychics trained in dueling. "Don't tell me you believe in that crap?" It was a story that Urizen found near laughable. "No. But he has the school outfit."

"Ha. Why look over there, when you can face me!" Their little get together was intruded upon by another, a girl with slicked back red hair. "Hey, on second thought." The girl also had a scouter-like device attached to her headband. "Forget I said that." Ada did not like this girls tone. "What, are we not worth your time?" The girl blinked and actually began laughing. "Well of course not, haha. In the first place you're here by invite. Why would I want to duel you?" She pointed at Yale and Xavier. "And you two only checked out in the final hour, you can't be that good." It seemed she was reading off data from the scouter with her left eye. "In fact it seems like your entire region is weak as hell. You could only bring one bus of duelists? Sheesh." Urizen had about enough of this as well. "Who are you?" The redhead smiled and twirled her bangs. "You haven't heard of me, the best duelist in the south? Psh, know my name philistines. I am Kai the...HEY! I was not done yet!" Kai screamed as she noticed the group was no longer giving her any attention.

"Who are those clowns?" Urizen was more focused on a trio of costumed duelists stepping out of the eastern region bus. "Cosplayers?" They had taken all this time to put on their outfits, armors of blue, red and black. "I think those are the Rangers. Group of famous duelists who roleplay as masked heroes from time to time." Yale had seen videos of them before on the tube. "Oh they look defeatable to me." Xavier was once again ready to throw himself into the fight. However he was beaten to the punch. "Hey rangers, rangers!.." From behind another blonde girl with a ponytail came running so fast, she was like a blur in black and yellow clothing. She raced past the others before Ali could even take a step and stopped in front of them to catch her breath. "Yes? That's who we are.." They replied. "Nice outfits!" The girl gave them all a thumbs up. "That was it?" Another ranger asked. "What? Oh no, no no of course not. I simply have to duel one of you!" The three looked at each other as she stared at them with big eyes. "Well we can not deny a lady's request."

"Yes!" The girl pumped her fist. "Awww." Xavier sighed as he and the others approached the rangers. "I do not suppose I can take on one of the other two?" He asked them. "I fear not, us Rangers fight one at a time!" The one in black boasted. "And I Ranger D, shall be your opponent." He activated a dueldisk which was built into his costume. "Stand Back Rangers E and V! The rest of you are welcome to watch!" They agreed and sat down on the edge of the stage. "What is your name, fair maiden?" He asked and made a bow. "Oh. Sarah.. Sarah Rain. My goal is to face every kind of deck at least once!" She activated her disk as well. "Hope you don't mind me cutting in." She gave Xavier a quick smile, which instantly made him forget his disappointment. "No problem." Sarah nodded. "Good. Then you can go first, Ranger D!" He drew six cards. "If that is what you wish. So be it, I shall show you the power of D! It stands for Destiny!" He summoned his first monster, the Destiny HERO Dunker(1200/1700). "Destiny Heroes?" Now it started to make sense to Urizen. "Then E and V stands for.." He also noticed how much their costumes resembled monsters from that line. "Elemental HERO and Vision HERO." Ranger E looked like Absolute Zero, while ranger V resembled Trinity.

Ranger D's LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"The first strike is mine! I discard a Destiny HERO to damage my adversary." He threw away a D-HERO malicious to inflict 500 damage to Sarah. "That was quick." She merely sounded surprised. "There is more. I activate Destiny Draw!" He could discard another Destiny HERO, Dread Master, from his hand to draw two cards. "Then I play Over Destiny to special summon a HERO from my deck whose level is half of that of a HERO in the grave!" Dread Lord was level 8, so he could summon the level 4 Diamond Dude(1400/1600). "Its effect checks the top of my deck for spells." He looked at it, and saw an Allure of Darkness. "This one I will be able to activate next turn!" And still he had more in store. "I banish Malicious from my graveyard, to special summon another from the deck." The diabolic warrior(800/800) appeared . "Finally I sacrifice them all for Destiny HERO Dogma!" It, Dunker and Diamond Dude were tributed for a black clad batwinged warhero(3400/2400). "All that in one turn? Wow!" Sarah was very impressed.

Sarahs LP: 7500

"I also activate the field spell Clocktower Prison and set a card down." He had exhausted his entire hand in one turn. "A Hero never holds back his power! Behold Dogma's ability!" The dark hero swung its hand blade around, and cut Sarahs lifepoints in half. "Good lord." Now even Ada and Ali were in awe. "Oh wow. That does hurt." Sarah was still optimistic despite this quick decrease, and drew her card. "I am worried my first turn will not be as spectacular." She summoned a sparkling bird(1000/800). "Go Blitzwing!" It was a Wattpheasant card, on which she had evidently given its own name. "She can attack directly!" The pheasant turned into pure lightning and reappeared behind Ranger D to shock him from behind. "I see. But still a hit is a hit. Well done." The Black Ranger gave her a thumbs up now. "Thanks!" After that she placed two cards down and ended her turn. "She nicknames her monster cards, what the heck.." Urizen had seen many duelists but never one that went as far as to write the actual name on the card with ink.

Ranger D's LP: 7000 Sarahs LP: 3750

"But it ends now." Diamond Dude's selected spell was activated, thanks to Allure of Darkness the ranger could draw two cards and remove a dark monster in his hand from play. "One turn has passed, the Clocktower turns to 3'o clock. But.." He activated his facedown trap, Eternal Dread. "This trap turns it up twice more." The Clock dial spun to 9'o clock. "And then there is the final revolution!" He normal summoned another Destiny HERO, the Dread Servant(400/700). Its appearance turned the clock dial to twelve o' clock. "It strikes!" And to the surprise of most onlookers, it tried to hit the Wattbird with its staff, but it simply struck it down with electricity before it could get near. " Because the tower announced the midnight hour, all damage done to me is negated. And furthermore.." The tower itself started to crack and collapsed. "When Dread Servant dies, it takes one of my spells with it." And when the Clocktower crumbled, a certain monster would be revived. "I can now special summon the Dread Master!"

From his graveyard came the iron masked burly warrior(0/0) who used his chains to bring along two more Destiny Heroes. "Dreadmaster gains the points for every D-HERO on the field." Diamond Dude and Dunker were special summoned as well, so that pair and Dogma gave the true master(6000/5700) of destiny and time a huge powerboost. "I will decide this in one magnificent blow. I hope this is to your liking, Sarah!" Dreadmaster sent out black energy to suffocate the Wattpheasant. "Well that is amazing, but I do not wanna lose yet. So.." She discarded a card from her hand. "!" It was Honest, the most infamous light-elemental monster. "Wattpheasant will gain the attackpoints of Dreadlord?" The bird(7000/800) powered up too and pushed back the darkness. "But Dreadmaster negates all damage and death during the turn it is summoned!" The reflected darkness was pushed away by the warrior. "Yet Honest's boost lasts until the end of this turn." Ranger D could accomplish nothing this battle phase. "I set a trap and end my turn."

"I guess I got lucky." She giggled. "If you were, than that was your destiny, young one!" The black ranger was enthusiastic nonetheless. "Well.. I think I might be lucky again then. But I do not know if this will work." She drew and activated an equip spell, the Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce. It depowered the Wattpheasant(500/800) yet it allowed it to strike twice. "Wait, wont you just do the same amount of damage now?" Yale asked her. "I have a plan." She insisted as she entered the battle phase, only to activate Beckoning Light. "Oh!" By discarding the rest of the cards in her hand she could retake Light-type monsters she lost. So she took back the Honest card. "What is she.." And then she discarded it as the bird flew towards Dreadmaster. Blitzwing(6500/800) charged up a second time, and this time it could kill the Destiny Lord. "I see your intention. But Fortune smiles on me!" He tried to activate his trap card D-Fortune to negate the attack by banishing a Destiny HERO from his cemetery, But. "..Trap Stun!"

Sarah flipped her own final trap, a bolt of lighting was released which paralyzed all other traps. "I am sorry, but it looks like I was one step ahead that time too." She continued the attack and Wattpheasant electrocuted Dreadmaster. "Awesome, it kept the attackboost for a second attack!" And with Dreadlord gone, the bird was free to use its second attack directly against the opponent. "Impossible." Wattpheasant flew into the air and fired one mighty bolt of lightning down on the Destiny duelist. "No Ranger D!" Rangers E and V cried out. "Darn. I should have.. done more heroic speeches." He slumped to his knees, as the holograms of his warriors faded. "I can not believe that worked. I should do that trick more often." The blonde took out a notepad and wrote down the combo feverishly. "Well. We are men of our word. Because we lost, we hand you this region card." They gave her the eastern card, which had a green tint. "Woo. That one looks nice. But it's not yellow." Her own region was blue. "But thanks. It was a good game." She said cheerfully.

Ranger D's LP: 0

"Oh hey, you guys were watching. What did you think? Do you think its a good combo? Or do you think I should have used more monsters first. I feel sad for my other Watts and Honest too. He never gets to fight for himself you know. But then It was a perfectly calculated victory lifepoint-wise." Sarah turned to the northern duelists, getting right up in their faces even. "Eh. I liked it." They were not really used to someone with so much energy. "So, you're from the west are you?" Yale asked as if he wanted to duel her straight away. "Yep! Right next to the sea at that. Not that this place is less beautiful. In fact I think I wanna go scout it out!" She yelled to herself before running off into the distance. "I was.. going to ask you for a duel." Yale could only say to the empty spot she left behind. "What is she on." Xavier sighed, he would love to see a regular girl one of these days.. "I do not know. But if all duelists are like her, this may be tougher then we thought." Ada did not like her partners chances.

(To be Continued in Mark 014: In Single File)

**Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>WattPheasant<br>Honest

-  
>Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce<p>

-  
>Beckoning Light<br>Trap Stun

**Cards used by Ranger D**  
>Destiny HERO - Dunker<br>Detsiny HERO - Diamond Dude  
>Destiny HERO - Malicious<br>Destiny HERO - Dogma  
>Destiny HERO - Dread Servant<br>Destiny HERO - Dread Lord

-  
>Destiny Draw<br>Over Destiny  
>ClockTower Prison<br>Allure of Darkness

-  
>Eternal Dread<br>D - Fortune


	14. 014: In Single File

**Mark 014: In Single File**

An hour had passed, and the number of active duelists started to decrease. As did the number of duels that were in progress, there were eliminations every minute. "Whew." Yale in that time had secured one victory over a duelist from the south. "It's a pity I did not get to use that new Synchro I purchased though." He rested on a bench near an archway that lead into a tree garden. "I am surprised you did not spend it all on applications for your dueldisk." Urizen was with him, only because he figured he had to stay close to his 'chaperon'. "At least he has some. My disk is bare-bones." Xavier and Ada were there too, but he had not engaged a single duelist so far. "Ada. When will you let me play someone." Mostly because she turned down every choice he made. "We need to find the proper opponent. We can not rush into the strongest candidate with just one card as back-up." After her fiasco with Ramirez, she did not want to let him make the same mistake. "But it sounds like you don't think I can take anyone on!"

"Besides I beat that Bob guy." He boasted, even though she was not around to see that. "Narrowly. And that was probably only because you knew what to expect." Yale had dueled Bob before Ali had done so. "Look, it's probably best if we duel someone from the southern region like Yale did. They have the most players, and it stands to reason that only few of them stand out." Of course it could also be that they were all good players. "Hmph. I see you are still too scared to duel on your own." Urizen said, showing a sudden interest in their argument. "There is no point in hiding. If Xavier is bad, he will lose. if Xavier is good, he will win. That is how it works." If it was up to him, Xavier would have taken on the Rangers back when he had the chance. "It's not that simple! You must know your enemy, study them and take advantage of their weaknesses." She felt his Dragunity deck could not withstand the rapid fire power of a HERO deck. "Ali. Just trust me, we will find.."

"Wait, is his first name Xavier or Ali? I am confused now."

They were not alone anymore. Someone walked through the archway to intrude on their discussion. "You again?" It was the redhead from before, Kai. "Why are you here?" They had almost forgotten about her. "What do you think?" She raised her hand, which held a blue, yellow and green card. "I came for a region card from one of you northerners. That is all I need to get to the palace and break the record of fastest winning time." She seemed to be in good spirits. "Wait, one of us? I thought you said you did not want to duel us?" Back then she had rejected them because they had been 'too slow'. "Do not have much a choice anymore. There are only four of you left." She put the cards back in her coat. "What? Just us and.." Their side had been weeded out this fast? "Can not be helped, the other cities smelled rare blood. Since your region had the lowest turn-out, their region cards would be the hardest to get a hand on. That fact alone will cut down our numbers by a great deal. But luckily I remembered the two of you." She activated her disk. "And I pick him." And pointed at Xavier. "What, why him?" Ada protested. "What about Yale, or the other two which have not been eliminated yet? Or even a different duelist who already has a northern region card?"

Those were all options, but she did not pick them for various reasons. "I saw that yale guy duel just now, and Morphtronics are too weak to make for a good fight. That Ashworth guy is still sleeping, that Ramirez woman refused to duel me, and the others will just ask too much in return. At least in his case, he only has one card, so I will also eliminate a player altogether." She smirked and inserted her cards. "You don't have to do it, Ali. If she has three region cards already she is obviously strong." Kai was certainly someone who made quick victories. "... sorry Ada. But Urizen is right." To her dismay, he activated his disk too. "I can not run forever. If I want to win for me, and you." He inserted his deck too. "How sweet, are you two a couple, or just homework partners?" Kai asked, though definitely not in a considerate fashion. "...okay, you can duel her." Ada changed her tone drastically. "But don't you dare lose." She added before taking a step back. "Yes mam." Xavier smirked and stood up_. _"Showtime."

Kai's LP: 8000 Xaviers LP: 8000

"I will go first!" Xavier said before Ada could say anything. "The one that goes first, wins right?" He looked at her. "Not in every situation." She sighed. "Well, in any case. I am gonna set the playing field." He activated a field spell, the Dragon Ravine. "Oh? Dragons eh?" This field allowed a duelist to send a dragon from the deck to the grave or add a dragunity monster to his hand, at the cost of a discard. "I discard a Shield Wing from my hand to add Dragunity Angusticlavii." He took out an archer birdwarrior. "Next up, Ancient Rules! I special summon a normal monster from my hand!" Ada was almost worried he would waste that spell on one of his new Blue-Eyes dragons, but instead he special summoned the golden bird Simorgh(2900/2000). "The Bird of Ancestry imitates a normal monster while it is in my hand, which allowed me to use Ancient Rules on it." He could now also summon winged beasts with one tribute less than required, like the one he just added. "Angusticlavii." The level 6 dragunity(2100/1000) was tribute summoned with no tributes. "I figured you must be a swarmer type to finish your opponents so quickly. So I will meet swarming with swarming!" He ended his turn. "I will admit that is an adequate display of summoning power."

"However it is not about that alone. I crush my opponents in one turn, but that takes time and effort." Kai drew her card and played a continuous spell. "I activate the spell card: Crossed Sabers. Whenever an Saber-type monster is summoned, it gains a counter." Her deck choice was revealed. "X-sabers? That _is_ a dangerous deck." Yale knew for certain his style was not matched up theirs, but he still believed Ali had a shot at this. "I normal summon XX-Saber BoggartKnight, whose ability is to special summon another X-saber from my hand." Already she had summoned twice, as the demonic knight(1900/1000) called upon a reaper-like warrior(100/100) in defense mode. "XX-Saber Darksoul. When it goes to the graveyard, I can add another X-saber monster to my hand" She then sacrificed the Crossed Sabers card. "I send this spell to the grave to draw a card for every counter it held." Kai drew twice. "Then I set three cards facedown and end my turn." She could not attack this turn, but that was all just a part of her plan.

_Crossed Sabers, Continuous Spell  
>When a "Saber" monster is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, place 1 Counter on this card (max. 2).<br>By sending this card to the Graveyard, draw a number of cards from your Deck equal to the number of Counters on this card._

"Okay. Gotta keep it stay, time to do some damage before she can do the same." Xavier summoned another level 6 winged beast without tributes, a blue-feathered bird warrior(2400/2000). "Troposphere, he is immune to trap cards!"He entered the Battle Phase. "Troposphere attacks the Boggart Knight, Angusticlavii attacks Darksoul!" Fierce winds broke the knights armor and slayed it, while a bow was shot straight through the hooded face of the darksouled saber. "Angust also does piercing damage." The arrow went even further and pierced Kai's lifepoints. "Simorgh attacks directly!" A golden feather deluge knocked her lifepoints down even further. "Hey. I might actually do this!" He was on a roll, he just needed one more push. "I activate Swallows Nest from my hand, to replace a winged beast on the field with one of equal level from my deck!" The quickplay spell sacrificed Troposphere and brought out the roman-like winged warrior(2200/1600). "He uses his effect to equip one dragunity monster from the deck when he is special summoned!"

Kai's LP: 2600

He took a Dragunity Brandistock from his deck and gave it to Angusticlavii. The three-pronged polearm made it possible for the archer to strike twice in one turn. _"He added Ada's cards to his deck too I see. He might actually win this in one turn!" _Even Urizen was astounded. "Time for double direct attack!" Angusticlavii fired another shot from his bow. "So this is your full power?" She took the second arrow. "It is no sufficient!" But when Primus Pilus came to finish the job, she activated a trap card. "A Hero Emerges! Pick a card from my hand and if its a monster, I may special summon it." Ali flinched. "Aww, really?" he picked the left card, and sadly that was the worst choice. "You chose this monster, XX-Saber Ragigura." An armored chameleon(200/1000) appeared on the field to take the full brunt of Primus's power. "That was a close one. You're not halfbad for a northerner." Kai grinned. "When Ragigura was summoned, I can add one X-saber monster from the deck to my hand." She picked a warrior named Faultroll. "Additonally, when Darksoul is sent to the grave, during the endphase I can take a dead saber back." She reclaimed the Boggartknight. "I have to say though, I am still better." All Ali could do was set one trap down and end his turn.

Kai's LP: 500

"Step One! When I control no monsters and two or more sabers have died, I can special summon Gardestrike from my hand!" This X-saber was an armored panther monster(2100/1400). "Then I normal summon the Boggartknight, and use his ability to special summon Palomuro from my hand." The Boggart rejoined the army and also invited a reptilian tuner X-saber(200/300). "Step three, I special summon XX-Saber Faultroll from my hand." The red knight in futuristic armor(2400/1800) could only be special summoned when its master already controlled two or more X-saber monsters. "His ability is to revive one saber." faultroll plunged his sword into the ground and released light from which the Darksoul(100/100) was reborn. "I tune Faultroll with Palomuro!" The level 1 reptile and level 6 cybernight combined into a level 7 redcaped warrior(2500/1600). "Souza can sacrifice one other soldier in the saber army, to sharpen his blade for battle!" Darksoul was tributed, which allowed Souza to instantly destroy a foe before the damage step took place.

"Step five!" She exclaimed. By now everyone was wondering just how many steps this combo had. "I activate Gottoms Emergency Call!" She revealed her other facedown trap, which allowed her to bring two sabers back to life. "I revive Ragigura and Palomuro!" The chameleon and lizard were the latest to return. "I add another faultroll from my deck to my hand with Ragigura's effect!" She did so and went on to step six. "I tune the level 4 Boggartknight and level 1 Ragigura with Palomuro this time." Her second synchro summon was for a level 6 visor-wearing cyber samurai woman(2300/1300). "When she is summoned, she destroys up to three spell or trap cards on the field." Xavier gasped. "I choose all three of yours." Dragon ravine was destroyed, and so was the equipped Brandistock. "I chain! I can do that right?" But he flipped the third choice, his trap card Spiritual wind art - Miyabi. "I sacrifice one wind-type monster to destroy to bounce one card to the bottom of your deck!" And he did not choose the obvious

He chose her last facedown card. "What?" A spell card, Saber Slash, was sent back. "Whoa. That spell was dangerous." Saber Slash destroyed as many monsters as there were sabers on the field. "How did you..know?" she was stunned, this ruined her entire plan. "I know you did not want to leave it up to chance, so you had all your spells and traps set so A Hero Emerges wouldn't have a chance of failing. But that might mean some of your facedown cards were spells you wanted to keep." He was surprised he thought of it himself. "Incredible. You are the first to see through that. But I will press on! I summon my second Faultroll(2400/1800), who uses his powers to revive Boggartknight(1900/1000)!" She then entered the battle phase with all five of her knights. "Hyunlei, Souza; vanquish his winged swarm!" Angusticlavii and even Simorgh were cut down. "Faultroll, Gardestrike, Boggartknight. Make him taste steel!" The other sabers slashed Xavier directly. "Oh no." Ada could barely stand to watch. "You still have the most life, but I lead in numbers."

Xaviers LP: 1400

"But you can be proud that you lasted even this long." Darksouls effect let her a third Faultroll to her hand. "I guess. But if I do not draw anything good. I will definitely lose." He had run out of cards last turn with his attempt at a oneturn-kill, he was at the mercy of his deck. "Even so, I take back what I said earlier. Though I do not understand why it took you so long to reach a checkpoint with those skills." At that speed, he should have set his own record. "Well the blackout did not help. But really, I am not that good. Not without.." He closed his eyes and drew. "..a certain input." He gained a tuner monster of his own, Debris Dragon. "Wait, what, what did you say?" Kai sounded upset, but not because of what he drew. "Thanks Ada, I knew your cards would show me mercy!" He summoned the Debris Dragon(1000/2000). "When this card is normal summoned, I can special summon one monster with 500 atk or less from my graveyard." He revived the Shield Wing(0/900) he had thrown away in his first turn.

"By tuning the level 2 Shield Wing with the level 4 Debris Dragon, I can synchro summon a Dragunity Knight!" A red winged warrior riding a red scaled dragon(2400/800) came from his extra deck. "It has just enough attackpoints to end what I started." The DragonKnight flew over to Kai's field, and sent out a flame burst to incinerate the Boggart. Kai's life went exactly down to zero. "How is that Ada? Strong enough wouldn't you say?" He said with a tone of arrogance, even though deep down he was as astonished as the rest. "But you were good too Kai. I just made a lucky.. guess?" But by now he noticed her unusual expression. "Black out, you said?" She wasn't even thinking about her loss. "We had a blackout, at South City." And that was why. "What? You too? Around what time!" Yale immediately dreaded that this was more than a coincidence. "4 PM, just about." She replied. "That was just before one hit us too. What does this mean?" There had to be a connection here. "Whatever it is, it was no 'incident'."

(To be Continued in Mark 015: Daredevil)

**New Cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>(* card was used by Ada before and came from her deck)<br>Dragunity Angusticlavii  
>Troposphere<br>Dragunity Primum Pilus*  
>Dragunity Brandistock*<br>Debris Dragon  
>Shield Wing<br>Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg

-  
>Dragon Ravine<br>Ancient Rules  
>Swallows Nest<p>

-  
>Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi*<p>

**Cards used by Kai Hecter**  
>XX-Saber BoggartKnight<br>XX-Saber Darksoul  
>X-Saber Ragigura<br>XX-Saber Gardestrike  
>X-Saber Palumoru<br>XX-Saber Faultroll  
>X-Saber Souza<br>XX-Saber Hyunlei

_-  
>Crossed Sabers<em>  
>Saber Slash<p>

-  
>A Hero Emerges<br>Gottoms' Emergency Call


	15. 015: Daredevil

**Mark 015: Daredevil**

"What happened you ask?" When the group found out about another blackout, they got even more curious about the Ashworth's duel with the zero duelist. "I keep telling everyone it was magic, but nobody seemed to believe me." They found him resting in the grass this time. "We believe you, right?" Xavier looked at the others. "Well we do not believe the cover story, let's keep it at that." Ada was not so eager to accept the existence of the supernatural. " Why ask me this now though? Has something weird happened again?" Nate asked, sounding more awake now. "There was another city-wide blackout and odd lightshow at South City. We think that can not be a coincidence." Yale took out his laptop, which he had used to find some more information. "The official report there is the same, a glitch in the dueling network. But there is no report of a single duelist being the cause though, or sightings of a giant hologram in the sky. At least as far as I can tell." No official pictures could be found, and unofficial images were confiscated.

"Well, If the same thing did happen, if another duelist went insane like that, maybe he was just stopped before his duel could get out of hand." He did not know what would have happened if Zero had successfully summoned that thing, but it wasn't good. "What was it called again?" Yale wondered if this super card even had a name. "Koo-silly-ooh, or something. I wouldn't even know how to spell it." Nathan barely got it off his tongue too. "It was written on a card, but that whited out after the duel." He would have shown it to the, but Kein had that confiscated too. "Look, I know as much as you do. But we can't go around asking every southern duelist about what they saw, and we don't want a panic. So.." He pointed at the palace. "You should probably go bother Kein and his friends. If anyone knows what's happening, it will be them." An Ace was after all responsible for his region. "That is true. Richard is the Ace of the South, right? Maybe he was the one to stop the blackout there. Or maybe he caused it." Urizen found it a valid next step either way.

"Wait, can we just walk over to the palace like this though? We need four region cards, don't we?" Even if they pooled their resources together, they had no green card yet. "Tsk. We do not have time for duels." Urizen grumbled. "That sounds odd, coming from you." Yale thought he would have wanted to duel the few who were on his list and at the garden. "This incident cost me me chance at dueling Ansoni or the Aces. I want to find out what caused this mess, okay?" Everything else could wait. "Well if it makes you feel any better, maybe you can soon finish that duel that you couldn't before." Nate suddenly spoke up. "Finish? Finish what?" Artani did not see what could make him happier at this point. "Miss Ramirez. I saw her walk over to the palace just before you guys arrived. I guess she is gonna challenge the Aces." Everyone was stunned. "She has four region cards already?" Nathan nodded. "I know, it surprised me too. I guess with the lack of forced contact duels, she can't thin out the ranks like she did yesterday." Indeed it was not her M.O. to just crush what she needed to crush, while sparing the rest. "And she even refused to duel Kai earlier. If her whole act is not about proving her own superiority, then what is it about?"

Whatever motivated her, she was where she needed to be right now. "Someone is here already?" Ramirez stood at the edge of the flower gardens that separated the palace from the rest of the area. "Unexpected." Two of the Aces stood outside the palace gates, leaning against the wall. "It's the Reaper from the North eh? I knew I could bet on her being one the first." The masked duelist Lincoln smirked. "But Macbeth isn't here. The sequence is incomplete." Richard was less thrilled. "Hmph. That man is only good at making a mockery of us Aces. Who knows where he is now." Lincoln turned his back on the approaching duelist and opened the doors. "But you know how it goes. Either you or him have to duel first, no need to be shy about it. I will be waiting.." He chuckled to himself before disappearing inside. Ramirez still stood there, looking straight at Richard. "Now is a good a time as any." He sighed, adjusted his glasses and walked over to her. "Greetings, Ramirez. I am Richard, congratulations on being our first opponent."

"Don't say that." She responded coldly. "I only do.." In her hands were the red, yellow, green and blue cards. "What others did not." And they were tossed to the floor. "Ah. Then I shall save the words." He activated his dueldisk, a standard type. "I have a question." She activated hers too. "So do I. Let us get those out of the way." He inserted his deck. "I am simply curious as to the nature and origin of your black disk. Lady Ramirez." The woman looked at it. "I will answer that, if you win." She inserted her cards as well. "Fair enough. Than what is your question?" Naturally he would answer her if she could beat him. "Do you know the names?" Her question was vague, and yet the Ace of Clubs knew exactly what she was talking about. "..." But how she could know, was a mystery. "I can answer that. But for now, we fight." He drew six cards. "Here, an Ace always takes the first turn." He placed one monster down and one trap. "Oye!" And at that moment, company arrived. "..more?" Richard saw Urizen, Yale and the students run across the flower beds towards them

Ramirez's LP: 8000 Richards LP: 8000

"She is already dueling!" What they expected had come to pass. "Are you here for the same reasons?" The Ace inquired. "No. We just wanted to ask some questions." They were fortunate to find Richard first. "So many questions today. You will have to wait." He ended his turn. "You four." Ramirez looked behind her and expressed surprise at their appearance. "Did not think I would come back to end what we started?" Urizen sneered. "If you lose here, you will duel me next. Got it?" Now that Nathan had given him that idea, he could not let it go. She did not agree to it, but he took her silence to as a yes. She placed three cards down in the magic/trap zone and summoned the Infernity Archfiend(1800/1200). "That one." She pointed at the facedown monster and sent Archfiend to destroy it with his infernal magic. "It was a Keymouse." A white mouse(100/100) with a key on its tail was sent to the grave. "I add Lock Cat." Its effect allowed him to add one level 3 beast to his hand from his deck.

"He uses beasts?" Xavier asked. "Just like I heard.." Ada figured they could learn a lot about their inevitable opponents from this duel, so they might as well watch. Richards turn then started and he summoned a hammer wielding ogre(1850/400). "Beast Striker." This one had the ability to discard a card and special summon a specific monster from his deck. He discarded a King of the Beasts to call out a black fuzzball with a yellow mask(100/100) "A Moja?" Yale recognized it, it was not a commonly used monster. "And he discarded, oh I see!" And Moja's could be sacrificed to special summon the King of Beasts, which he just so happened to have discarded. "Indeed." The little one started to expand, sprouting skeletal legs and hair tendrils; it was a BeastKing(2500/800) now. And then he activated the Dimensional Rift spell card. "Oh! That one banishes all dying cards instead of letting them hit the grave! Of course." Ada realized this was a clever tactic against these Infernity monsters, who relied on resurrections a lot. "So he knows about her deck?" Whether he did or not, it did not matter. "Wild Tornado." Since she merely had to snap her fingers to activate one of her traps which destroyed the rift in dimensions. "So much for that.."

Seeing this, Richard decided to go for the battle phase anyway, starting it by activating a permanent trap called Howl of the Wild. "I see, that card does 300 damage for every beast monster on the field, every time his monsters kills one of hers." The King of Beasts lashed out first and strangled the Archfiend with its black hair. "Reflector." But this too she could react too, Ramirez activated the trap: Infernity Reflector. "It gives life, takes life and asks for life." By discarding what was in her hand, Infernity Avenger and Destroyer, the trap could damage Richards lifepoints by a 1000 and revive the slain archfiend in defense mode. This of course also allowed her to add an Infernity card from her deck to her hand, the dreaded Infernity Launcher. "Phantom Hand." She flipped her third trap card to remove that card from play. "Why did she.." The reason for that became clear when Richards Beast Striker used its hammer to flatten the demon as well. "He is avenged." When a monster died while she held no cards in her hand, she could revive the Infernity Avenger, a gunslinging cowboy fiend(0/0). It stole the level of the one who just died, so it became a level 4 monster., which was also a tuner.".." Richard placed two traps and ended his turn.

Ramirez's LP: 6100 Richards LP: 7000

Ramirez drew, and took back the card from Phantom Hand at the same time. The drawn card she placed facedown, and Infernity Launcher was activated. "Destroyer and Archfiend." Two Infernities from her grave could be revived, and she selected the archdemon along with The Destroyer(2300/1000). "Adding the Necromancer." With the archfiends effect she added an Infernity monster card this time. "Synchro summon." Next she used the level 4 archfiend along with the Avenger that stole its stars, to form a level 8 synchro. "That thing again." Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400) descended. "Your King." The dragon targeted the King of Beasts with its ability, releasing a deadly breath attack that consumed it. "It destroys a monster and does damage equal to half of its attackpoints." Urizen knew it all too well, and Richard lost even more LP. "Go on." But he did not mind it seemed, he remained perfectly calm. "Okay. Necromancer." Her normal summon for the turn was the Infernal Necromancer(/02000) who shifted to defense mode.

Richards LP: 5750

"Archfiend." And it chose to bring the demon back to life a third time, allowing the duelist to add the as of yet unseen Infernity Burst to her hand. "This spell, takes life because of life." The Burst inflicted direct damage to an opponent, 300 points for each Infernity monster that was summoned in a turn. "Geez." In one shot the ace lost 1500 points. "If she attacks now, she will win!" Infernity Destroyer was ready to start the final massacre, its claws headed for the Beast Striker. "I activate these two." But Richard had two permanent traps to get him out of this: Howl of the Wild and Horn of the Phantom Beast. The latter became a horn which the Striker equipped to gain strength(2650/400) "It can counterattack!" The hellish destroyer was no longer a match for the Beasts hammer and it was crushed. The additional effect of the Horn allowed Richard to draw 1 card. Meanwhile the Howling trap inflicted 300 damage. "You are strong." Was all she said before ending her turn. "As are you." Richard gave the same compliment, with the same dull tone.

Ramirez's LP: 6540 Richards LP: 3850

_Infernity Burst, Normal Spell  
>Activate only if you have no cards in your hand. Inflict 300 damage to your opponent's for each "Infernity" monster you normal or special summoned during this turn.<em>

"This is getting annoying to look at." Urizen not only grew bored with the straightforwardness of this game, but also with the fact that he did not care for either player. "Patience." Richard directly adressed him. "He who is patient, wins all." Richard drew a card. "He who rushed into the questions, will not find the answers." And he summoned the cat monster he had added to his hand earlier, the Lock Cat(1200/1000). Her effect returned one level 1 beast in the grave to the field, and it was the KeyMouse in this case. "A key and lock teamup?" But more animals came, Beast Striker discarded another card to bring out a second Moja(100/100). It too was tributed to resurrect the King of Beasts(2500/800). And the card he discarded was special as well. "The Fableds?" A threeheaded pup(1000/400) appeared, the fabled Cerburrel could be special summoned when it was discarded. "Why does he summon so many weaklings?" Ada wondered what he hoped to do about the Doomdragon with this. Her answer was a synchro summon. "Ah.."

KeyMouse was a tuner as well, it used the key on its tail to unlock its chains and turned into synchronic energy rings. The level 4 Beast Striker jumped through those rings to become a level 5 synchro monster. "It's his signature monster!" Yale could tell it stood apart from his other beasts, a golden-maned, blue skinned unicorn(2200/1800). "The Thunder Unicorn." Its horn was in the shape of a lightning bolt. "But that one is weak too!" Xavier protested. "It makes up for that weakness, with its power." Richard did not bother to explain and showed the effect off. Thunder blasted out of the horn and shocked the Dragon of Death until its power went down (Infernity Doomdragon: 1000 atk). "The Unicorn lowers attackpoints by 500 for every monster on its masters field." The Cat, King, Cerburrel and Synchro made a quartet, so the dragon lost 2000 points. "But only the Unicorn can attack if it uses that ability." The electric horse galloped over to Ramirez's side and pierced the guts of her doomdragon. "So that is why he spammed little creatures."

Ramirez's LP: 3050

Not only did she lose 1200 points due to battle damage, she also lost 1200 to the Howl of the Wild. "At this rate she may actually lose." Urizen was no longer certain if that was if he wanted that, if only because he figured a defeated Ace would be more talkative. "... are you friends of hers?" Richard asked them, unable to help his curiosity. "As if. She is the reason half of us can't even enter this tournament." Ada quickly corrected him. "We came here for you, not for her. We did not even expect to see her here. We thought she would at least try to eliminate everyone else first." In fact Urizen now even began to wonder if she was dueling for that reason at all. "What are you..asking me?" The woman took a while to acknowledge and directly address him. "_Why are_ you here? You obviously know more than I do, about the incident and the tournament. I demand to know why you suddenly started showing mercy." He was tired of riddles, and tired of being in the dark. "I never stopped." She answered. "What?" It was an answer he could not make heads or tails of. "This is the quickest road. What happened before will happen again." Richard placed a trap and ended his turn. "Many are strong, but only some can do more than show mercy. I need to find..the mark."

(To be Continued in Mark 016: A Void worse than Hell)

**New Cards used by Ramirez**  
>Infernity Avenger<p>

-  
>Infernity Burst (+)<p>

-  
>Infernity Reflector<br>Wild Tornado

**Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>Keymouse<br>Moja  
>Beast Striker<br>King of the Beasts  
>Lock Cat<br>The Fabled Cerburrel  
>Thunder Unicorn<p>

-  
>Dimensional Rift<p>

-  
>Horn of the Phantom Beast<br>Howl of the Wild

_(+) Based on the spell used by Kiryu/Kalin in YGO 5Ds_


	16. 016: A Void worse than Hell

**Mark 016: A Void worse than Hell**

Ramirez's LP: 3050 Richards LP: 3850

"Mark? Marked what, marked who?" Ramirez as usual replied in a less than straightforward manner, and left the others with more questions than answers. "You mean someone like me?" Urizen however did recall that she pointed at him when she talked about the chosen ones. "Uncertain." Was her quick but at least clear response. "And now you want to find out if this Richard guy is one of them too?" Yale started to grasp her reasoning. "Yes." She answered again, and turned back to face Richard. "But, only he can tell." She would not get her answer unless she defeated him. First she placed a card down. "Necromancy." Then because Doomdragon was dead, her Infernity Necromancer(0/2000) could bring it back. "I can not relinquish what I know it that easily." He discarded a D.D. Crow from his hand, a dimension warping black bird that could banish a buried monster. "I know." Of course he chose the Infernity synchro, leaving her necromancer with no valid target. "Well at least someone does." Ada hissed.

Ramirez was not through yet, as she played one of her set spells. "Wave Motion Inferno?" It was the continuous card which strengthened the all Infernities (Archfiend: 2200/1600, Necromancer: 400/2400). But that would not be enough to kill Richards monsters. "And spell card ZERO-MAX." So she flipped her other set card. "It revives a strong life, and takes it from the weak." Because she had no cards in her hand, this spell could special summon the Infernity Destroyer(2700/1400) from the grave in defense mode. Afterwards ZERO MAX would destroy all monsters with less attackpoints than it. "Strong.." Richard repeated the word as he flipped a trap: Beast Rising. "That card erases a beast and adds its attackpower to another?" King of the Beasts(2500/800) was banished, and its strength added to Thunder Unicorn (2200 4700 atk). "Now it is strong enough to survive!" Meanwhile Lock Cat(1000/1200), Fabled Cerburrel(1000/1000) and her two remaining Infernities were all wiped out. "That's it then.."

She could not attack during a turn in which ZERO MAX was activated, and she could not kill the Unicorn anymore anyway. ".." So it was his turn, and he summoned a new beast, a darkskinned tapir(1100/300). "The Dark Desertapir eh."By now it was evident that Richard favored banishing tactics. "Here it comes." The Thunder Unicorn used its charged up horn to cut through the Destroyer. "And Howl of the Wild is still active too." The continuous trap damaged her for 600 points. After that the Tapir landed a direct hit on her. "I guess he really is in a league above her." Yale did not think she would last for much longer if this kept up. "Set." Her turn came up again and she could only place one monster down on the field. And when Richards turn came around he sent the Unicorn out once again to finish this defender off too. "It will not be that anticlimactic." But as Urizen expected, the monster took the impact without suffering a single blemish. It was the undying Infernity Guardian(1600/2100). "Of course she hides behind that."

Ramirez's LP: 1350

As long as she held no cards in her hands, the Guardian would not die. "Against a removal expert like him, that effect might not even matter." Nevertheless he could do nothing about it, so he ended his turn after he switched the Tapir to defense mode. "But with a deck like hers, any card she draws can turn the game around." Ada felt that it was that fact which made her such a dangerous opponent. "..you were not..in time." And it sounded like she had drawn a potential scene changer. She summoned a indian-style demon(400/400). "Infernity Mirage. Gives his life, to return twice as many." It could be sacrificed to revive two Infernities from her grave, the Destroyer and the Necromancer. "Necromancy does the same." And the witch-doctor brought back the western gunslinger Infernity Avenger(400/400). "Synchro summon." The level 1 avenger tuned with the level 3 necromancer and level 4 guardian. And while it shouldn't have been impossible, it was surprising to find out that she had more than one Doomdragon, as she synchro summoned a second one(3400/2800). "Death comes." The rotting dragon used it's effect to destroy the Thunder Unicorn. And half of its charged up attackpower was used to damage its master as well.

Richards LP: 1600

"Huh. He did not banish the Unicorn." Ada thought he could have avoided that damage with the effect of Beast Rising, which was still on the field. "Live or die, that is the question." Regardless, Ramirez entered her battle phase and pointed at the Desertapir. If Infernity Destroyer could kill it, the ace would lose exactly all of his remaining life due to the Destroyers effect. "It's over?" The demon charged and smashed the desert beast with its claw. "No!" But before the hit connected, Richard had played a trap: Different Dimension Ground. "All killed monsters this turn will miss the grave and be banished instead!" The dying Tapir was sucked into the void, which activate its special ability. "And now he can summon a level 3 or lower beast from his graveyard." Moja(100/100) the black hairball was selected. Because it had been removed from play instead of being sent to the grave, Destroyer could not inflict 1600 effect damage. "As strong as Artani. As fortunate as Artani" Ramirez noted before she ended her turn.

"You know, another Ace did defeat Urizen in a duel." Xavier pointed out softly, wary of saying such things with Urizen around. "She will have to duel Kein eventually anyway." He managed to keep his frustration under control. "But Kein can not give the answer she wants." Richard said as he drew his card and sacrificed Moja for the third time, allowing the King of Beasts(2500/800) to be reborn. Next another of the Fabled creatures was summoned, a black cat called Catsith(800/600). "This synchro summon will be level 8?" The level 7 King and the level 1 Fabled were immediately sent to the grave for the summoning of a new Unicorn monster, a golden armored horse with three red horns(2800/2000). "Lightning Tricorn? Are Tricorns that even a legitimate mythological breed?" Xavier had only heard of single horned horses. "Don't ask me. I don't read fantasy." Richard then sent his new synchro to blast the Infernity Destroyer to smithereens with its thunder energy. After which he ended his turn. _"Why did he summon it though?"_

What everyone expected to happen now, and what did happen, was that Ramirez would use Doomdragons effect to kill this Tricorn. "Set." But when the breath of death hit, and the ace lost 1400 lifepoints, a light shone from the flower-filled grounds. "That must be its skill." When the Lightning synchro died, a Unicorn synchro of a different name could be revived. "That was why he did not remove it with Beast Rising, to revive it again." Thunder Unicorn(2200/1800) was back to shock the fields once more. "We are stuck." Ramirez apparently realized, if he wanted too, he could keep this up forever. Richard had not held back, but he did not seem to mind the prolonged struggle either. "You are not blind to the risks of defeat. Not anymore. You will have to choose.." She ended her turn, placing her hopes on a card she had set down. If he planned to use Thunder Unicorns effect to weaken the dragon, her trap would spring and end this game. "I am. And that is not fair to you. Miss Ramirez, I think I can conclude our duel now."

Richards LP: 200

He summoned a Koala monster from his hand, the Sea Koala(100/1600). "That one?" It caught even her off guard, it was a beast that could take away all of a monsters attacking strength, just by being near another beast. He used it to weaken the dragon(400/2800) who was still in attack position. "It retains the boost from Wave Motion Inferno. But she does not have enough lifepoints left to survive anyway." And the Unicorn galloped over to its helpless prey, raising its sparkling horn for the deciding blow. "Trap." Yet she could snap her cardless fingers one final time, revealing the Ring of Emptyness. "Ah! That will.." The ring attached itself to her own dragon and inflicted damage equal to the change in attackpoints that just occurred. "Of course. She wanted him to use the Unicorns effect, so both players would just lose a 1000 lifepoints!" But now they would lose three times that amount, and Ramirez would lose along with Richard. The ring blew up and depleted all remaining lifepoints. In the end neither duelist could survive each other.

Ramirez's LP: 0 Richards LP: 0

_Ring of Emptyness, Normal Trap  
>Activate only if the ATK of a monster is changed by a card effect your opponent controls. Inflict damage to both players equal to the difference between that monster's new ATK and its original ATK. <em>

"It's a tie?" Urizen was stunned and displeased with this result. "What happens in that case?" They could not imagine she would be allowed to move on to the next Ace, but Richard was probably not going anywhere either. "In the event of a draw." Richard took off his glasses and read from a small rulebook kept in his vestpocket. "Both duelists lose what they wagered, but gain what they came for." That was what had been written down, and he would obey that rule. "So she has to.." Ramirez lost, so she did not speak up when the Ace picked up all four of her region cards. "I am afraid my loss means nothing, since there are three after me you can no longer face." He actually sounded sympathetic that time. "I did not come for them." She was still as cold as ever. "We will exchange answers now." Richard halfsmiled. "Very well. The answer to your question is that we know the names, but not because we asked them. I took care of it before it even speak." And it seemed she took comfort with that answer it appeared, her voice relaxed a bit. "Then, even if you are not marked, you are strong enough to fight back. Like Artani." The others had no idea what they were babbling about, and Urizen was not thinking about that right now. _"I would not have just tied with her.."  
><em>

"Then your answer." Ramirez took the black dueldisk from her arm and placed it down as well. "I can not tell you where I got it from. One day I woke up, and it was mine." Upon closer inspection they could see it was not just painted over at all, it was a custom model. And not even YQ's many applications could explain who built that thing. "You may have it. As a thank you for not asking me.. the other thing." Richard put back on his glasses and took the disk. "So you realized.. that I realized. Fear not, your secret is safe with me." The woman bowed and started to walk away, brushing Ada's side. "Hey. That is it?" The girl remembered Urizens intent to challenge her next, how could she duel him now? "She can still duel the old way, cant you?" Xavier meant the good old tables and spreadsheet way. "That does not count! Nobody takes that serious anymore!" Urizen shouted, but in the mean time she just got further and further away. "Grr. I knew it, no way to make sense of her words or actions. That's okay, we came for someone else anyway."

All eyes turned to Richard. "I can not face one who lacks the cards." Both Ali and Yale still needed 2 region cards. "We do not want to duel you, we just came to ask whether or not you know anything about the blackout in South City." And judging from Ramirez's interactions with him, he in fact did. "I know you have to cover up the truth to keep the general public at peace. But we know too much already." Yale tried to ask as nicely as possible, since they technically had nothing to bargain with. "Yeah, we are already not at peace. You don't want us to infect others now do you?" Xavier had a more charming way of putting it. "You are not ready for this yet." He of course still tried to talk his way out of this, but Urizen caught on to his own reluctance. "You know people did get hurt, and will get hurt again. From what I can gather you stopped whatever appeared, the same way Ash stopped the problem at North City. But if that woman did make one thing clear, this is not over yet. And if you can't tell Gaunts son what he and his flunkies are aware off, I will just have to assume the worst of my dear old man." And this was enough for Richard Marshall. "I did stop it." He sighed, regretting those few words already. "But I did not do what Ash did, it will come back."

He leaned in closer. "I can not tell you what happened, but I can tell you that this all under control. The cities were never in danger, nor is this place." He suddenly handed them a small piece of paper. "What is this?" It was a link address. "A connection to a hidden file on the local server. That is all I can give you right now." He distanced himself again. "Now I will have to ask you to leave and come back when you do have all four region cards, although it probably wont be me guarding the door next time. Lincoln and Kein are not as lenient as me." He coughed and glanced at a window on the palace's second story. One of those two had seen the entire duel and what happened afterwards. "Hmm, you are actually a nice guy Rich." Xavier gave him a thumbs up. "..Just go." He did not really know what to say to that. "By the way, what was Ramirez's other secret?" Urizen tested his luck with another question. "That one is personal, son of Gaunt. I can not divulge anything about its nature. Other than that it is a harmless secret."

A minute later, YQ had activated his laptop and gone to the link, which had four image files stored on it. "What the?" They saw aerial photos of all four cities, all taken on the same day, within the same hour. "I know that's North City, but.. what is that?" They saw the lightmaze from above, it had the shape of a monkey. "I recognize these! They're Nazca lines!" Now they had their first good look at the lightshow the zero duelist unleashed. "South city has one too." The lower picture showed a bird with a long beak. "That's the Hummingbird I think. So it did happen down there too." What it all meant though, they had no idea. "Was Zero trying to summon that Monkey in card form?" They guessed the name Ash could not pronounce was a Nazca name. "Hey when did.." Ada however suddenly noticed something in her backpack. "Did she give this?" It was a drawing, which Ramirez must have slipped in when she nearly bumped into her. "No way." And what was drawn on that paper sheer was a surprise indeed. "She..knew too?'

It was a drawing of the hummingbird, the monkey and a lot of other Nazca lines. Some weren't even animals. "Those are..the marks?"

(To be Continued in Mark 017: Too Free A Spirit)

**New Cards used by Ramirez**  
>Infernity Mirage<p>

-  
>ZERO MAX<p>

_-  
>Ring of Emptyness<em>

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>D.D. Crow<br>Dark Desertapir  
>The Fabled CatSith<br>Lightning Tricorn  
>Sea Koala<p>

-  
>Beast Rising<br>Different Dimension Ground


	17. 017: Too Free a Spirit

**Mark 017: Too Free a Spirit**

"Ah there we go, Cusillu. It's quechuan for monkey." Yale had finally found the name of the monster duelist Zero had summoned. "Kwechan? What country speaks that?" It became a lot easier to find the right kind of information once they narrowed it down to the aforementioned Nazca region. "It's from the other continent down south, a group of people living below the mountain ranges created that language. And close by are the infamous Nazca lines." They at least knew some of their story, the Nazca images were a collection of glyphs located in the desert. When you looked at them from far above, you could see various beings or lifeless shapes. The mystery lied in the fact that noone knew who made them, and why they did. "So what does this mean, someone tried to recreate those patterns with a lightshow in our cities?" It was even harder to understand why they now showed up in their country. "I do not know. It does not sound like Gaunt to focus all of his tournament on one aspect of mythology."

Urizen still had no idea what was going on. Duelists went crazy because of a lightshow and started summoning the beasts drawn down on the earth. What was the point? "I don't understand the old man anymore." He could neither deny or confirm that Gaunt would be behind something like this. "The way Richard talked, it sounded like this was not their doing at all. And that the aces were there to fix it." Xavier thought the Aces were supposed to help them, not hurt them. "They knew it would happen, that is also what I got from his words." Ada wanted to trust him as well, but did not like what that implied. "They knew yet told nobody or called off the tournament. Of course maybe the tournament was needed to begin with." But in that case, one could say the Aces and Gaunt had done everything in their power to cause what happened with the zero duelist. Even if he was responsible for the blackout as Nate had heard, R-Tech had allowed it to come that far. "Whatever. If dad wants to deal with it, he can be my guest. I don't have time for his games here." He noticed a group of duelists in the distance, ones that had apparently lost their region cards already. "It's about time for me to do what I came here for."

Meanwhile inside the palace throne room, a small interrogation was held. "What did you tell them, Marshall?" Kein asked his fellow Ace duelist, as he sat in the throne itself. "You know I did not want those duelists to hear about what you did and what Nathan had done, especially not _his_ son." He addressed Richard who stood in the middle of the room. "You do not have any rights over me, sir Schiver. I do not have to follow the wishes of another Ace." The four of them were all equal, according to the rules. "What happened in North City is my responsibility, and my information!" He was angry enough to drop his polite tone, not many things could drive him that far. "Gaunt had not forbidden me, so I saw no need to hold back. They deserve to know that we are technically using them." He remained gentle, perhaps too gentle. "You're too soft for this position then. Lincoln will take over your position until Macbeth returns." This Richard did not object to. "You know what we are here to do, don't betray everything we Aces stand for."

Back in the gardens, Urizen just finished another duel. He was in luck, he had found a handful of people from his list near the garden maze. "He does not look too happy." But in the end they all went down too easily, even against his scrambled-together-deck. "I guess knowing that he can not challenge that new champion guy is a downer, motivationally speaking." Xavier had taken a break himself, he and Ada witnessed Artani's spree from a distance while enjoying some snacks. YQ was elsewhere looking for duelists with the region cards he still lacked. "He is not in this for the money like us." Ada could admire that in a way, but right now he just looked so pathetic. "So what do you think? Is it magic or just a trick from the company?" Xavier still did not know who to believe. "It is definitely not faked, that's what I feel. But what the company is up too, I have no idea. But if it messed up this tournament, I will not be happy." Just then another duelist walked passed them, a man in dark robes. "Hey isn't that.."

The man approached Urizen from behind. "Greetings, Artani." The words he chose were enough to get his attention. "Who?" He turned around and saw a hooded duelist. "Oh it's you. The psycho guy." The robes were those of the infamous Cassandra school of dueling, who claimed to have psychic abilities. "I saw you before. Hmph. It will take more than knowing my name to convince me about this whole telepathy crap." That part of the dueling world he remained skeptic about as well. "I am Psyche, master of the spiritual. You have much to learn." The man raised his arms in a grand gesture. "You need better lines, and a better name at that. And what do you want?" Artani refused to be impressed. "I want to show you what you want to know." He extended his hand, pointing to the garden maze. "In there we shall be far away from unwanted eyes and ears, in there I can clarify it all. I can even tel you about Ansoni." And this last sentence caught his interest. "What did you say?" But before he could question the psychic, he ran off into the maze. "Hey. Oh come on!" And because of that one remark he could not help but chase after him. "What was that all about?" Leaving Ada and Xavier behind to puzzle that sequence out.

The two ended up in an opening in the middle of the maze, where indeed none could see them. "What do you know?" He asked the hooded man. "My information does not come for free, Artani." He rolled up his sleeve and revealed a dueldisk. "What. You want to duel for it? That's your funeral.." Urizen activated his disk, but it would not connect. "Tsk. Or not." Just then the sound of rustled leaves reached them, someone else was going through the maze. "You can not duel him? Then he must have his region cards still." It was Yale who spoke up, and soon he walked into the clearing as well. "This is between us." Psyche had an oddly annoyed tone upon seeing the other duelist. "Not yet it is. He can not duel who is still in the game. He never won the regional section." YQ activated his disk instead. "But I did. And I do want to duel you." Urizen started to tremble with anger. "Again? Seriously? Are you saying you will duel him in my place?" He was getting tired of YQ's supposed kindness. "It's not like that actually. I just want to win."

".. Victory here is another goal of mine. The consequence of loss can be passed on to him." He revealed just one card. "Betting just the one?" It was a blue one, which YQ still needed. "I have already collected the red, so I need just one." It appeared he knew which card YQ had won as well._ "He must just have been watching us from afar." _But Yale accepted the wager. "I knew you would." The two duelists activated their dueldisks. "Well then you also must have known that I would be here, eh?" Yale took the first turn. "And you know what I will do next? Or do you just read minds?" He summoned Morphtronic Celfon(100/100), a move even Urizen could see coming. "Can you tell me which Morphtronic I am about to summon?" He activated the effect of his phone machine, rolling a three and picking up three cards. "If I shared with you, your future, you would just seek to change it to spite me." Was Psyche's only answer. "Heh. True enough." He chose to summon a Morphtronic Videon(1000/1000) in defense mode. Then he activated the field spell card: Morphtronic Map. Which gained counters every time a morphtronic changed positions. "You do not believe, you are a child of technology." After YQ placed a trap, he let the psychic take his turn.

Psyche's LP: 8000 Yale's LP: 8000

"Technology is an instrument, it must live for you. Not the other way around." He summoned the Asura Priest(1700/1200) the spirit of many arms. "Spirit monsters? I could have guessed." Spirits were a series of monsters that returned to a players hand during the endphase, and could also not be special summoned. "You know many things, but you too are not enlightened! Orb of Yasaka!" Psyche equipped him with a spell as well, a crystal ball. "Asura strikes all monsters on the field once." The Priest took two swords and tossed them at the two Morphers. "And I will save one! Morphtransition!" YQ activated his trap card which changed a Morphtronic to defense mode to negate an attack. He chose Celfon, whose phone form repelled the sword. "Morphtronic Map gains a counter." One counter empowered a morpher by 300 points. (Celfon: 400/100). The Video camera robot(1300/1000) was still cut through. "The Orb replenishes my life." Psyche gained LP equal to Videons original attackpoints. "And then the Orb returns with its wielder."

Psyche's LP: 9000

During his endphase Asura and the Yasaka crystal left the field. "Well that was nice, but you are wide open now. My next move will be logically predictable." First he switched Celfon back to attack mode which added another counter to the map. (Celfon: 700/100). Next he placed one monster facedown and used the effect of his phone morpher to special summon Morphtronic Cameran(1400/600) from his deck. "I also summon this morphtronic again: Videon!" He played the equip spell Morphtronic Repair Engine, discarding a morphtronic from his hand to 'repair' another. "Videon gains 800 attackpoints for each equipspell equippped to it." So aside from the Map spell, the video machine(2400/1000) gained 800 points from his new engine. "I also equip it with Double Tool C&D, which adds 1000 attackpoints to a monster in my turn." Now Videon(4200/1000) was truly impressive. "Triple direct attack!" The two camera machines and the mobile phone blasted towards the psychic and pummeled his lifepoints. "How is that for technology?" He ended his turn.

Psyche's LP: 2700

"I think you are enjoying that a bit too much." Urizen now saw another reason why YQ went into this duel, to make a point. "You are skilled. But I have already seen your defeat." He activated the spell card Giant Trunade. "Oh?" It returned the Repair Engine, Double Tool and field spell to Yale's hand. Without its engine, Videon(1600/1000) could not sustain itself so it became scrapmetal again. Then he resummoned Asura and gave him the same Orb to hold with her many hands. "And the past will not repeat for the future sake." He then activated Card Destruction. "Ack." Which forced both players to toss what was in their hand away for new cards from their deck. "Witness the Spirit, in its eternal form." He special summoned a new monster from his hand, which required the banishing of a spirit type. "I remove the Otohime monster card from my hand to call Izanagi." The white haired ancestor of gods(2200/1000) took physical form. "It's mere presence sustains other Spirits. Asura shall never have to return to my hand again."

With three monsters remaining, the priest summoned three swords to kill them off. Without the Map they were easy pickings. "They will not survive." Celfon(100/100), Cameran(800/600) and the set card were all skewered. Thanks to the Orb of Yasaka psyche gained 100, 800 and 200 lifepoints. "You destroyed Gadget Arms!" But the last victim was a springloaded glove gun(200/400) whose hand reached into the grave. "I know. When Gadget Arms is revealed, one Morphtronic spell or trap shall return to your hand. And you choose Morphtronic Map." Which was technically his best option right now, as the Repair Engine's cost was too high. "It's almost as if you want me to go against you." The arm took the field spell out. "And when Cameran dies, a morphtronic is revived!" The camera shot out a picture of Boomboxen before it was destroyed, and a Boombox(1200/400) appeared. "Asura can attack that one too, but.." The fourth sword was deflected by loud music. "Boomboxen can negate one attack per turn." However Izanagi managed to finish it off.

Psyche's LP: 3800 Yale's LP: 5500

_"Morphtronic Mix Up." _Yale had a new hand now, but this time he had nothing that could stand up to Spirits that did not return to their masters hand. "I set one trap, one monster and reactivate Morphtronic Map." His trap could only be used once he controlled two Morphtronic too. "And that is all." Psyche finished the sentence for him. "If this is your way of honoring Urizens desires, it is not a strong one." He drew a card and then sacrificed both Izanagi and Asura. "A tribute summon?" He called out a eightheaded snake spirit(2600/3100), the Yamata Dragon. "When this spirits causes pain, my hand we be renewed." But it could not inflict pain on a defending monster, without a little help. "Sword of Kusanagi." So he equipped it with the second of three great treasures. "Gaunt even wasted money on an animation for that." Urizen commented on the image before him, a snake holding the sword with its mouth. "Yamata Dragon now inflicts piercing damage!" The snake sliced through his facedown Morphtronic Remoten(300/1200), causing piercing damage.

Yale's LP: 4100

"It would seem your fortune is less than mine." Psyche could now draw five new cards from his deck. "Yeah you do seem very fortunate. Fortunate enough to be here." Yale tapped some keys on his disk. "You can not find assistance there, child." The psychic scoffed, but YQ smiled back at him. "I did actually. One of the many applications on this thing is a voice recorder/editer." Psyche froze up. " What?" The calmness in his voice was gone. "I thought I recognized your tone, so I crossreferenced it with past recordings and found a match. You don't need to pretend anymore, John." Urizen flinched. "John?" He was talking about the guy from North City, the Machina duelist? "I know not who you are talking about." The hooded one tried to regain his composure. "I thought you knew everything " YQ chuckled. "Don't lie! Take that hood off or we will do it for you" Urizen meanwhile was not going to let that face remain hidden one way or another. "Damn you." Psyche had no choice, he pulled back the hood to reveal John himself. "You and your gizmos."

(To be Continued in Mark 018: New Name, Old Aim)

**New Cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Morphtronic Videon<br>Morphtronic Cameran  
>Gadget Arms<br>Morphtronic Remoten

-  
>Morphtronic Map<br>Double Tool C&D  
>Morphtronic Repair Engine<p>

-  
>Morphtransition<p>

**Cards used by 'Psyche'**  
>Asura Priest<br>Otohime  
>Izanagi<br>Yamata Dragon

-  
>Orb of Yasaka<br>Giant Trunade  
>Card Destruction<br>Sword of Kusanagi


	18. 018: New Name, Old Aim

**Mark 018: New Name, Old Aim**

John/Psyche's LP: 3800 Yale's LP: 4100

"I can not believe I would find such a painstakingly nitpicking duelist." The psychic who called himself Psyche was actually the duelist Urizen defeated in North City, John. "I am surprised he found out before anyone else did. How did that disguise make it passed the Aces?" Urizen did not think John should not have been able to duel for region cards like this. He was not on the bus they came with either. "The advantage of coming across a duelist with a getup like this, is that nobody can tell when someone else is underneath the hood. All I had to do was book the same hotel that the company booked for you, and ambush the real Psyche at the right time. That guy made such a spectacle that I knew about his presence well in advance." And that had not taken him long, as the real Psyche checked out his room first before starting to duel. "So you moved up from forgery to identity theft. Are you that desperate to win the price?" Urizen was not so much angered as he was disturbed by his obsession. "I am. But taking you on was a sidepath I was willing to walk. But it was a fun surprise to see that you did not make it after all, Artani."

"Yet now I am stuck with your friend here, and we can not stop now..I will have to draw enjoyment from the fact that I eliminate your friends too. Those two students are next." He had drawn five new cards and they were all quite good. "They aren't friends. He just invited me along." Urizen grumbled. "Whatever. I set two cards, and activate the Mirror of Yata on Yamata Dragon." He gave one of the eight snake heads(2600/3100) a mirror to hold as well. "This treasure keeps a spirit on the field, it will not return to my hand." Finally he played a field spell, which destroyed YQ's own field: Morphtronic Map. "Future Visions. Any normal summoned monster will be removed from the field for one turn." This spell was also ideal for Spirits, as this made them skip the endphase that forced them to retreat. "At least we no longer have to assume you are any kind of visionary." Yale smiled and took a card from his cemetery. "Though even you would have known that a Morphtronic is revived when their field spell is destroyed." He chose the ipod-like machine, Remoten(300/1200).

"I activate the equip spell: Morphtronic Cord." A cord was plugged into his Morphtronic, with a light at the end of the cord. "When my machines change forms, the cord will destroy a spell or trap on the field." He demonstrated this by switching the remote into its attacking form, which sent a pulse of electricity through the cord which struck the Future Vision spell card. "Now I can normal summon once more, so I activate the effect of Remoten. I remove one Morphtronic to add another of the same level from my deck to my hand!" He was about to do so. "Quickplay spell card: Forbidden Chalice!" When John summoned a cup of water which he spilled all over the Morphtronic, shorting it(700/1200) out. "Your monsters effect is negated and it gains some attackpoints in return." Normally he would have used that spell on his own spirits, but this was another way of using it. "Rats. I set two cards as well." His plan was foiled for now. "Hmph, what is the point now?" Meanwhile Urizen moved back to the maze pathways. "Hey, where are you going?"

"A psychic, even a fake one, might have been interesting to hear out. _You_ can not tell me anything, certainly not something valuable about Ansoni." He did not care about who won or lost here, he had already proven himself against John as far as he was concerned. "You don't know that. Stick around Artani, I may have unearthed something intriguing." He chuckled as he drew his card. "I was gonna tell you regardless of who won, because it is just so delicious." He summoned a new spirit, the blue skinned tattoo spirit, Yaksha(1900/1500). "It returns one spell or trap on the field to a players hand!" He selected Yale's middle card, which turned out to be good choice as it was the Morphtronic Bind. "And now we strike!" Yaksha brought out two swords and Yamata Dragon prepared its flames. "Trap card!" But YQ still had two traps left to play, one of which was Zero Gravity. "Bah!" All monsters on the field were changed to defense position by the G-forces. "Morphtronic Cord is switched on again." Remoten, now in its pod form, released a pulse that shattered the Yata Mirror equipped to Yamata. "You were too late, the Mirror already made my Dragon live through the one endphase that mattered, now it will never return to my hand."

However Yaksha was not going to be spared that fate without some assistance. "I banish Yaksha, to special summon a D.D. Sprite from my hand." John called out a little spirit-pixie(0/100) from another dimension. "That monster returns during your next standby." When the turn passed, Yaksha did indeed escape the other dimension, now freed from its endphase curse as well. "Very well. I change Remoten back to attack-position." This time he aimed the Cord at Johns last set trap. "I activate it!" But he chained with it before it could be destroyed. "Interdimensional Matter Transporter! I banish a monster again for one whole turn!" This time the Yamata dragon was sent to the other dimension. "Oh? Well that move was almost as if you did read my future." One of YQ's plans was ruined again. "I will have to use it on those two then." He successfully used Remotens ability now, banishing the level 4 Morphtronic Videon from his cemetery to add to his hand, and normal summon from his hand, the level 4 Morphtronic Slingen(1200/800).

"Morphtronic Mix-up." He could at last use this trap. "I select two monsters of yours, when I control two morphers. You must decide which one dies." Between the Sprite and Yaksha, the choice was easy. "Sprite can go." Yaksha now remained. "I guessed as much. Yet my next move, will not be what you think." He could have used Slingens effect to destroy Yaksha too, but instead he performed.. " Synchro summon!" Remoten was a tuner of the 3rd level. "You have a synchro monster now?" Urizen assumed this was the card he bought with his credits. "Indeed, I call the level 7 machine: Power Tool Dragon!" A mechanical construction dragon(2300/2500) was the card resting in his extra deck. "Once per turn Power Tool selects 3 equip spells in my deck." He took three cards out: Break Draw, another Double Tool C&D and Junk Barrage. "And you may choose which one I keep." John knew what spell would be least dangerous. "You do like giving me choices." He selected Junk Barrage, the other two were shuffled back into YQ's deck.

"That's what free will is for." Junk Barrage was equipped to Power Tool Dragon. From now on it would do extra damage whenever it killed. "Go, my new dragon!" It stabbed Yaksha with its drilling hand, converting half of its attackpoints into effect damage. "So that is why you do not believe in psychics? You feel that it robs you of your free will?" YQ ended his turn and john drew. "Look at yourself, you are resisting your defeat right now. It's our nature to fight destiny." He stared at Urizen for a second. "I get you. Then again all the things I said before were just lines I felt Psyche would say." He sent Yamata Dragon to attack the other dragon. "But let's see now if a spirit can beat a machine!" Power tool managed to endure the eight flame bursts. "My dragon can survive at least, by sending one equip spell to the grave." Junk Barrage was sacrificed to save his synchro. Though he still suffered battle damage, so Yamata allowed John to refill his hand. "Merely surviving is never enough." John drew four times. He placed one monster and one trap down.

John/Psyche's LP: 2850 Yale's LP: 3800

"That is true as well. So now I will counterattack." He chose another three equip spells with the Tool Dragons effect: Break Draw, Double Tool and Rocket Pilder. "Like I'd give you the first two." John selected the rocket spell, which was equipped to Power Tools arm. "I also summon Morphtronic Radion!" The radio morpher(1800/900) already boosted his own attackpower. "Power Tool attack!" The dragon flew towards its target this time. "Hm?" And the rocket on its fist added enough thrust to allow the synchro to plow through Yamata Dragon(300/3100). "!" Monsters equipped with Rocket Pilder would not die when they attacked a stronger monster. Instead the rocket would subtract the attacking monsters strength from the attacked monster. "And then Radion!" He saw his opening, a literal opening in the snake's body. Radion struck the weakened spirit with its plug-in cord and smashed it to pieces. "I set two cards and end my turn." John then drew again. "That Synchro and its equip shielding ability is a bother, but then which Synchro isn't trouble."

John/Psyche's LP: 1350 Yale's LP: 3500

"The deck I stole from Psyche has no synchros, but it did have a counter for them!" He flipped his facedown card, it was a white robed woman(1100/1800). "Izanami, the female counterpart to Izanagi. Her effect discards one card to take back a spirit from my graveyard." John discarded a monster to take a Gundari spirit which he had discarded some time ago with Card Destruction. "I summon him!" This was one of the five wisdom gods, the redskinned pyro of many arms(1000/200). "When Gundari attacks, it will send a Synchro on the field back to the extra deck." He then special summoned two more times. "I banish hino-Kagu-Tsuchi from my hand to special summon another Izanagi." Izanami's companion(2200/1000) made his reappearance to the field. "Then by banishing a fallen spirit, Yamato no Kami is given form!" Then came the mountain god(2200/1200). "It destroys spells and traps when it is finished attacking, and is the only spirit that must be special summoned." Now his army was complete. "I know one of your traps is a permanent Binding card. But.." He revealed his final trump card, his facedown permanent trap: Royal Decree. "I don't have to fear it." He entered the battle phase. "It looks like at least one of my predictions was correct."

Yamato was the first to strike, firing off a ball of bloodred lightning at Radion. "It's funny. The last time I saw you, you did spoke about your monsters as if they were mere instruments. But now you sound more like Urizen." Urizen did talk like someone who was attached to his deck, even if he would not admit it. "That is just the act I had to keep up!" John found it difficult to drop all of a Psychics mannerisms in one game. "But I have no close bonds to this deck, I will discard it just as easily as I would discard my Machina's." The lightning closed in. "Well I am not like that I am afraid. I want to keep mine. So I activate my facedown card." He flipped a quickplay spell. "No!" Royal Decree could only negate traps, not spells. "Factory of 100 Machines: A morphtronic gains 200 attackpoints for each Morphtronic I banish from the graveyard." He removed Celfon, Cameran, Boomboxen, Remoten and Slingen from play to power up Radion(2800/900). It deflected the lightning and sent it back to Yamato no Kami, smiting the mountain spirit. "Not again.. Not again damn it!" Gundari still attacked, sending flames to push Power Tool Dragon back into the deck, and itself back into Johns hand. "I am sorry. I don't think you can win anymore."

John/Psyche's LP: 750

"I equip Radion with Morphtronic Rusty Engine." A rusted worn down engine was attached to Radions back. "When the equipped machine dies, both players take its original attack as damage." Radion ran towards Izanagi. The spirit destroyed it before it could get near, but that only doomed his master who had less lifepoints than Radion had attackpoints. "Tsk. You really did want those region cards more than you wanted to help your friend." The holograms faded. "You better live up to your promise." Urizen half expected John to be enough of a sore loser to withhold the information anyway. "Relax Artani. I already said it will make me feel better if you know about this as well." He first tossed the blue card at YQ. "Besides. I am not out of this tournament yet." He said, even though he was still imitating someone else.

"What I found out, is indeed about Ansoni. You know how they say that he was only chosen to replace you, because he was the son of the End Syndicate president? The company that designs the duel monster cards?" They both nodded. "Well. As it turns out, he is not that mans son at all." Yale gasped. "He is not?" Urizen did not expect this kind of news either. "Yeah. There appear to be some rumors about that, and online its been backed up by photos and leaked records of his birth certificate and academy records." In this day and age, it was hard to keep such facts a secret. "Well, how does that make you feel Artani? Whatever reasons they had for picking him as a replacement, it isn't the kind of nepotism that helped you so much." He started to laugh. "He is.." Urizen could not believe it, he would not believe it. Ansoni had to be a false King of Games, he had to be. "Well I will take my leave now." John put his hood back on. "Have to duel a lot more to catch up now, and.." But he would not get out of this maze unscathed. "Hold it!"

Several men in uniforms appeared from the exits, grabbing John by the wrists. "You are to be detained, sir John. For incapacitating a contestant and impersonating him." It seemed the law of the land finally caught up. "No! I can explain!" He struggled, to no avail. "You should have quit the first time, John." Urizen sighed, this would be a good lesson for him. "We will have to confiscate that too, Yale Quincy." But the law extended further, one officer took YQ's laptop away. "Hey! Why?" He could guess why, but was outraged nonetheless. "Keins Orders, this laptop connected to a secure adress. Consider yourself fortunate that he has only asked for this and not for you as well." They walked off, dragging a still fighting John along with them. _"So one Ace helps us, and the other resists. What the hell is going on here?"_

Meanwhile at the Palace, another duelist tried his chances. "Gah!" Kai however did not do too well it seemed, her lifepoints were instantly wiped out by Lincoln, her current opponent. "This is just not fair, the way you fight." She could never have won, they had rules she could not prepare for. "Tough. Blame your own weakness, or Fate. Either way." Lincoln deactivated his disk. "What happened here, nobody else may know."

(To be Continued in Mark 019: Diamonds are a Girls Worst Friend)

**New Cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Power Tool Dragon<p>

-  
>Morphtronic Cord<br>Break Draw  
>Junk Barrage<br>Rocket Pilder  
>Factory of 100 Machines<br>Morphtronic Rusty Engine

-  
>Zero Gravity<p>

**Cards used by 'Psyche'**  
>Yaksha<br>D.D. Sprite  
>Gundari<br>Izanami  
>Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi<br>Yamata no Kami

-  
>Mirror of Yata<br>Future Visions  
>Forbidden Chalice<p>

-  
>Interdimensional Matter Transporter<br>Royal Decree


	19. 019: Diamonds are a Girls Worst Friend

**Mark 019: Diamonds are a Girls Worst Friend**

"So they took your laptop? That's harsh." Xavier and Ada caught up on what went on inside the maze. "But if you want internet access, they have those computers at the hotel don't they?" Or so Xavier had heard, he had not gotten the chance to actually check the place out yet. "It's not that. I kept all my..you know.. stuff on there. I should have used more USB sticks.." Yale looked lost without it either way. "Well there is nothing you can do without challenging the Aces directly. So you better stop sulking and get more region cards." Urizen did not care about this problem in the slightest, but was annoyed with the way Kein ran this place. And he could not directly confront the Aces. "Yeah you are right. They have the answers, and we will have to force it out of them." But there seemed to be one major obstacle to overcome this hour. "Where did everyone go?" The sun started to descend, it seemed as if most had given up for the day and retreated to the hotel. "Tsk. At this rate we will have to wait a whole 'nother day."

Though not everyone had abandoned the gardens yet. "Huh?" Not to far off in the distance, between the rows of trees, one could spot a yellow blur racing through the grass. "Hey!" Ada shouted at it to catch its attention. "What's the rush?" And she succeeded, in getting her to stop at least. "Oh hey, it's you four again!" It was the girl from before, Sarah. "I see she has not lost any energy." Urizen mumbled to himself, just before she ran towards and screeched to a halt just one inch away from them. "You are still hanging out together! That's so sweet." She smiled and then pointed to their left. "I heard from a guy that something funny is going on at the pool. And I said to myself, Sarah you can't miss out on funny stuff! So I sped off!" And as she said the word, she performed the act, speeding off again before they could get a word in edgewise. "You should come too!" She shouted to them before she left their sights. "What the hell.." Ada started to develop a headache. "No way we can ignore this event after such a recommendation."

They arrived at the hotel pool a few minutes later. It was the standard set up you;d expect from a place like this, fake palm trees and cosy folding chairs in every corner. But one thing did stand out, and it was clear why everyone came here. "Him.." In one of the chairs lied a man they knew as the ace of Hearts; Macbeth. He drew quite a crowd, mostly of the squeamish fangirl (or fanboy) type. "Isn't he supposed to be at the palace?" Instead they found him here, resting and signing even more autographs. "Disgraceful." They heard someone say on the other side of the pool. Turned out that the dueling ranger trio was here as well, though their number of fans had been cut down to none. "How long has he been here?" Yale asked Ranger E, who was closest to them. "Probably since the day started. If I know anything about Toby, its that he does not listen to his own rules." There was a slight hint of contempt in his voice. "Toby? You know him by his first name?" Urizen was surprised, not many knew Macbeths full name. "That's more of a personal thing. Let's just say that he and us Rangers have a shared past." He tapped his helmet. "But we do not have a shared future, he forsake that fate when he was offered the position of Ace-hood."

"Alright!" Macbeth suddenly leaped up from his chair. "My fans have convinced me! I shall have a expository duel, right here and now!" The crowd went ecstatic, jumping up and down. "Who here has the guts and the credentials to face me!" One girl jumped higher and louder than others. " Oh! oh! Me, pick me, pick me!" Macbeth saw her and pointed at her. "You seem spirited! What is your name?" She stopped moving and folded her arms. "Sarah Rain, at your service!" She showed off her four region cards. "Very well, you are a valid candidate. We shall fight for those four cards!" Macbeth donned his cape and put on his hat. "And I must say, I could not have faced a cuter duelist. No offense to you other ladies and gents but that black and yellow ensemble along with the perfectly sleek hairstyle can not be beat." Sarah just blinked. "Is this is what it's like to be hit on?" Macbeth laughed. "Ha, I like you even more now." The two activated their dueldisks. "Well, I do." Back on the other side of the pool Ada could only roll her eyes. _"Just because they are rich does not mean they have to throw it in everyon's faces.."  
><em>

Macbeths LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"Are we gonna watch this then?" Xavier noticed her sour expression, and figured she would not enjoy this. "No, we must see this. It will allow us to study the Ace in action." She would have to sacrifice enjoyment for information. "I agree." Urizen nodded and sat down. This would be interesting. "Normally I would have to take the first turn, as the Ace of Hearts. But here we are free from such rules, so you can decide my fair lady." He drew five cards. "Well, I went second last time so.." She drew six cards. "I set a monster down and activate a field spell." A toy-like castle appeared on the field, which generated electricity. "Wattcastle!" That was it for her turn. "Ah the Watts is your theme, now I shall reveal mine!" He summoned a monster to the field. "Gah my eyes!" A knight(1600/1800) covered in shining crystal armor. In fact it was so radiant it could blind anyone looking directly at it. "Whoops, forgot to dial down the brightness." Macbeth quickly turned a knob on his dueldisk, which made it much less painful to look at. "My apologies, but I do enjoy a good shimmer. Say good day to Gemknight Tourmaline." That was his theme, the gemknight monsters. Like Steelswarms, they were a restricted family. "But that card does not even have an effect.."

"I call its attack: Tormalent Thunder!" The knight blasted Sarahs facedown. "Oh, you name your attacks too? Cool!" An electric dragonfly(900/100) was destroyed. "You killed my first Wattdragonfly, Zappo" When a Wattdragonfly died, another Watt monster could be special summoned from the deck, like a second fly(900/100). "He will be avenged by Zeppo. Also my field spell weakens the killers of watt monsters by a thousand points." Then static energy from the Wattcastle struck Tourmaline(600/1800). "Okay. I guess I end my turn then." He let her draw a card. "Oh wait, no! I forgot to set a trap!" And he suddenly spazzed out. "Ah classic mistake, I got lost in my own hubris." He snapped his fingers. _"This is an Ace in action?" _Urizen shook his head. "Well, sorry. But I never hold back!" Sarah summoned a Wattwoodpecker(1000/100) next. "Go, Tazerbeak!" The bird raised its beak at the weakened knight. "I expected nothing less. But wait, I can do this.." But suddenly the knight(1600/1800) regained his lost powers. "By discarding Gem Merchant from my hand, I can raises the attack of an effectless gemknight." Tourmaline punched the birds lights out.. "Funny. I have a card like that too, but I havent drawn it yet." So she had to switch 'Zeppo' to defens mode.

Sarahs LP: 7400

"Worry not. I can display more above pretty tricks. I activate Gemknight Fusion!" A very specific kind of fusion was initiated. "I merge two Gemknights in my hand, Saphire and Garnet, to make a fabulous new gemstone!" Blue and red crystals fused into a caped crimson knight(2500/1300). "Behold Ruby, the Gemknight that can pierce." Suddenly Tourmaline crumbled into shards. "He can also sacrifice a fellow knight, and inherit his powers." The 1600 original attackpoints of the yellow knight were added to the red knight(3900/1300). "Now this may hurt, dear Sarah. Ruby-drawing Axe slash!" The axe came down on the Dragonfly, which caused a massive 4200 points worth of piercing damage to the watt duelist. "Now that's more like it." Sarah however only got more excited. "But why do they call you the Ace of Hearts, if the Ace of Diamonds fits better?" She figured, what with the crystals and all, he'd be a shoe-in for that title. "Unfortunately I joined the Aces last, and Lincoln did not want to give up the moniker." He sighed.

Sarahs LP: 3400

"Anyway I special summon my third fly now, Zippo!" This one(900/100) appeared in attack mode. During the endphase Ruby(1500/1300) lost its borrowed powers as well, and Wattcastle had weakened it further. Yet it was still too strong for her monsters to handle. "And Blitzwing I summon as well" Wattpheasant(1000/800) flew down as well. "I can not fight your knights, but I can fight you." She activated a continuous spell card: Wattcine, before entering the battle phase. "Blitzwing can attack directly, and when it inflicts damage a monster is banished for one turn!" The bird changed into lightning which went around Ruby and zapped Macbeth from behind. "Then, my fusion will." And of course the girl chose to remove his Gemknight from the field, which cleared the path for her Dragonfly. "Go Zippo!" The insect released a voltage burst as well. "Wattcine then restores my energy, with the energy I took from you." The damage Macbeth suffered, lingering on the field as sparks, were absorbed by the medicine spell and converted into lifepoints. "Yeek!" The attack surprised him so much he nearly tripped and lost his hat to the pools waters. "That was a close call. Ah this duel is such a thrill." Sarah then placed two traps and ended her turn.

Macbeths LP: 6100 Sarahs LP: 5300

Gemknight Ruby(2500/1300) returned to his field, its attackpoints reset to normal. "I see. If that keeps up, you will overtake me. But that would not be a very creative end to this fight." He sent Ruby in for another axe strike. "Gravity Bind!" But Sarah had a face-down trap ready, a gravity curse that prevented all highlevel monsters from attacking. "Curses." He wouldn't be able to touch her this turn, so he picked a different tactic. "I summon the Gem Armadillo(1700/500). He allows me to take a Gemknight from my deck." He added another Garnet knight to his hand. "I set two cards and end my turn."

Sarah drew a card and summoned another electric animal, the WattSquirrel(700/100). "Say hello to Crackle. It can attack twice in one turn." She played a spell after that. "I use Wattkey to turn all my monsters into direct attackers." With two monsters on Macbeths field, it was no longer enough to just banish one. "But not all of them are unaffected by your trap." The beast and insect watts were lowlevel, but the bird was of the 4th level. "Oh I know. But I thought of a trick for that." She flipped her facedown trap, Level Retuner. "See? Now Blitzwing can attack too!" Wattpheasants level was reduced by 2, so it was no longer bound by gravity. "Here we go!" The three creatures all turned into pure lightning thanks to the key, and sent jolt after jolt through Macbeths body. At the same time Wattcine restored her lifepoints by the amount he lost. "That's it for my turn!" Now she was in the lead, and the Ace could not endure another round like that. "Oh dear. I might actually lose here.."

Macbeths LP: 2800 Sarahs LP: 8600

"Nah, I can not lie. I will be fine." He laughed before entering his turn. "Dark Factory of Mass Reproduction; I take back Gemknight Saphia and Tourmaline." He played the spell that allowed a player to retake two normal monsters from the grave. "Then by banishing my first Gemknight Garnet from the cemetery, I can reclaim the Gemknight Fusion card." He immediately activated it. "I fuse Tourmaline with Saphia!" This time red and yellow crystals merged to form a knight of golden orange(1800/1800). "Gemknight Topaz! It can strike twice much like your squirrel, and inflicts damage equal to the attackpoints of its victims." He then normal summoned the other Garnet knight(1900/0). "I reactivate Ruby's effect too!" Garnet was tributed to empower the crimson warrior(4400/1300). "And now I am ready to..oh wait. I forgot about Gravity Bind.." For a second everyone went speechless, some even facepalmed. "..As if!" Macbeth flipped his trap card: Dust Tornado. "I destroy Gravity Bind, woo!" The watt monsters were no longer safe. "Uh oh."

"Diamond Tank Crusher!" Gem Armadillo flattened the Pheasant, causing 700 battle damage. "Top Lightning Twin Slash!" Topaz used his two swords to take down the last dragonfly and squirrel at the same time, inflicting 700 battle damage and 1900 effect damage. The second stroke did not do as much because Wattcastle had weakened it(800/1800) along with the Armadillo(700/1200). "Zippo's effect activates!" Sarah could still summon another Watt monster. She called a Wattlemur(800/100) in attack position to counter Ruby's piercing axe. "Boltian here will cancel out your next battle phase if you kill it." She explained the Lemurs ability. "Well as long as it is not this one." Nevertheless he continued, sending Ruby to finish the beast, inflicting 3500 battle damage. It(3400/1300) too was weakened afterwards, and would lose its own attackboost soon as well.

Sarahs LP: 1800

"That was a lot of damage. But I am still hanging in there." Sarah sounded optimistic still. "You did? It appears my math must have been off. If only I could get in one more attack... Oh wait. I can." He flipped another trap. "Gem Enhancement! I can sacrifice one Gemknight to revive another." He tributed Topaz, to bring back Garnet(1900/0). "!" It had enough attackpoints. "You had not heard _his_ attacking name yet, Garnet Gauntlet!" The blue crystal knight punched Sarah directly, ending the duel. "Geez, that was overkill." Xavier could not believe this guy. Sarah had gained lifepoints left and right, yet he still finished the job in one turn. "Victory, ladies and gentlemen! The Ace of Hearts remains undefeated in single combat!" He yelled out loud and the crowd shouted along with him. "But it was a good duel, fair Sarah."

Sarahs LP: 0

"Yeah wow. That was cool, I can not wait to do that again." Even now the girl remained cheerful. "Again? But I fear I am going to have to confiscate your four region cards." Macbeth scratched his head. "Oh I know. But I think I went a bit too overboard before now." She gave him the four cards but then revealed she has a whole other set of them. "What?" Blue, red, green and yellow, she had at least twice of each. "I got carried away with all the combos I wanted to try out, so I defeated more than I should have. Was that a bad thing?" She did feel bad for those who lost to her. "Not at all. There is no rule that says you can not hold more than four cards. And I only wagered for four, so the rest remain yours." He put the cards in his coat. "But it is interesting though." He glared at the group across the pool, Urizens company and the rangers. "What is?"

"Oh it's just with me taking this red card from you, there's about a handful of them left. With those numbers, you can forget ever beating the Ace Gauntlet."

(To be Continued in Mark 020: The Whole Nine Yards)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Wattdragonfly<br>Wattwoodpecker  
>Wattsquirrel<p>

-  
>Wattcastle<br>Wattcine  
>Wattkey<p>

-  
>Gravity Bind<br>Level Retuner

**Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Tourmaline<br>Gem Merchant  
>Gem-Knight Sapphire<br>Gem-Knight Garnet  
>Gem-Knight Ruby<br>Gem Armadillo  
>Gem-Knight Topaz<p>

-  
>Gem-Knight Fusion<br>Dark Factory of Mass Reproduction

-  
>Dust Tornado<br>Gem Enhancement


	20. 020: The Whole Nine Yards

**Mark 020: The Whole Nine Yards**

"Forget beating you? Why would you say that?" Macbeth stated the duelists stood little chance, because of the decrease in red region cards. "Is it not obvious? I assume you all were educated in the art of mathematics." He thought his words spoke for themselves. "Well yes. But it's so dull." Xavier was just happy he could get decent grades in that area. "It is simple. The number of north region duelists limits the amount of times a single duelist can challenge the four aces. We have already had to confiscate one card and beaten half a dozen at the palace. Basically, from the very start more than half the people here never had a chance." The crowd at the pool did the math and made the same realization. "But I have said enough, Kein will probably yell at me if I don't get back soon." He then held Sarahs hand and kissed it. "Madam, it was a pleasure dueling you. If you get the opportunity, you can take me on at the palace entrance." He then winked at the rest of his fans. "That counts for you too. Until we meet again!" He waved with his hat and ran off into the sunset.

"Let's do it!" Most duelists chased after him or went after each other elsewhere. "Right. I need to catch up!" Xavier threw himself into the chaos as well. "Don't get too hasty! We need to plan!" Ada followed him. "Well Sarah, its time to come up with better moves!" And Sarah retreated to the hotel in a hurry. In the end only three duelists stayed behind. "Huh? Where did the party go?" One of them was Nathan, who predictably had claimed the first resting chair he could find. "They went to duel because they're getting desperate."Urizen and Yale remained there as well. If only because Yale did not want to jump right into the middle of it all. "Oh that. man I would freak if I were in their shoes." He took a sip from his drink. "You mean you beat everyone in record time..again?" This scenery was not all that uncommon for Ashworth. "Of course. I did not even need to move. They came to me because I was one of the few duelists left with a red card. I felt bad for them of course, but I couldn't help it that I won three times in a row." He showed off his collection. "So you now can duel the Aces if you wanted." Urizen wondered what his excuse was. "Eh I will do it in the morning." He spoke as if it was mere homework. "You can't go out there unprepared you know."

But as inspired as everyone had become, that little results were taken from their efforts. One after the other a duelist with the four needed cards came, and left without. Most never even made it passed Macbeth, and all were forbidden from passing on tips to the ones that attempted to conquer the palace next. Soon the sun was gone from the horizon, and the first day of the weekend had been called off. By that time less then a dozen duelists remained active, and only Ash and Sarah had enough cards to go on ahead. Everyone retreated to the hotel to re-strategize. "Man. Nobody has a green card." Xavier struck out. The few duels he did win were against duelists with cards he already had or not enough. "Most of the people that asked me for a duel did not have what I needed either."Yale felt bad, everyone was stuck in the same position. "This is just what Macbeth wanted, seed doubt and spread chaos. He made everyone panic so they tried to beat the palace as quickly as possible, before others could take their cards away."

"I can not believe it." At the palace. despite their victories, the Aces did not seem in a good mood. "It has not shown up yet. In spite of all the duelists we already eliminated." Kein was the most annoyed, as he was the only one smashing his fists on the discussion table. "They must be catching on to us. Or someone slipped some information to them." He glared at Richard. "You're saying there is a traitor among us?" Lincoln spoke as if he could buy that theory. "That's madness. Who would want to risk that?" Macbeth not so much. "I mean I see eye to eye with Richard on this, it feels wrong to use the duelists as bait." But his words did not calm the Ace of Spades. "Enough! That was not the topic here. And we can not make a statement yet, since nothing incriminating was found on the laptop we confiscated." He sat down and took a deep breath. "Nor has something come out of that girl dueldisk. If she is involved with this in any way, we will know about it soon enough though." The other aces just stared at him. "If you send everything else back to headquarters. Why not that deck from Gaunts son?" Richard asked him. "I don't see the need to return that one yet. It belongs in the hands of an Ace. Besides Ansoni has no need for this, when he has his own talents."

Later that evening everyone had returned to the hotel for the buffet provided by the company. Only Ramirez did not show up. There they held their own discussions, although most simply lamented their defeats at the hands of the Aces. "It's just wrong the way they fight. And that Macbeth has the worst deck ever." They took turns badmouthing the Ace of Hearts mostly. "Why? His deck did not seem that hard to fight against. It's just very powerful right?" Sarah sat by herself, surrounded by a variety of dishes. "Tsk. We said too much." They were sworn to secrecy, so they could not even tell her what was different about their experiences. "I could have been the first too." Another complainer joined the table. "All those records for nothing." It was Kai, the second duelist to fall at the palace. "Wait. He is still in this game?" And she quickly noticed Xavier sitting close by, enjoying a large steak. "Hmprh?" He nearly choked on it when he heard her. "Why is that so surprising?" So Ada spoke for him. "It's funny that's what. In the end North had the biggest chance."

Just then another familiar face dropped by, well a face nobody could see that is. "You are Yale." It was Psyche, the real one this time. Though nobody knew what the real one looked like under that hood anyway. "I heard it was you that took down my imitator, I am very grateful to you." He sounded a lot nicer than the fake one too. "Eh do not mention it. I would have done it again..even if I lose my equipment again." He appreciated the words, but was still bitter about the lost laptop. "How did he get the drop on a psychic anyway?" Urizen said while letting out a slight chuckle. "Our vision is not active at all times. A man would not be able to handle that kind of power. He simply caught me at a bad time." Or so he explained. "Either way, I want you to have this." The psychic gave Yale took out his final region card. "What? You don't need this?" YQ did not see this coming. "Your odds are better than mine. That is what I saw." Psyche placed it down on the table. "Well. Thanks. I guess. I wish I could trust that vision like you do."

"That means. You are..through?" Urizen was surprised, he did not think it would be that easy. "Ahh, screw it!" Kai suddenly rose up from her seat. "If nobody else comes forward I will. I know why the Aces are so hard to beat." The others just looked at him. They did not want to object or assist just yet. "What got into you?" Nate asked the girl. "I do not want you to suffer like I did. So I am telling you this. Its not a normal sequence of duels that waits at the palace." Some duelists in the background nodded, the ones that did get passed Macbeth. "I will not say what kind of decks they use, since I am pushing my luck as it is." Kai was well aware of the camera's hanging from the ceiling. "It's a gauntlet. You have to defeat all four of them in a row, with the same deck and the same lifepoints." The group gasped. "That's insane! Nobody can last that long, their decks would run dry!" It was already hard to defeat one Ace. And nobody had ever made it all the way. "That's all the advice I can give anyone who still qualifies."

With that distressing revelation everyone returned to their rooms. "Oh man, I do not have a prayer." Despite Ada's words of confidence, Ali would fret for the rest of the night. "You are still going to try it, aren't you?" Urizen and Yale were in their room. "I have to. To find out what is going on, this is our one shot." Yale went over his deck again and again. "But I think I have an idea, on what the solution is. I just need to find the right tools." Urizen meanwhile could only look out the window, at the palace in the distance. "We will find out. Even if it is by force." And just then he caught a glimpse of someone or something. "What?" A shadow shaped like a small human was just standing there, in the middle of the flowerbeds. "Yale who is.." He turned to YQ for one second, but when he looked back the figure was gone. "..that?" Yale looked outside as well. "You saw someone again?" This was not the first time he heard that from him. "I must be wrong. Nobody would be out there this late." He rubbed his eyes. _"But why.. do I still see them?"_

"It's me." But someone was up this late at night, though this person stood inside the hotel outside of the camera's range. "As you may have heard, there have been no uprisings today. It's just like in west and east city, our friends below do not find the meals appetizing." On the other line was the same old man from before. This time he sounded less pleased. "That is disappointing. They need incentive it seems." His caller nodded in agreement. "That has already been taken care off; the right guy for the job has been found. _He_ will be the catalyst for our friends." The older man laughed when he heard that. "That is good news. You continue to impress me and the rest of the family." He coughed a little and continued. "But I am going to ask you to stay a little while longer, at least until contact has been made. And if the need arises, set up a fall-guy to take the blame for you if things go sour." The mysterious individual bowed. "I shall do so. For that task I also know the perfect candidate. Tomorrow will be _the_ day, I just know it."

The next day.

"You said you have a plan?" Xavier, Ada, Urizen and Yale walked across the path that lead to the palace, first thing in the morning. "Trust me." Along the way they encountered several duelists. "Sarah. Are you going to the palace too?" The first was the energetic blonde, now wearing a black and white ensemble. "Yeah? And I can guess why you are here." Yale smirked. "You came to the same conclusion then." Xavier looked left and right and sighed. "Would you tell us too then, please?" Urizen had already heard it in full, but the two students were as of yet unaware of this great scheme. "It is logic really. We have to face their Gauntlet, with our own. That is to say; we need to put aside our differences and fight them as a group." Four against four was much fairer. "Yeah. that is what I figured. I tried to find people to join me. But only that Nate guy seems to have enough qualification cards. And he told me he would come as soon as he finished his early hour nap." It sounded like they were the only duelists left in the Battle Garden.

"But I still need one card.." Xavier was all for this plan, but he lacked a green card still. "Perhaps we can be of assistance." As if a signal in the sky had called for them, right on time the three Rangers appeared. "Rangers D, E and V at your service!" They all posed, their arms pointing to a card held up by ranger V. "Don't tell me." This looked awfully familiar. "We have seen the light, Psyche's vision became our own." He extended the card towards Ali. "You need this one, correct?" It was the green one, the one from their region. "You may have it. Us rangers no longer have a future on the road you want to take." They had lost too many duels to ever catch up again. "All we ask is that you do not let this go to waste." Xavier took it. "I don't know what to say. This is awesome..wait. I know!" He suddenly assumed a pose of his own, his arms and legs spread wide. "X is Xavier, he shall not let you down!" The rangers blinked. "I don't think that works without a uniform, Ali." Ada said as planted her hand on her face. "... moving along then!"

So this unlikely gang returned to the palace. "I knew you would make it Sarah!" Macbeth was already there, waiting and waving. "Love the outfit. But I think the hair needs to be fine tuned, maybe a ponytail.." He did not even realize there were other challengers. "What about us?" Xavier immediately felt slighted. "No offense, but student attire is so old fashioned." He shook his head. "And you, what are you supposed to be. A sea captain or a police officer." He pointed at Yale as well, specifically his hat. "Stick to one theme at a time, that is my tip." Today for example he wore a more sea-worthy outfit, a classical captains uniform along with another big feathered hat. "The rest of you trenchcoat wearing duelists are not even worth mentioning." He ignored Urizen and his eyes fell on the three Rangers. "Oh. You three again. Still can not let bygones be bygones.." They were wearing visors, but he could tell there were angry glares hidden underneath them. "Nevermind that now, Tobias. They are here for you, not us. We are just staying to watch you lose." Macbeth tilted his head. "What, all of them?" He counted two more opponents than usual. "...congratulations! You figured out the loophole after all!" He clapped his hands. "Good work, team!"

"But is it just you three? A fourth can enter if he wishes." He revealed the disk hidden under his cape. "There was someone, but he is running a bit late." Ash was nowhere in sight yet. "Oh well. A fourth friend will not be able to help you out, if you can not get passed me." Sarah was the one that stepped forward. "I will handle him. I had fun last time, so why not?" She activated her dueldisk. "That is the way it should be. Our fates are still entwined, fair Sarah." He inserted his deck, as did she. "But I should warn you, I am a master of fusion, not a master of just Gem-Knights. I have many decks. Last time you faced my favorite as an Ace, now you face my favorite as the guardian of this palace." He drew six cards. "And as the ace of Hearts, I have to take the first turn this time." Sarah drew five cards. "Oh that is what I hoped you would say. Because I changed my deck a little as well. Have a new bag of tricks to try out. It will be like a whole new game!" The others took a step back and the two were ready with their cards. "Let's do this thing!"

Macbeths LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

(To be Continued in Mark 021: Hall of Fame)


	21. 021: Hall of Fame

**Mark 021: Hall of Fame**

Macbeths LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"The gauntlet is off. This will be probably be the last hope for everyone in this tournament! Are you excited?" Macbeth asked his opponent as he placed one monster card face down, along with two traps. "You bet!" Sarah shouted back. "Splendid! Then you may take your turn." This time he was on the defense. "Well for this game I decided to give my non Watt friends some little airtime, so say hello to Armisael!" She summoned a Shining Angel(1400/800), a monster that could special summon another light elemental if it died in the midst of a fight. "Now I want to see what you added to your deck!" The angel flew towards the set monster. "I did not say I just added or subtracted, I reworked it from scratch!" What was killed was a very odd sort of critter, a speedo-wearing blue monster(0/1000). "Ojama's?" This was not another forbidden family. This was a deck any duelist could buy and get. It just was not very popular. "Oh wow! I never thought I would face that kind of deck!" Either way the monster died.

But that was of course what Macbeth wanted. "Ojama Blue was slain. His death gives me a great reward." He could add two Ojama cards from his deck into his hand, so he took Ojama Red and Ojama Delta Hurricane. "Hmm. I think I know this combo. This is a sticky situation for you, Sarah." She said to herself as she placed two trap cards down. "Okay, your move!" But her cheery attitude was not even weakened. "Good. Now this following combo may be familiar to a lot of players, but few can escape it. The perfect Ojama lock!" He activated the field spell: Ojama Country. "First off one plays this, the land of Ojama's. By discarding a card from their hand, a player can revive one Ojama monster." Tobias discarded a spell card, to bring back Ojama Blue"(1000/0). "You may notice an oddity. That is because in Ojama's Country all Ojama's have their attack and defense points switched. Other monsters suffer this effect too." The angel(800/1400) to had shuffle his stats. "And now the fun truly begins. For I discarded Ojamagic!"

Ojamagic was a critical element of the combo, a spell card that added three specific Ojama's to a players hand, if it was ever sent to the cemetery. "I take Ojama Green, Black and Yellow." Now all he had to do was summon them. "I can special summon all Ojama's in my hand by summoning Ojama Red!" The redskinned beast(1000/0) appeared, and right behind him were Green(1000/0), Black(1000/0) and Yellow(1000/0). "Why do I get the feeling he is mocking us with this deck." Ranger E noticed the similarities between them and his monsters color patterns. "And yet no Pink Ojama." Macbeth then finished phase 1, by activating Ojama Delta Hurricane. "When I control Black, Green and Yellow, all my opponents cards are blown away!" The trio started up a violent storm. "This is how I win, Sarah Rain. By clearing the field I can finish off my enemies in one turn. After I boost their attackpoints with a spell like Big March of Animals of course." This setup could do up to 10000 damage in one turn. "And if they survive that, I have a backup plan."

However Sarah flipped two trap cards. "Well, in that case there is only one thing I can do. I activate Wattkeeper and Dynamic Generator." The latter card resolved first. "I can discard the top three cards of my deck. If any Thunder monsters are among them, I gain 1000 lifepoints for each!" She discarded three cards: Batteryman AA, Wattdragonfly and Trap Stun. "Only two? That will not be enough." Sarahs lifepoints went up to 10000. "I know. That is why Wattkeeper will revive a Wattmonster from my graveyard! Come out Zeppo!" The trap that resolved second could now take the Dragonfly(100/900) she discarded and revive it. "But the Hurricane will just wipe that one out too, wont it?" Yale asked, as he saw the winds take down both her angel and insect. "Yes. But when a dragonfly dies, another watt monster can be special summoned from my deck. Remember?" Apparently that counted for destruction by card effects too. "Here is Zippo!" A second fly showed up in defense mode. "Incredible! You evaded certain death with such grace! I can not use this spell yet." Macbeth held back his Big March and entered the battle phase. "I will activate Howl of the Wild instead!" He played a trap, one the others had seen Richard use in his duels. "That's not good."

Sarahs LP: 10000

_Dynamic Generator, Normal Trap  
>Send 3 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard. Gain 1000 Life Points for each Thunder-type monster card sent to the graveyard this way.<em>

Each slain monster would cause 1500 effect damage to the girl from now on. "Black attacks!" The heavy-set Ojama splashed down on Zippo. "Green and Yellow will take care of what you summon afterwards." Zippo's death brought out Zappo, and Zappo's fatal encounter with Green summoned a Wattfox(100/800). "Meet Thursday. When he is destroyed, the opponent loses the right to use spells or traps during the rest of his turn." Macbeth gasped as the fox was slain by Yellow. "That means.." He looked at his hand which had a fusing spell. His backup plan had been to fuse his Ojama's. That would block all of her monster zones and prevent her from summoning anything new. "You saw right through me, fair Sarah." Ojama Red and Blue delivered a direct attack. "No. Not that. It is just that I never know what deck I face next. So I mentally prepare myself for every possible strategy every deck may have. Like you fusing your monsters into Ojama King and Ojama Knight for instance." Macbeth could only smile. "Remarkable. You truly live for this game."

Sarahs LP: 3500

"But did I spy a Batteryman with my eye?" He noticed the Generator had discarded a thunder-type monster which was not a Watt. "Yup. That is what I added. Batteries, small." She summoned another monster, a D Batteryman(1900/0). "..and Big! This fella I named Delta." Thanks to Ojama Country, its massive defense had been switched with its nonexistant attackpoints. "And now I get a to play a spell I don't often get to play." She activated a very old card, Makiu - the Magical Mist. "Oh my." It would destroy all monsters whose defense points were lower than her thunder monsters attackpoints. "I can't believe she used that. Yet it will destroy his entire army." Urizen did not know whether to laugh or to applaud her. "A revived classic, it warms my heart. Yet it saddens me as well." He flipped his counter trap: Magic Drain. "I have to negate it." The trap drained the mist away. "You did what you had to do." Sarah sighed as well, but did grieve for long. "I will have to do it one at a time then!" She pointed at Ojama Green. "Green is my least favorite color, so..kill that one Delta!" Batteryman D punched the green one into pieces. "I set two cards again and end my turn." She was in the lead, but that could not last long. "The curtain is about to fall.."

Macbeths LP: 7100

"I discard a card." Ojama Country revived Ojama Green. "She might as well not have attacked." Ada felt this took too long. All Ojama's had to be killed in one turn for her to get anywhere. "I do not have another Hurricane card. But I may not need it." This time he did play The Big March of Animals. "All beast-type monsters gain 200 attackpoints for each Beast on my field." There were five, so each Ojama(2000/0) gained 1000 attackpoints. "If this is it, fair Sarah. I will tell you that I had a blast." The five Ojama's began their charge, Ojama Green avenged itself by elbowing Batteryman D into destruction, doing another 1500 effect damage. "But everything must come to an end! Ojama Yellow attacks, I hope that is your favorite." The yellow one bounced towards her. "It is. But.." And then at last, she revealed her face-down card. "I don't want to lose just yet. I activate Portable Battery Pack, to revive two Batteryman from my graveyard!" A walking Battery Pack appeared, which unloaded a D Battery(1900/0) and a double A battery(1000/0).

Sarahs LP: 1900

"Then I play Inferno Reckless Summon!" And because she had special summoned a monster with less than 1500 attackpoints, she could bringt two more from her deck. Macbeth could have done the same, but his field was already filled up. "Batterymen AA gain 1000 attackpoints for each of their own on the field." This power up was not affected by Ojama Country, since this modified current attack rather than original attack. So the three Batteries(3000/0) became significantly stronger. "You dance out of deaths path once again, fairest Sarah. Only few can match up to your magnificence now." The small batteryman were too strong to attack, but he could still kill big one a second time. Ojama Yellow finished it off, while the Ace switched the other three to defense mode. "May I ask them their names?" She had not introduced the new trio yet. "Of course. They're Aaron, Adam and Alfa." They had two a's in their original name, so why not? "Good thing that you signed each one of them. Otherwise I wouldn't know which is which." Macbeth chuckled.

Sarahs LP: 300

"But I am not through yet!" He activated the field spell in his hand, the one he would have activated last turn if not for Wattfox. "Fusion Gate! I banish Ojama Yellow and Green to fuse them together!" Green and yellow combined into an armored Ojama, who still wore his swimming pants on the outside(0/2000). "Your two remaining monster zones are sealed off." If it had not been for the Batterymen, the final three zones could have been sealed off by the Ojama King. "I end my turn." He was actually forced into defending now. With Ojama Country replaced by Fusion Gate, all Ojama's(0/1000) were back to their original stats.

_"Hmm. Can not summon anything new. Can not hurt him.."_ This duel did not look like it was going to end any time soon. But she changed her opinion when she saw what was on top of her deck. "Oh. Sarah, you are lucky!" She flashed a confident smile at Macbeth. "I think you will appreciate this finisher, sir Macbeth. It is a move appropriate for your kind of deck." She activated the new card, a spell called.. "Short Circuit: when i I control three Batterymen, It shorts out all cards on the field!" Aaron, Adam and Alfa joined together to release a major burst of electricity. "This is just like my Hurricane?" The lightning destroyed his Ojama's, his field spell and his continuous trap. "Triple direct attack!" And the trio then fired individual voltage blasts which shocked the Ace of Hearts directly. "It appears that time, Sarah has won!"

Macbeths LP: 0

"She did it!" The rangers were thrilled "That is one down." Yale, Xavier and Ada were also pleased with this progress. "But she nearly lost all her lifepoints." Urizen was not as optimistic, because he knew a duelist could not renew his LP in a gauntlet challenge. "You have shattered all of my expectations, Sarah Rain. Nobody else has ever defeated me so quickly and so decidedly. You definitely deserve the right to move on." The doors of the Palace opened slowly. "You and your companions can all head inside and confront the second Ace." He bowed for them all. "Wait. Before we go. We do have some questions.."

"We do?" Sarah was not yet aware of the mysteries that surrounded this place, she just wanted to rush inside and meet the second duelist. "Yes. It's about this whole tournament. Kein has not been too generous and Richard already struggled to tell us so little. So I am asking you." Urizen walked up towards the Ace of Hearts. "What is the real purpose of this Battle Garden? And what do you know about the blackouts?" Macbeth looked uncomfortable already. "Ehr. I know Richard and Kein had problems, but my city network had no problems whatsoever." That was not enough of an answer for the duelist. "You Aces must talk to each other as well. And to my father. There must be a reason for your presence here." The Ace looked at him at last. "It's our responsibility. It would be dangerous if we weren't here." Urizens eyes narrowed. "Why? If you ask me it is more dangerous _with_ you people here." He would not trust his father for even a second. "It's dangerous either way. But this way at least it will not be like two years a.."

"Tobias Macbeth!"

Before more could be said, a louder voice overpowered the words. "You are overstepping your boundaries." It was the masked one, Lincoln. "The Ace of Diamonds is in control now. So get in here, or leave." He turned around and walked back inside. "Ehm. What he said." Macbeth took his chance to get out of the conversation and took the same path. "Damn it." They had no choice either. " Guess we have to beat them all to keep them from shutting each other up." He said to himself. "Well I don't know why you are so angry. But I am taking that challenge." Sarah ran through the doors as well, with the other duelists following right behind. They all ended up in a large central hall. "Hmph. You failed to even leave me one card, Tobias Macbeth. You failed the gauntlet." Lincoln scoffed as he activated his dueldisk. "She was a tough duelist. I am not ashamed of my defeat." The ace said with pride. "I shall be the judge of that." Lincoln looked at his opponent. "Woman, you should know that none ever have surpassed me. These halls is where it all ends for you and your friends." Lincoln took the high ground, standing on the stairs that lead to the second floor. "And it is my turn!" The deck was inserted, the holograms activated. He drew his six cards. "Duel!"

Lincolns LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 300

As they expected, lifepoints were carried over from the last match. But so were Sarahs three powerful Batterymen(3000/0). "Enough power to end a fight in one turn." He started his turn by special summoning a Cyber Dragon(2100/1600) from his hand. "It might as well be nothing to me." Then he normal summoned a mechanical canine, the Scrap Beast(1600/1300). "Scraps? He uses Scraps?" Sarah had heard of that deck as well. "I do. And now that you feel the right level of terror. I synchro summon Scrap Twin Dragon!" Lincoln tuned the level 4 Beast tuner with his level 5 dragon, to form a level 9 synchro. The double-headed Scrap Dragon(3000/2200). "I will set two cards and destroy one of two, to send two of your cards back to your hand." Scrap twin could destroy any card its master controlled, to bounce back 2 other cards. Alfa and Adam were sent back to Sarahs hands, leaving Aaron(1000/0) alone and weakened. "I can't believe I had to waste my time on this." And then his synchro attacked it, depleting her lifepoints entirely. "Bring on the next victim."

Sarahs LP: 0

(To be Continued in Mark 022: ScrapMetal)

**New cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Shining Angel<br>Wattfox  
>Batteryman D<br>Batteryman AA

-  
>Makiu, the Magical Mist<br>Inferno Reckless Summon  
>Short Circuit<p>

_-  
>Dynamic Generator<em>  
>Wattkeeper<br>Portable Battery Pack

**New cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Ojama Blue<br>Ojama Red  
>Ojama Black<br>Ojama Green  
>Ojama Yellow<br>Ojama Knight

-  
>Ojama Country<br>Ojamagic  
>Ojama Delta Hurricane<br>The Big March of Animals  
>Fusion Gate<p>

-  
>Howl of the Wild<br>Magic Drain

**Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Cyber Dragon<br>Scrap Beast  
>Scrap Twin Dragon<p> 


	22. 022: ScrapMetal

**Mark 022: ScrapMetal**

Lincolns LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 0

"That was.. too fast." Lincoln had beaten her in one turn, Sarah never even got to make a move. "Not fast enough." Lincoln heard the others and frowned. "You left me nothing, I gave her no chance to leave anything; your duel might as well not have happened. You were given the Ojama deck for the purposes of keeping multiple duelists at bay. And yet you could not even last against one, Tobias." One could not tell with the mask that covered his upper face, but right now his eyes only reflected revulsion when they looked at the Ace of Hearts. "Vince, I keep telling you that you do not have to be harsh to your opponents." Macbeth never did mock the ones he defeated. "It's okay, sir Macbeth. I am not that sad." Sarah sighed and deactivated her disk. "Just wish I could have had a little bit more fun first." She took a step back, allowing someone else to take her place. 'Fun? You are not here to have fun, you are here to win. That kind of attitude is exactly why you lost." He pointed at Xavier and Yale. "Whoever is next should not make the same error."

"Feh. Undefeated he says. Big words coming from someone who gets Macbeths scraps." Urizen did not think too highly of this ace, not at all. "Even so. He has us at a disadvantage." The hologram of Scrap twin Dragon(3000/2200) still hovered above the stairs. "Not many decks can stand up to this style of dueling." Scraps were known to finish their victims quickly and ruthlessly. "But I will take him on next." Yale activated the dueldisk and placed the cards inside. "Are you sure? I mean, sending you in so soon." Xavier had doubts about that, because he felt Yale was the better duelist. "Xavier, do not sell yourself short. You deserve to duel him as much as I do. But I feel my cards stand a better chance." He looked up at Lincoln. "I will be your next opponent." He walked up to the red carpet. "The name is Yale Quincy." He introduced himself while shuffling his deck. "Do not even bother with that. All my enemies are crushed so fast, I forget everything about them in an instant." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

Lincolns LP: 8000 Yale's LP: 8000

"We shall see how memorable I am." YQ drew his cards. He noted that Lincoln did not draw, his hand was also carried over from the last duel. "I summon Morphtronic Boarden." The mechanical skateboard arrived unmorphed(500/1800). "Then I play Machine Duplication!" He could special summon two more Boardens, since their attackpoints were not higher than 500. "Morphtronics? You insult me." Lincoln was not impressed. "No. I am attacking you." The three Boards could attack directly while in attack position, and so they did. "Then you fail at that too!" But Lincoln had a trap for that occasion. "Power Limit: Weak monsters like yours can not even touch me." The three boardens phased right through him. "Dang. Not even one hit." He placed two cards face down and ended his turn. "It does not matter how many weaklings you summon, before me they all disappear like dust in the wind." Lincoln drew another card. "Scrapyard. I add one Scrap Tuner monster to my hand." Lincoln chose to take a Scrap Orthros out of his deck.

_Power Limit, Continuous Trap  
>Monsters with an ATK equal to or less than 1500 can not inflict battle damage to a players lifepoints.<em>

"Scrap Searcher." Lincoln normal summoned a steelwinged bird(100/300) and searchlights. "When I control a Scrap monster, I can special summon the Tuner I added to my hand." He called out a metallic two-headed dog(1700/1100). "When Scrap Orthros appears, he will destroy one other Scrap monster." The bird crumbled down, leaving nothing but metal junk behind. "Then!" Orthros also broke down. "I destroy Orthros with Scrap Twin Dragons effect, to send two of your monsters back!" Two Boardens returned to Yale's hand. "And before you ask; 'why did you leave my traps alone?' It is because I know what your weaklings can do now. If you were to switch them to defense, I would not be able to break through your defenses." He entered the battle phase. "And that is unacceptable. All weaklings must be purged!" The Scrap Synchro unleashed two bursts of energy which incinerated the third Boarden. "Already you fall behind." At that time the destroyed Scrap bird rebuilt itself. "When one Scrap is dismantled, I can revive Scrap Searcher!" Lincoln next took Scrap Beast out of his graveyard. "Additionally, when Scrap Orthros dies, I can add a Scrap monster from the grave to my hand." He ended his turn. "Do you see, how easily they died?"

Yale's LP: 5500

"I saw." YQ drew again, and this card was just what he needed. "I will not try to sneak around then!" He summoned a microscope morpher(800/1400). "Tuner monster: Morphtronic Scopen. Once per turn it can summon another Morphtronic from my hand!" He special summoned a Morphtronic Videon(1000/900). "He is gonna synchro summon!" Xavier and Ada had not seen his synchro in action yet, they did not know if it could help now. "Level 3 Scopen and Level 4 Videon. I tune them into Power tool Dragon!" The scope and video camera joined as one, forming the mechanical dragon(2300/2500). "That is your synchro monster? Not Black Rose Dragon? Not even a Brionac? How pathetic." Lincoln was still not 'wowed' by his enemy. "Mock this!" He activated the effect of Power tool, choosing three equip cards(2 Double Tools, 1 Break Draw). "Hmph. Break Draw." The Ace of Diamonds was of course not going to let him have a spell that made Power Tool stronger than his synchro. "Thanks. I already had it anyway.." But he did not have to, as YQ flipped his face-down Double Tool C&D, which he equipped to the tool Dragon as well. "The cards I set were just a bluff?" Macbeth was surprised. Lincoln had returned the right cards to YQ's hand after all. "Attack!" Power Tool wound up its saw and cut straight through the two-headed monstrocity. "Then I can draw one card, because Break Draw activates whenever the equipped monster 'break's a monster."

Lincolns LP: 7700

"Very well, you have scratched me." Bits of dragon metal fell to the floor. "But it will take far more to shatter me." Somehow Scrap Orthros had been forged from the synchro's remains. "What?" It appeared that when Scrap Twin Dragons were destroyed, they could special summon a Scrap monster from the cemetery. "Synchro summon." Right after Yale ended his turn, Lincoln tuned the level 4 tuner with the level 1 Scrap Searcher. "Ally of Justice Catastor." A white and gold machine monster(2200/1200) appeared. "He uses the Allies as well now?" The Rangers recognized these things, Allies of Justice were dark machines who resisted every other attribute. "Catastor can destroy any non-dark monster in battle." And Lincoln was not even starting yet. "Scrap Chimera." He normal summoned a metallic lion with wings and a serpents tail, a Chimera(1700/800). "When I summon this card, I can bring out a Scrap Tuner." He explained as Orthros was put back together for the second time. "I Synchro summon Scrap Dragon!"

And the two level 4 beasts combined their parts to form another dragon(2800/2000), with one head this time. "I can destroy any card on your field by letting this Scrap Dragon destroy one of mine." He placed one trap down for exactly this reason. "But Power tool can negate its own destruction by sacrificing an equipment spell it is holding!" Yale did not think he would die to either the dragon or Catastor. "I am well aware." Scrap Dragon activated its effect anyway. "I destroy my face-down Wild Tornado." Urizen flinched. "That card?" Whenever a set Wild Tornado was destroyed, it would destroy a card as well. "Both my trap and my synchro target your monster." Wind and steam threatened to turn Power tool into salvage, so Yale was forced to sacrifice both Break Draw and Double Tool to keep it intact. "Then a double strike, to put it where it belongs!" Catastor fired a beam that pierced right through Power Tool and melted it down to nothing. Then the Scrap Dragon bombarded YQ directly with laser rays. "Do you see how worthless your synchro was?"

Yale's LP: 2200

"No card is truly worthless. You can work with anything." Macbeth suddenly interjected. "Wait, even Larvae Moth?" Xavier asked. "Yes even that has a purpose." The Ace claimed, though he did not sound too convinced of that himself. "And you showed us how succesful that kind of disposition makes a duelist. Fun decks do not win." Lincoln ended his turn. "You can not be sure of that!" YQ yelled as he activated a spell card. "Morphtronic Accelerator!" He sent one Boarden in his hand back to the deck to destroy a monster and draw a card. "Feh." He chose the Scrap Dragon. "I revive Scrap Orthros." But that just triggered its ability. "I have more to show you!" He summoned the monster he had drawn. "Morphtronic Vacuumen!" It was the vacuum cleaner(0/0) in defense mode. "But you can not summon a monster in face-up defense mode." Lincoln protested. "I can, with this." Yale revealed his other set card: Morphtronic Monitron. "I can switch 'morph' any morpher that is normal summoned." So now the vacuum could start inhaling.

"I suck up Catastor!" The Ally machine was dragged inside the cleaner. "Then I set two cards and end my turn." It was unfortunate that he had only drawn Vacuumen after he activated the Accelerator, otherwise he could have sucked up the Dragon with it. "Hmph. I activate Scrapstorm." Lincoln played a spell. "I draw 1 card, send one Scrap monster to the grave and destroy one on my field." He drew a trap, discarded a Scrap Soldier and tore down Orthros. "I add Scrap Chimera to my hand and I revive Scrap Searcher." The effects of his dog and bird resolved at the same time. "Then!" He normal summoned the Chimera again, who this time revived a level 5 tuner; Scrap Soldier(2100/700). "I synchro summon my second Twin Dragon!" Chimera and Soldier Metal were used to forge another Twinheaded Dragon(3000/2200). "Oh no. If he returns Cleanen and attacks directly. He will win!" One more direct attack is all Lincoln needed. "I destroy Searcher." He used the dragons effect already. "..." Yale did not react, he waited for the outcome.

"I return your two face-down cards." But to his amazement, the Vacuum was spared. His cards instead were returned. "But what if it was just another bluff?" Macbeth asked his partner. "There was no fear in his eyes. At the very least he counted on his traps to save him." He entered the battle phase. "I take no chances!" And two bursts of energy were enough to slag his Morphtronic. "I set one card and end my turn." Yale somehow survived this round. "You have multiples of the same synchro too huh." This made him happy, for one of his facedown cards had been a bluff after all. "Too? You bought more than one.." Urizen could see whwre ethis was headed. "Yup. I summon my last Boarden. And then I activate Junk Box to revive Scopen!" The two tronics returned to the field. The latter was in its defense form. "When in defense, Scopen raises his level to 4!" Now he could tune the level 4 scope and level 3 board and summon Power Tool Dragon number two(2300/2500). "You really should name them." Sarah said with a grin. "Perhaps later."

"Now then: Its effect!" He took 3 equips from his deck: 3 Morphtronic Repair Engines. "What?" The Ace had little choice in this matter. "Thanks." So he selected one at random and Yale wasted no time in using it. "I discard Morphtronic Magnen from my hand, to equip this to the destroyed Morphtronic Vacuumen!" Vacuumen was repaired and ready to suck up more monsters. "If you build your victories from scrap, so can I!" he was about to absorb the Twin Dragon. "Do you think the monsters make a difference!" But Lincoln activated the trap; Interdimensional Matter Transporter. "They do not!" This Transporter warped his synchro off of the field and out of Vacuumens range. "Because you have already lost." It would return the next turn to finish off Power Tool. "No..I will not go down without a fight!" Power Tool attacked directly.

Lincolns LP: 5400

As for the rest of his turn, he could only set one trap down. A trap he knew would be bounced back. "This fight has gone as far as it can." Vince shrugged off the hit and proceeded to his turn. Twin Dragon broke free of the other dimension. "You have failed utterly. Not because of your monsters, but because of you.." He summoned the Scrap Beast(1600/1300) in his hand and immediately destroyed it with Twin Dragons ability. "Be gone." He targeted Yale's trap and synchro. The revived Searcher(300/100) would kill of Vacuumen. "Grr. I may not be able to win. But I can still, hurt you!" His trap was revealed. "Power Break! When I control Power Tool Dragon, I can send up to 3 equip spells from the field and grave back into my deck." He returned Double Tool, Break Draw and the Repair Engine. "And you lose 500 lifepoints for each one!" Lightning shot out of the trap and shocked Lincoln. "Useless." Nevertheless, Yale's field was purged of all its materials besides Morphtronic Monitron. Nothing could and nothing did stop Twin dragons decisive strike.

Lincolns LP: 3900 Yale's LP: 0

"Two down, one to go." Yale was defeated as well, Lincoln did not even pay attention to him anymore. "Maybe now we have eliminated enough." He chuckled. "Ggh. This is insane. How is anyone supposed to win this tournament!" Ada snapped, shouting at Lincoln and Macbeth at the same time. "You never told us about this Gauntlet, and now it is too late! There are not enough duelists left!" She did not think it was fair that it all came down to Ali now. "Heh. You talk as if you and your friends are of importance. As if we should even give you a winning chance." Lincoln flashed a unpleasant smirk. "You are very mistaken if you think you are here to win a prize. As far as I am concerned, we brought you here to lose to us." He then glared in the direction of Xavier Ali. "You're their last hope, kid. I can not wait to crush it completely."

Meanwhile, even though there was rarely any need for it, Richard patrolled the palace corridors, waiting for any duelist that might make it to the second floor. But none so far had beaten Lincoln. ".." But he stopped when he noticed someone through the window. "You." He saw Ramirez standing outside, she was looking straight at him. _"Does she feel it? Does she think it will happen.. today?" _

(To be Continued in Mark 023: Ace in the Hole)

**New cards used by Yale Quincy**  
>Morphtronic Scopen<p>

-  
>Break Draw<p>

-  
>Morphtronic Monitron<br>Power Break

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Scrap Searcher<br>Scrap Orthros  
>Scrap Chimera<br>Ally of Justice Catastor  
>Scrap Dragon<br>Scrap Soldier

-  
>Scrapyard<br>Scrapstorm_  
><em>

_-  
>Power Limit<em>  
>Wild Tornado<br>Interdimensional Matter Transporter


	23. 023: Ace in the Hole

**Mark 023: Ace in the Hole**

"What are you looking at?" Kein approached Richard who stood by the large windows. "That girl from before, she is outside." He pointed to Ramirez who still looking up at the palace. "So? it is not as if she can get in our way anymore. Then again on the other hand it would have been good for the mission if she had continued to eliminate duelists back like back in North City. That seemed to speed up the process a lot." He seemed pleased with that. "Are you suggesting she has a connection with 'them'?" Richard not so much. "If she does, we don't know of it yet. I will have to ask headquarters about it." They both did agree that she knew more than she was letting on. "You guard the throne room while I am gone. Those friends of Artani may actually get that far." He chuckled at his own sentence. "If they can get that far." Because Lincoln had been too efficient so far. "They can." Richard said rather confidently. "Because they are not like those before them. They have put aside their own desires. For truth itself."

Lincolns LP: 3900 Yale's LP: 0

"Wow. That deck is really really strong." YQ had been defeated just as brutally as she had, Sarah now realized she never stood a chance. "Damn it. It would be nice if Ash showed up right about now." It was all up to Xavier Ali now."I am sorry. I did not want to put all that pressure on you." Yale had no excuses for his performance. "It's okay. You softened him up a little." Xavier said, despite the situation he now faced. One duel later and Lincoln still controlled that dangerous Scrap Twin Dragon. "Not enough. But we do not have the luxury of choices anymore." Ada gave him a pat on the back. "If you give into fear, you have already lost." Giving him a quote of her own this time. "Well, I can't go back either way." He took a deep breath, activated his disk and stepped up to the red carpet. "So you still try. Do you think you can beat me, and the two Aces that follow?" Lincoln smiled, he was not even worried in the slightest. "If I listened to my thoughts, I would never get anywhere." Xavier shook his head. "No, I will find out when I am actually dueling!"

Lincolns LP: 3900 Xaviers LP: 8000

"Draw!" Xavier looked at his hand. "I activate Dragon Ravine." First order of business was to place down his field spell. "I discard a card from my hand, to add Dragunity Phalanx." He then analyzed the field. All Yale had left behind was Motrphtronic Monitron, which was of little use to his dragon deck. Lincoln controlled two monsters, Scrap Searcher(100/300) and the Synchro(3000/2200). "Both are Earth-type. Right..then I can special summon this!" He called out a winged warrior in white armor(2400/200). "Alector, Sovereign of Birds!" And before Lincoln could even ask why he summoned it in attack position, it was sacrificed. "Merely tribute fodder?" In its place came a green amored emperor of wind(2400/1000). "The Storm Monarch?" Macbeth gasped as he saw Raiza appear, one of the six great monarchs. "When Raiza is tribute summoned, I can send one monster on the field back to the deck." Raiza let loose a tempest which forced the twoheaded dragon back into the extra deck. "Then I attack Searcher!" The fierce winds cut the mechanical bird into unsalvage-able scraps. "Ha. This is the one way to counter your monsters recycling abilities. You can not rebuild what is not in your graveyard!" He ended his turn after he set one card.

"For all of your words, you have accomplished so little." All Lincoln had to do was resummon the Scrap Chimera(1700/800) he had added to his hand last turn. "I revive Scrap Soldier." And after that he could tune it with the mechanical tuner(2100/700) to resummon the same Twin Dragon(3000/2200) all over again. "You did not damage me, you did nothing. That is all you duelists can do, nothing!" He was about to destroy his continuous trap card: Power Limit, to activate his monsters effect. "I would not say that! Yale did leave me one thing!" When Ali flipped a quickplay spell card. "Double Cyclone! I destroy a spell or trap card on either side of the field!" Two whirlwinds appeared, one red and one yellow. The first shattered Morphtronic Monitron, the second shattered Power Limit. "Ugh." Twin Dragon could only destroy one card a turn, and since it missed it could not proceed to the second phase of its effect. "Whoa." Yale was shocked that he still helped out somewhat. "Pointless." Instead the dragonheads had to kill raiza with an attack, which they did.

Xaviers LP: 7400

"Yeah so you hit me before I could hit you." Xavier did not let that get to him. "Why do you try my patience already." Lincoln placed one card down. "Because. I think I can win this after all." That did help get rid of the fears he had before. "Then please show mw this, miracle, you wish to accomplish." His turn was over. "Can do."Watch this guys!" Xavier drew and activated his field spell again. "Dragon Ravine discards Dragunity Phalanx from my hand, so I can add Dragunity Legionairre!" He then summoned the winged fistfighter(1200/800). "He can add one equip himself with one monster from my graveyard!" The Legionairre took the Phalanx from his cemetery. "You want to use your monsters effect? You're suicidal." The legion warrior could remove the equipped dragunity to destroy one face-up monster, but that would just trigger Scrap Twin Dragons revival abilities. "Nope. They are merely tributes too." Suddenly the Phalanx came to life. "They?" Dragunity Phalanx could be summoned to the field as a monster(500/1100) if it was ever equipped to another monster. "And I banish both, along with Raiza in my cemetery!" Three monsters were sucked up by a dimensional storm which formed a sphere. "To special summon the Atmosphere!"

A created sphere was grabbed by the golden bird(1000/800). "Once per turn she can absorb one monster on the field!" This was another way to get around the scrap monsters effects. "Guess which one!" The sphere opened and Twin Dragon was captured inside. "Tsk. Resorting to using your opponents powers against him" Lincoln watched how his synchro powered up the Atmosphere(4000/3000). "All is fair in love and war. Heh!" The Ace of Diamonds was defenseless, and 'softened' enough. "Go! Atmosphere Forever!" His winged creature tossed the sphere at Lincoln, who was virtually crushed by his own synchro. "Yes. He is out of there!" The rangers pumped their fists. "Like he said, two down." Urizen was happy to see that guy finally silenced. "You only finished what your predecessors started. Had this been a fair duel, I would not have lost." Not that it stopped the masked man from running his mouth. 'Well whatever. You can not get in our way anymore, and we are on step closer to the price." Ada gave her partner a thumbs up. "You're gonna be champion, Ali!"

Lincolns LP: 0

"Wait. Have you not been hearing a word of what I said?" Lincolns tone changed from annoyance to disbelief. "You still think you can win here? Because I know we did not extend this tournament for your sakes." He walked down the stairs. "Well you certainly designed this thing in a way that almost makes it impossible to win. But that suggests you started this for no reason, that there is no price to be won." Yale wondered what exactly he was getting at. "Ehr, Vince. Are you sure you want to tell them this now?" Macbeth asked, having been scolded for doing exactly that just a minute ago. "If I wont, Richard will. that man wont be able to keep this a secret. And why are you still here Tobias? You're supposed to monitor the outer perimeter!" He pointed at the doors, yet nobody was there. "I think these are the last challengers actually. At least the last for this Gauntlet run" The Ace of Hearts did not expect more to come. "What? No more? And we still have not ahd a reaction? Damn it, then who could it be." This news upset them, but the others did not know why.

"They are the last." Another voice echoed across the hallway. "I confirmed it. Only their red cards are still in regulation, only two duelists remain." It was Richard, he stood underneath the doorway to the central room. "Only two aces remain as well. I now stand in their way. Come.." He went back inside. "Hmph. Look at how happy he is that he finally gets to duel again." Lincoln scoffed and followed. "You call that happy?" How he could tell, Ada did not know. "Grr. These fools keep jerking us around." Urizen meanwhile was just tired of half answered questions and continuous retreats. "Sorry, it's out of my hands." Macbeth shrugged and walked back outside. "I hope for your sakes that your fourth friend still shows up. I can not keep the doors open forever." The others would have to go up to the second floor if they wanted to know more. "Okay. I can do this. I have seen him in action." Xavier clenched his hands and ran ahead. "Here I come, Richard!" He ended up inside the throne room. The Ace of Clubs waited for him on the other end. "Indeed."

Richards LP: 8000 Xaviers LP: 7400

He apparently did not want to wait, as he had already drawn six cards by the time everyone else got inside. "We meet again. This time you have all the rights to duel me. So defeat me, if you want to find out why you really are here." Xavier nodded. "That's right. Anyway I guess its's your turn now." The holograms turned back on, he had a superstrong monster by his side and little to no lost lifepoints. He had a good feeling about this game. "Yes." He then normal summoned his first animal, a four star two-horned tiger(800/1600). "Bicorn Re'em." He special summoned an animal as well. "Egotistical Ape." By sending a beast from his hand to the grave, the shadowy monkey of vanity(1200/1200) appeared from his hand. Yale recognized it "That's a tuner whose level is changed by the level of the discarded beast." Richard discarded a level 2 Soa Koala, so the level 5 ape became a level 3 ape. "Synchro summon." He turned the Bicorn with the Ape, and out came a blue horse with two boltlike horns; the Voltic Bicorn(2500/2000) in defense mode.

"First tricorns and now Bicorns, when does it end?" Xavier hoped there was not a Quadracorn somewhere in his extra deck. "Hey, what is this bleeping for?" Just then Ali noticed his disk was sending him a message. "Discard two?" He did not understand. "Its the effect of Re'em, Ali. It forces you to send two cards from the top of your deck away, when it is used as a synchro summon material." Ada explained to him. "Huh. That's new." Xavier had never seen an effect like that before, so he discarded two cards: Debris Dragon and Forbidden Spear. "Aw man. I am gonna miss those." After that Richard passed the turn back to the student. "Well, I don't know why you summoned a weaker monster. Lucky for you Atmosphere can not absorb more than one at a time, so.." He summoned the Flying Kamakiri # 1 insect(1400/900). "Guess I will have to use brute force!" The sphere bird tossed the still trapped Scrap Twin Dragon at the Bicorn, sending it to the grave. Afterwards his Flying mantis sliced Richard directly. "Yes. I am ahead already!"

Richards LP: 6600

"In one way yeah." Lincoln sneered from the sidelines. "What do you..hey?" And Ali noticed the blinking lights again. "More discards?" This time the disk asked both players to send 7 cards away. "Seven?" That was the cost of slaying Voltic Bicorn. "Oh no. Every time he kills it, he has to discard 7 cards. So he is running a deck destruction deck!" Sarah had encountered those before, they were never pleasant. "Those exist? he did not use this last time!" An incredulous Ali asked as he threw seven cards into his grave. "Just tough it out! beat him before he makes you run dry!" Ada shouted. "Easier said than done." Lincoln continued to laugh, as Richard started his turn again. "Beast Striker." He summoned the hammering ogre(1850/400). And he did not even give a word of warning before the beast smashed the Kamakiri insect into a slimy pulp. "Fighting back as well, eh?" At least with the death of his flying mantis, he could special summon a weak wind monster from his deck. In this case a Dragunity Aklys(1000/800). "..."

Ali's LP: 7550

Richard then ended his turn after setting a card. "This is weird. He doesn't seem to be giving his all." The Rangers felt Richard was too laid back. "It's a trick I bet." Xavier did not mind either way. He had drawn another good card. "Dark Scheme." But Richard flipped his trap, which forced both players to discard two cards from their hand and draw two new ones. He had to discard Icarus Attack and Cold Wave. "Crud. Easy come, easy go." While Richard discarded Beast rising and The Fabled Catsith. "Wait. Uh oh." Unfortunately when a Fabled Catsith was discarded, its owner could destroy 1 card. "Good riddance to Atmosphere." Lincoln gloated as the cat sliced up Ali's monster while it went to the graveyard. "Awww." Now his hand was not so useful anymore. "I activate Ravine!" He threw away a useless card to add Dragunity Corsesca to his hand. "Then I play Cards of Consonance. I discard a dragon tuner with 1000 atk or less, to draw 2 cards." He threw away Corsesca and drew two new cards, a spell and a monster. "You know you are helping him, right?" Ada noticed he was thinning out his deck too now. "I have no choice, I need a better hand! He can attack my deck, but I will attack his lifepoints." Now he did have a good hand.

"Dragunity Dux!" He summoned royal commander(1500/1000) of the Dragunities. "Dux can wield a Dragunity monster in the grave." Dux put his hands into the floor and pulled out a trident-like weapon. "It equips Dragunity Corsesca. Now whenever it kills a monster, I can add a level 4 wind monster to my hand." Furthermore Dux gained 200 attackpoints for each Dragunity Xavier controlled. (Atk: 2100). "Take this!" Dux stabbed the Beast Striker with its pole weapon. "I add Dragunity Pilum to my hand!" Then Aklys attacked directly for some more damage. "Now in my second main phase, I tune Aklys together with Dux!" The level 2 tuner and level 4 commander formed a level 6 dragon riding knight(2400/800). "Dragunity Knight Gae Dearg." The red rider had a discarding ability too. "By adding a level 4 dragon or winged beast to my hand, I can discard one dragon or winged beast to the grave." He discarded Dragunity Pilum to add a Vice Dragon. "Then finally I play Super Rejuvenation. During my endphase I can draw cards for each dragon that was discarded or tributed this turn." Thanks to Richard and his own spells, four had been discarded. "Wait..this can't be right." He drew four cards because of it... four out of ten cards. Six remained in his deck.

Richards LP: 5350

"It was thinned out... that much?" Ali did not exactly keep track of his own deck size. "Oh Crap.."

(To be Continued in Mark 024: Last Card Standing)

**New cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>Alector, Soverein of Birds<br>Raiza, the Storm Monarch  
>Dragunity Phalanx<br>Dragunity Dux

-  
>Double Cyclone<br>Cards of Consonance  
>Super Rejuvenation<p>

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>Egotistical Ape<br>Bicorn Re'em  
>Voltic Bicorn<p>

-  
>Dark Scheme<p> 


	24. 024: Last Card Standing

**Mark 024: Last Card Standing**

Richards LP: 5350 Xaviers LP: 7550

"Crap, crap, crap. I got too greedy." Between all the Bicorns, the spells and traps that required discards and the drawing he had done, Xavier had taken all but 6 cards from his deck. Richards deck was not even as empty. "Calm down Xavier. You are not dead yet!" Ada yelled, but his confidence was decreasing by the second. "Tsk. Now even if he defeats Richard, he will have less than 5 turns against Kein." Urizen was not as hopeful either. "You could have kept that to yourself." Ali moaned and let Richard start his turn. "I should still be fine as long as he doesn't summon another Voltic Bicorn." Richard drew, and unfortunately he had what he needed. "Elefun and Monoceros." First he normal summoned a blue floating elephant head(500/300), which was a level 2 tuner. Then he special summoned a level 3 unicorn(1000/1000). "Ah, Monoceros can be special summoned if the player banishes a spell from his hand." Now he had 5 levels worth of syncho materials. Which he used to synchro summon Thunder Unicorn(2200/1800). "Whew its the other one."

"H-hey!" However for no initially clear reason, Elefun reappeared. "When Monoceros is used for a synchro summon, the tuner used for that summon is revived." Lincoln explained, chuckling as Richard immediately used the tuner and the synchro for another synchro summon. A second Voltic Bicorn(2500/2000) appeared. "I think you jinxed yourself." The Rangers said. "Oh man." Luckily the Bicorn was stronger than his Dragunity Knight(2400/2000), so it could not suicide. Instead it killed Gae Dearg with a bolt of thunder from its horn. "Greed Grado." he then flipped a quickplay spell. "Ah, he finally can use the spell I set for him." Lincoln had set it before Xavier defeated him. "He can draw 2 cards whenever he destroys a Synchro monster." Richard then placed a card down and ended his turn. "Well this looks bad yeah. But, I just remembered I have one dragon that can get me out of this." He started his turn by placing a trap. "But it needs to be tribute summoned, so." He then special summoned Garuda, the Wind Spirit form his hand. "This monster can be summoned by banishing a wind creature in my grave." He banished Dragunity Legionairre. "Now!" He then sacrificed the Windspirit(1600/1200) for a red bat-like dragon(2200/1800). "Of course, the Genesis Dragon!"

Xaviers LP: 7450

"When Genesis Dragon dies, all dead dragons are shuffled back into the deck." That would certainly buy Ali some time. "He can also recycle dragons!" He discarded a monster from his hand, and added Debris Dragon back to his hand. "I end my turn." He would have wanted to set it instead of summoning it, but this way he could set up a synchro summon for next turn and make Richard think twice about attacking. "Voltic Kong." But he did not hesitate even once, summoning an electrically charged up gorilla(1800/1000). "Here he comes!" Ali did not even want to activate his trap as the Bicorn fired another thunderbolt. "And here I.." But as the voltage hit Genesis Dragon, a dimensional hole opened beneath it. "Huh?" Genesis Dragon was banished instead, because Richard had flipped his trap: Different Dimension Ground. "Argh, he still uses removal tactics?" His dragon could only return dead dragons if it itself was sent to the grave. "Direct attack." Then Voltic Kong charged up its fist and punched the student. "When Kong does damage, the opponent has to discard cards for each light-type monster on his field." And now Xavier had to reduce his decksize even more, two cards were sent away and banished by the dimensional trap. "Three cards left."

Xaviers LP: 5350

And that number went down by one during his draw phase. "Wait. This is." But the card he drew appeared to give him hope again. "Not yet." First however he summoned Debris Dragon(1000/2000), the level 4 tuner that could revive monsters with 500 atk or less. "I revive Shield Wing. And I tune it with Debris Dragon!" The level 2 shieldwinged beast(0/900) and level 4 white dragon were the materials for a white-armored level 6 dragon rider(2000/1100). "Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg. This monster can banish winged beasts from my cemetery, to steal their attackpoints for one turn!" And there were plenty of those now. "I will finish this in one battle phase. I activate Dragon Mastery!" He played a continuous spell card. "It adds power to monsters equipped with Dragunities. It also allows me to equip my monsters with dragunities from my hand." And he had one such weaponizeable dragon in his hand. "I equip Gae Bulg with Dragunity Brandistock, which allows him to strike twice in one turn!" The knight(2500/1100) took possession of the Brandistock.

"I remove Simorgh." Of course he banished his strongest winged beast first, the ancestral birds spirit (2900 atk) boosted the dragon rider(5400/1100). "Kill Kong!" Gae Bulg tore through the voltic gorilla with its Brandistock. "And now it attacks again!" This time he removed Alector (2400 atk) from his graveyard, as the Knight(7800/1100) could use its ability every time it attacked. "It wont matter how much I discard now, your lifepoints will be zero!" The dragon itself let loose a blast of flames which consumed the two horned horse. "He won?" The rest of Ali's deck was discarded. "No!" Yet Richards lifepoints were the same as before. "Defense Draw?" They saw the trap he activated, a card that negated damage from 1 clash and allowed Richard to draw 1 card. "Hahaha. You cleared out your deck for nothing!" The Ace of Diamonds could nopt stop laughing. "Oh yeah?" But then Xavier activated his last card, Pot of Avarice. "What?" He could shuffle five cards back into his deck and draw two cards. "Guess again, I have 3 turns left!"

Richards LP: 1750

Lincoln could not believe his luck, Richard just kept the same expression. "Maybe." He drew again and activated a spell called Closed Forest. "That card?" This field spell, which destroyed Dragon ravine, added 100 attackpoints to all beasts for each monster in the cemetery. And by now Richard had a lot of dead monsters. "Lock cat." He normal summoned the cat with the lock(3000/1000), who had the ability to revive the mouse with the key, Keymouse(1800/100).. "Chain Dog." He also summoned another beast from his grave, a dog in chains(3300/1100). "That one revives itself when a player controls two other beasts?" And he used them all for a synchro summon, they could predict which one. "Lightning Tricorn." He called out the golden tri-horned horse(4700/2000). "I am guessing he has 19 monsters in his grave now." Yale extrapolated that from the attackboost Tricorn gained from the forest. "Attack." The horse galloped towards Gae Bulg. "Oh yeah? Well my monster can use its effect when its attacked too!" Xavier smirked. "Wait, Ali!" He thought it was common sense to defend himself, so Xavier banished a Troposphere in his cemetery to boost his Knight(4900/1100). "This is what he wants!" Gae bulg struck down Lightning Tricorn with one counter blow.

Richards LP: 1550

This triggered its ability to revive a Unicorn or Bicorn synchro monster. "Ah?" Voltic Bicorn(4400/2000) was reborn. "If he attacks, now you will run out of cards!" And Bicorn charged already. "Yeah but he will lose all his lifepoints, wont he?" He could still remove Dragunity Dux, which would boost Gae Bulg's atatck up to 6500. "No. He.." Ada knew a trap lied in waiting and tried to warn him. "Quiet! He has to duel on his own!" But Lincoln silenced her, as outside advice was against the rules. "What is she worried about? I see no..trap?" And just when the two monsters were about to touch each other, he realized what was wrong. "Gah! Half or Nothing!" So he flipped a trap which would either halve his monsters attackpoints or stop his attack. The choice was up to him. "...I choose Nothing." He halted his attack. "Why did he do that?" The Rangers did not follow what went on there. "It's his graveyard, he put a very sneaky card in there." Sarah had spotted it too, a certain trap that was sent to the grave when the second Bicorn died. "Skill Succesor."

"That card?" Yale saw it too now, a trap that could activate from the cemetery. "Had he used it on Bicorn, it would have gained 800 attackpoints." In that case it would still die, but Richard would not lose enough lifepoints to lose the game. Xavier however would lose his entire deck, again. "Close one." He was happy he figured that out in time, but if he could not defeat Richard now, the next turn would kill him. "End turn." Richard passed the turn back to Ali, who drew. "Hmm." His hand had three of the five monsters he had sent back to his deck with Pot of Avarice: Unibird, Debris Dragon and Dragunity Partisan. "Crud." Yet those were not very helpful anymore. All because of another of the seven cards Richard discarded when Gae Bulg killed the Voltic one. "Necro Gardna, dang." It was a warrior he could banish to stop one attack. Even if he could match Bicorns power now, or try a direct attack somehow. Gardna would stop it. _"There is only one synchro that can help me now. But I do not have the right monsters to summon it."_

He needed a winged beast and a dragon tuner, he could not get both in one turn. "Wait?" Or could he? "I summon Unibird!" He called upon a level 2 blue bird(100/600). "Then I reactivate Dragon Mastery!" He took the Partisan from his hand and equipped it to Gae Bulg. "Partisan turns its wielder into a tuner!" Now Gae Bulg was a level 6 dragon tuner. "I synchro summon the third and strongest knight! Barcha!" Unibird and the white rider united into one, a black knight atop a green dragon(2000/1200). "Oh!" Barcha's ability was to wield as many Dragunities from the grave as it could. Four spell slots were free. "I equip it with Corsesca, Brandistock, Aklys and Pilum!" Barcha(3800/1200) gained 300 attackpoints for each dragunity equipped, and 500 from Dragon Mastery. "Those equips.. allow it to attack twice..and directly?" They knew about Brandistock, but it appeared that the Pilum dragon turned its wielders into direct attackers, though the damage they inflicted would be halved. "Now here I come! The outcome is clear!" He was about to attack. "Yes it was." But Richard placed his hand on his deck, signalling his surrender and reducing his own lifepoints to zero. "Why did you.." They weren't going to complain, but it was surprising still.

Richards LP: 0

"I did not want to waste your time any more than I had to. It is clear to me that our approach is failing." He stared at Lincoln. "That is not our fault." Lincoln grumbled and looked the other way. "Approach? You mean that you actually are just here to make sure nobody wins?" Urizen did not want to think that was true, but it did not sound like anything else anymore. "To draw in what we needed, the right atmosphere was required." Yale pulled a paper sheet from his pocket. "You mean the ones that caused this?" He showed the drawings of the nazca lines and printed out aerial photographs of the cities. "So you did give them those." Lincoln fumed. "Yes. And Yes." Richard answered to them both. "Now it makes sense. So in your city too, you had to duel a Zero duelist who just went insane and tried to summon something terrifying?" Whatever was going on, it was drawn in by the emotions of the lost duelists it appeared. "But you stopped your target sooner than Nathan did." Richard nodded again. "Then I have a question. If this all just a game to you? Luring us all here just to get some special friends of yours to come out and play? What are they, why them?" Urizen snapped at the two of them. "You are the ones that are treating this as a game."

Suddenly there was Kein, emerging from a door hidden in the throne room walls. "Talking about your own miserable lives and how much greater they will become one you win the price money. Do you even know why we divided this tournament into two stages?" He took off his shades and glared at Ada in particular as he spoke. "It is because those who have the most to gain, take the deepest paths. This has to be why the east and west regions failed." He said this because it was a registered fact that those regions had most of the rich folk. "You rangers, Sarah Rain, even you Lincoln. You are all happy with your lives. But others are not. This is why.." He looked at Xavier. "You have come this far. But." He did not even wait for him to get ready for another duel, as he immediately drew six cards. "Cacaphony." And he played a spell which negated the effect of Barcha(2500/1200) and it was now only as strong as the Bicorn. "It has ended, your dreams and hopes are gone. There is nobody left to claim the price or the right to duel Ansoni." Voltic Bicorn rammed itself into Barcha, and both monsters died. "Wait, I thought we were talking?" Because Bicorn was destroyed again, seven more cards were discarded from both their decks. And because of this, Xaviers deck was truly depleted. "No. You do not get to know more. This tournament is over."

Xaviers LP: 0

_Cacaphony, Normal Spell_  
><em>The effects of all face-up effect monsters that were special summoned from the extra deck are negated until the endphase.<em>

"Oh don't be like that!" A cheery voice echoed across the room, coming from the hallways. "That voice." Everyone recognized it, but Kein the most. "Heya. Hope I am not too late!" Nathan stepped through the doors, guided by Macbeth. "Tobias! I thought I told you to guard the doors!" Lincoln shouted at him. "He is one of the four, Vince. Remember, this is a 4 vs 4 gauntlet? he showed up just as I was about to close the doors again." That was much true, Lincoln could not object to the rulings. "So I hear you have not been playing too nicely, Kein. isn't it the duty of an Ace to protect the duelists of his region?" Kein twitched and grit his teeth. "You can't even begin to understand what we were doing here. This goes beyond you all, you're like ants stepping unto a boiling plate." His words riled up some his audience, but before Urizen or the rangers could yell back at him, Nate activated his dueldisk. "Whatever you say. You are wrong about one thing though: this tournament is not over yet." He showed his four colored cards. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? Me and you, the shouldbe Ace against the current Ace. To prove once and for all which one of us is the stronger one." Keins face sported a nasty grin. "You know me too well, Ashworth."

"If that is your wish, to let the hopes of this country's duelists be cut down by your ineptitude, I will not stop you!. He clenched his fist. "Defeat me, Ashworth. Or become the last in an endless swarm of victims!"

(To be Continued in Mark 025: Gauntlet's End)

**New cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>Genesis Dragon<br>Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg  
>Unibird<br>Dragunity Partisan  
>Dragunity Knight Barcha<br>Dragunity Pilum

-  
>Pot of Avarice<br>Dragon Mastery

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>Elefun<br>Monoceros  
>Voltic Kong<br>Chain Dog  
>Necro Gardna<p>

-  
>Closed Forest<br>Greed Grado

-  
>Defense Draw<br>Skill Succesor

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
><em>Cacaphony<em>


	25. 025: Gauntlets End

**Mark 025: Gauntlet's End**

It was time for the final duel against the final Ace. "So what does happen if Nate wins this." For this ocassion Kein selected a new battle ground, taking the fight outside again. They stood in the backyard of the palace near a large pool with fountains. "Do we all get to win rewards for being part of the sequence, or did you not even think that far ahead?" It seemed by now only Ada and Xavier were still wondering about the supposed price, Sarah and Yale were too interested in the upcoming duel. "That sounds reasonable to me." Macbeth answered the students, though he sighed right afterwards. "But with Gaunt as our boss. Nobody can be sure." Urizen smiled when he heard the answer. "That'd be just like him. He'd do anything to keep his new champion away from a serious threat." If Ansoni was like he had been, he would have no real skills in a duel. "Ansoni kid is good, but not for those reasons." Richard commented. "And do not even think we are on your level,, Artani. Us Aces never needed daddy's special disk." Lincoln added with a sneer.

Nate's LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000

"Oh how I have waited for this day, when you and I could face each other under official terms." Kein and Nathan stared at each other in front of the garden lake, they had their disks ready and their cards drawn. "Let me guess, this will not be like last time?" Nate kept Dragon Mastery from Xaviers duel, but that card was almost useless to him. "I have prepared myself for your dueling style, yes." Kein retained Closed Forest, equally useless since he had no beasts in his deck. "Oh, I have added a little too. Cool." Nate placed one monster facedown and one trap. "You do not get to take this lightly, you will give me your all." Kein summoned Manju of the Thousand Hands, whose effect he used to add a ritual spell to his hand. "Then again, maybe you can't even do that." He activated it, the Ritual of Grace. "I tribute the Djinn Releaser in my hand, along with the Manju monster. Three stars and four stars for my seven star Goddess!" He managed to ritual summon Northwemko, the divine Grace(2700/1200). "She selects Closed Forest." This time there was only 1 card he could select for her ability, but as long as the field spell remained she could not be destroyed by card effects. "Sublime Deliverance!" And so she attacked Nate's facedown monster.

"But of course." What was killed was Bolt Hedgehog(800/800). "You may have added some tricks, but your favorites you never abandon." He ended his turn. "So you say. Whatever happened to poor old Demise?" Nathan inquired, but Kein did not respond. He was waiting. "Well anyway, time for a favorite of mine!" He summoned Junk Synchron(1300/500). "I revive.." His effect always summoned a dead level 2 or lower monster, like the machine hog. "Nothing?" Except not this time. "I knew it, I knew you would fall for it." Kein pointed to a card in his grave. "Releaser; when this Djinn is used for a ritual summon. My opponent cvan not special summon!" The duelists on the sidelines gasped. "But that is like, his entire strategy!" Synchro summons were now locked inside the extra deck. "Owch, that is a bother." Nate moaned and placed two more traps face-down. "A bother? Hah, I crippled you! You can not get around this effect. All you can do is watch as I slowly kill you." Kein drew a card. "I am gonna enjoy this."

"Gishki Chain." He summoned a sea serpent warrior(1800/1000). "Ah, another forbidden family." The Ace of Spades was known for his use of this water based ritual support monsters. "He did not need to use them against me." Urizen cursed mentally, Kein had not taken him seriously back then at all. "Gishki Chain searches the top five cards of my deck for a ritual card." The seaserpent sent his chain into Keins deck, and found Garlandolf among the cards. "I add him to my hand. And then!" He played The Ritual of Destruction, tributing Gishki Chain on the field and a Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals in his graveyard. "He discarded that one?" The latter was apparently thrown away back in the first turn with Voltic Bicorns effect. "Four stars and four, more than enough for my Devilking!" Garlandolf(2500/1400) hit the field. "And you know its devastating power, it destroys all other monsters on the field." Besides Northwemko due to her own powers, but Junk Synchron was as good as dead. "Tuner Barrier!" Or alive, apparently.

He flipped a trap, casting a barrier around Synchron. "No Tuner monsters can be destroyed his turn." His tuner endured the devils hellflames. "Don't tell me. He summoned Junk Synchron for that reason?" Yale realized Tuners Barrier would have failed if Junk Synchron had been set. "He is not as dumb as he acts." The Rangers were impressed. "So what if your tuner lives?" Kein pressed on, letting both his ritual monsters strike the shielded one with sublime and savage energy. "You still take damage and you still can not use it for a synchro summon!" Schiver ended his turn. "Hrm. I think this will work." He quickly played a spell from his hand, Mind Control. "What?" The spell brainwashed one monster. "I take control of Morthwemko!" The goddess hovered to his side, however she could not be ordered to attack her former master. "Now it is you, who can not special summon, Kein." It seemed that was how the Ritual djinns were ruled to work. "He is correct." Yale confirmed that ruling with his own disk applications.

Nate's LP: 5400

"That means, I can synchro summon!" He special summoned Bolt Hedgehog from his graveyard, with its own effect rather than Junk Synchrons. "But it will not just be Junk Warrior." He normal summoned a monster as well. A little robot with a pan for a helmet(100/300). "Tuningware! He can increase his level by 1." Its level went up from 1 to 2. "Finally I can special summon Boost Warrior from my hand, when I control a tuner monster." A level 1 redhaired jetpowered warrior(600/200) could now be summoned as well, its effect powered up all warrior monsters on the field. "Now then!" He tuned Junk Synchron together with Bolt Hedgehog and Tuningware, 3 levels plus 2 and 2 for a level 7 warrior. "Junk Archer!" A gold armored archer(2600/2000) was freed from the extra deck, powered up by Boost Warrior. At the same time Nate could draw 1 card whenever a Tuning Ware was used as a synchro material. "Even so. I sacrificed Djinn Cursenchanter, you can not use the effects of Synchro monsters either!" That was the ability of the djinn tributed for Garlandolf. "Yeah but he can kill the vessel of that curse." Archer was stronger physically, so it could just shoot a normal arrow straight through the devils head to send it to the graveyard. "That was scary for a few minutes."

Keins LP: 7900

"You always do this. You never show any respect." As they went from one turn to another, Northwemko's hypnosis wore off and she hovered back to Keins side, Djinn Releasers curse now affected Nate's field once more. "You do not get another chance to special summon, and this synchro monster will not last! Sublime Deliverance!" She sent out more rays of holy light at Junk Archer. "Respect you say? It sounds more like you just want to be feared!" He flipped another trap of his: Synchro Deflector. "But I don't have to fear you." The trap reflected an attack fired at synchro monsters back towards the attacker. "Ggrr. And nobody has to fear you!" The reflected light though did not harm her, because Closed Forest was still active. "I set a trap card. Show me if you truly are fearless!" Nathan started his turn and drew. "I never let a trap stop me anyway. I activate Junk Archers ability!" This time his archer fired a special arrow. "He can banish your monster for one whole turn!" It hit her Grace and warped her into another dimension.

"Ah. Now if she returns, her ability and Releasers will be reset." Yale meant to say that Nate could now special summon whenever he wanted. "But for now a normal summon will do." He called out a red racing fighter(900/1200), a level 3 cousin of speed warrior. "Dash Warrior. He gains 1200 attackpoints when he attacks." He also switched Boost Warrior to attack mode. "Triple assault!" Junk Archer, Dash Warrior(2100/1200) and Boost Warrior all blasted towards the Ace of Spades and hit him head on. "Oh my, he is in the lead now." Macbeth was amazed. "So this is the man that could have been our fourth member." Lincoln chuckled.

Keins LP: 2600

"Quiet you two! He could have been. But he is not!" Kein snapped at them before entering his turn. "If you think I will lash out in anger, at your weakest monster to get the most damage out of it. Think again!" Northwemko finally destroyed Junk Archer with her divine energy. "I do not make mistakes!" Had he left Junk Archer alone, it would just have banished Northwemko again and directly attacked for the winning blow. "You know there is a lot more to dueling than that, more than winning every game?" Kein twitched.f "Victories are what measure duelists, Nathan." He placed one monster down. "Yeah I do not believe that. Part of this game is just chance and working with what you get. Look at me.." He flipped a trap card, Cards of Sacrifice. "This trap lets me draw two cards if my two monsters put together are weaker then yours." And Boost/Dash Warrior combined had less than 2700 attackpoints. "Oh I forget, you are but a humble man who uses weak monsters. As if that means anything." Kein ended his turn. "You still do not understand."

Nate's LP: 5300

"What I mean is that I do not deserve to be an Ace. Because that's just not who I am. Look at me, I am no leader." He then glanced to his left. "He can attest to it, to the kind of demands that man gives out." Urizen cringed, he was clearly talking about the old man. "Are you sure you're not just lazy?" Xavier inquired, stll annoyed that Nate had shown up this late to begin with. "That too. But even if I was not, I would not accept the position. I mean look at you Kein, look what you have to do here and now." He shook his head as he drew his card. "Covering up what really happens, lying to so many duelists just like you just for some crazy operation, breaking the hopes and dreams of so many. I know that I would not be able to handle that. It's just not fun." He then summoned a monster, a level 4 steamrolling machine tuner(1600/800). "I tune Road Synchron together with Boost Warrior and Dash Warrior, to summon the Road Warrior!" This time he synchro summoned the strongest synchro in his deck; a golden armored futuristic knight(3000/1500)

"So what you are saying is that, you are too nice to have what it takes." Keins eye twitched. "If you want to put it that way, yeah." Nate nodded and sent Road Warrior away. The knight took out one sword from his back and slashed through Northwemko. "In other words. I am the bastard. Feh, I wonder..." Her Divine Grace left the field for good. "Huh? Wonder what?" Nathan asked. "Gaunt does not feel the same way, if what I hear is true. I spoke with him just before this duel started." That was what he had been doing inside the hidden palace room. "Did you now? What's the matter then?" Urizen had to hear about this. "He feels this operation is not getting any results. And I can not blame him, the whole tournament has been a disaster." Kien could not help but glare at his associate Richard, if even for a second. "Due to what happened in North City, and because of who dueled there. I had the most pressure put on me, to ensure everything would proceed smoothly. But now the word has gotten out, and he is going to correct the oversights himself."

Keins LP: 2300

"Well maybe if you told us about this operation, we could help you?" Yale said these words with care. "Help?" Not carefully enough. "You think I will let it fail even more? That I would break and spill it all?" He clenched his fist. "No! No! The more I tell you, the smaller the chance of success will be! I can still salvage this mission! And to do that, I just have to defeat you. Nathan Ashworth!" He turned to his opponent, his eyes renewed with hatred. "Finish your turn, this is not over until one of us is crushed!" Nate sighed. "Guess so." It had been worth a shot to try and talk him out of it, but it did not go anywhere. "I activate the effect of Road Warrior; once every turn he can special summon a level 1/2 machine or warrior from my deck." He called out his Fortress Warrior(600/1200) in defense mode. "You already see that I am about to counterattack eh? You know that I can still win!" Kein drew a card after Nathan ended his turn. "Yes that must be it. My last defeat was just a fluke, this will settle it!" He flipped his facedown monster, who had a flip effect. "Hey, I did not think he would have monsters that cute." Macbeth had not seen that one before, a female sorcerer of the water element called Gishki Erial(1000/1800). "She places one Gishki monster from the deck in my hand!"

He took out a monster called Vision Gishki. "I can discard this monster to add a Gishki ritual monster to my hand!" It appeared they had their own rituals too, and here he added a level 8 aqua-type called Evigishki Soul Ogre to his hand. "The spell is already within my control." He revealed the Gishki-specific ritual card, The Gishki Aquamirror as well. Erial and her four stars were tributed first and then... "I banish all Djinn of Rituals in my graveyard!: Releaser to seal your special summons again and Disserere to make your traps useless against my Ogre!" The second was a level 1 djinn he he had discarded along with Cursenchanter. "Come out Evigishki Soul Ogre!" The three were swallowed by the mirror, which shattered and called forth a gargantuan seabeast(2800/2800) from the pools themselves. "It's also up to chance you said. Thanks Ashworth, that is a valuable lesson. Now I see the mistakes are not my own, they are all your fault! And when I erase you and your fortunes, I will truly be the flawless duelist!"

"What is this?" Meanwhile back at the hotel, where most of the duelists with no more chances had ended up, a strange phenomenon was occurring. "Come on. I just want to watch my shows." All television sets, both in their rooms and in the bar were broadcasting nothing but static. Even the management did not have a clue as to what was going on. "Hey psychic guy! Do you have any idea what is going on here?" One bellhop asked Psyche, who resided in the lounge. "I actually do not. But I have a feeling. And if what i feel is true, we are not safe here. The people have to vacate the area immediately.."

(To be Continued in Mark 026: Downhill from Here)

**New cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Tuning Ware<br>Boost Warrior  
>Junk Archer<br>Dash Warrior  
>Road Synchron<br>Road Warrior

-  
>Mind Control<p>

-  
>Tuner Barrier<br>Synchro Deflector  
>Card of Sacrifice<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Djinn Releaser of Rituals<br>Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals  
>Gishki Chain<br>Gishki Erial  
>Vision Gishki<br>Djinn Disserere of Rituals  
>Evigishki Soul Ogre<p>

-  
>Gishki Ceremonial Mirror<p> 


	26. 026: Down Hill from Here

**Mark 026: Down-Hill from Here**

Nate's LP: 5300 Keins LP: 2300

"My fault?" Nate heard the accusation, but did not get it yet. "That is correct. If you had not intervened, my reputation would not have been tarnished." Kein scoffed. he had just summoned a new type of ritual monster: Evigsihki Soul Ogre(2800/2800). "Are we talking about the time I beat you at regionals, or the duel against that zero duelist?" Nathan meanwhile had Forterss Warrior(600/1200) in defense mode and Road Warrior(3000/1500). "Both!" He flipped his trap card at this point; Ritual Buster. "But if you must know, the latter is far more topical right now. I would not have let that duel come that close, you nearly let him summon _it._" It was a trap that prevented the opponent from using spells or traps until Keins next turn, if a ritual summon had been performed this turn. "I discard a water monster from my hand to activate Soul Ogre's power!" He threw away Mother Grizzly. "One monster on the field is sent back to the deck!" Soul Ogre stomped once in the pool, creating a tidal wave which swept Road Warrior off of the marble floors.

"I end my turn." He could do nothing about Fortress Warrior yet, as it could resist battle damage and death once every turn. "But he came to me. That zero duelist. And what is _it _anyway?" Since he could play neither of his spells he had in his hand, he had to stall for one turn. he placed one monster faced down, and one trap card as well. "He came to you, because you defeated him. His feelings drove him towards you, and were the perfect fuel for it. That is why it you had to be kept in ignorance, if you knew what would attract them, you would resist those feelings." He looked at the duelists on the sidelines. "But now it is too late, isn't it? Even so, if I can make at least one of you feel despair by crushing the shouldbe Ace, I will!" It was his turn again. "Salvage!" Kein activated the spell card which took two water-type monsters with less than 1500 atk out of the grave. "I reclaim Vision Gishki (700 atk) and Mother Grizzly(1400 atk)." He then discarded the former for the effect of Soul Ogre, to push back the walking Fortress with more water waves.

"Now then. I can banish this card from my graveyard." He revealed Ritual of Destruction, Garlandolfs spell. "To send any monster Soul Ogre slays back to your deck. If it was set, it must be useless. Heh. Here I go!" He tried to throw the card into the banishing zone, but it refused to accept it. "I can not let you do that. I activate Imperial Iron Wall!" Nate erected a large virtual wall, which blocked off all banishing effects. "You had that card?" Nathan nodded. "Would have liked to draw it earlier, coulda been useful against your Djinns." And while Djinn Disserere stopped traps from hurting Soul Ogre, it allowed traps that affected other places. "I had this trap just in case I ever wanted to spam Quillbolt Hedgehog." Since it was normally removed from the game after you revived it once. "Tsk. You annoy me with every last little card in that deck of yours." Kein summoned Mother Grizzly(1400/1000). "Double attack!" Soul Ogre drowned his facedown monster, a Junk Defender(500/1800), while the water bear used his claws on Nate directly.

Nate's LP: 3900

"Junk Defender?" The other Aces knew about that card. "Guess that shows just how helpless he is." Lincoln said, as normally a player could special summon it to absorb a direct attack. But now special summons were again forbidden thanks to the Djinn Releaser. "Now I feel sad for the other kids." Macbeth felt like Kein had this duel in the bag. "Heh, your turn. Ashworth. Are you gonna keep defending or return to attacking?" Kein smirked. "You will find out now." He summoned a new warrior, one that wielded a two-pronged spear(1800/800). "Max Warrior! He attacks other Grizzly!" His monster gained 400 attackpoints when it attacked a monster. But after Max(2200/800) slammed its weapon into the bears head, it would lose the powerboost and more. "You played that monster of all things." Max Warrior(900/900)'s attack was halved and so was its level. "Stop.. joking.. around!" Of course at the same time, when Mother Grizzly died another water monster with 1500 atk or less ould be called out from the deck. Kein summoned another Grizzly(1400/1000). "Everything you do is just a waste of time. No wonder you gave up what I took over!" Nate then placed another card down and ended his turn. "Yeah and seeing how stressful it is making you, I am glad I did."

Keins LP: 1500

"Feh. I do not even need to send that thing back to your deck." Kein did not want to discard this time. "Die, just die!" Soul Ogre punched the weakened warrior and scattered its body parts all over. "And now.." But Kein held himself back, and his Grizzly. "No. You are doing it again." Instead of directly attacking he switched the bear to defense mode. "I remember now. This is how I lost last time. I neglected my own lifepoints and focused only on yours. That mistake I will not make again." He also placed a monster card face down. "Well, I would have been screwed if I had not drawn Doppel Warrior at that exact time." That card had been critical to his Junk Warrior combo. "Yes, you always show up in the right place at the right time, don't you?" Kein ended his turn at this point. "Seems that way." He activated the spell card, Reinforcement of the Army. "I add a level 4 warrior, Junk Blader, to my hand." This time he drew a keycard as well. "And I summon it." Junk Blader(1800/1000) had an ability too, it could banish 'Junk' to make itself stronger.

Nate's LP: 1900

"It's a good thing you switched it to defense mode, because with three monsters removed, killing Grizzly would win me the game." He smirked, but then so did Schiver. "Did you forget something Ashworth? You can not use the effect of your Blader, your own Imperial Wall prevents it!" Thanks to the wall, no cards could be removed after all. "Oh I know, I had Reinforcements in my hand for some time. My lucky draw.." He activated Mystical Space Typhoon. "..was this." The tornado destroyed his own card. "Now!" Junk Blader(3000/1000) powered up its sword by absorbing the spirits of Junk Defender, Synchron and Archer. "I escape your seals once again!" The blader jumped into the air and sliced straight through Soul Ogre, cleaving it right down the middle. "Grrr.. I have forgotten how good you can be." The turn switched back to him. But all he could do was place a trap card and end his turn again. "He has him on the run." The turn was already back to Nathan. "No. It can not end like this.' Kein said to himself. He managed to control his anger, but he could still feel it build up. "Kein.." Nathan did not know what to say. So he just summoned a Speed Warrior(900/800). "It can not end like this!" But that action let Kein spring his trap: Torrential Tribute.

Keins LP: 1300

"This tournament was not supposed to be one you can win. We have to summon them first!" This trap summoned another water wave that sank all monsters on the field at once. "Gah." However one of Keins monsters was a certain fish that thrived in wild waters like these. "Nimble Mantas?" When his set Manta(800/100) drowned, two more(800/100) were special summoned from Keins deck. "Why would you want to summon them in the first place? Whatever they are, they sound dangerous." Ada yelled at him. "Because it is the only way to stop them permanently of course! The Day of Games was not a certain thing, we were hoping the disaster would not repeat itself. We were just there if the worst were to happen." He pointed at himself and his fellow Aces. "We do not know much about them, but we knew they could show up again, and they did. Richard won against the duelist possessed that time, but that did not destroy the entity itself. I can not let you win yet, Ashworth. You will not mess this up, not for Gaunt and not for me!"

"This rage is so not like him, so unbecoming." Macbeth said, thinking the boss was going crazy. "Ashworth brings out the worst in him." Lincoln seemed to find it amusing. "Wait, did you just say this happened before?" Sarah focused more on the first few sentences. "Is he talking about the dueling reaper?" And Xavier recalled that old story. "The Reaper? That was just exaggeration of an unrelated incident. What I am talking about was covered up perfectly, it happened two years ago. That was when these things first appeared." That was before his time as an Ace, but during Urizens time as a champion. "I do not remember that." If Gaunt was involved in that event too, he had not been made aware. "Your father would have liked to include you, Urizen Artani. But you never showed the required talents." Richard explained. "Hmph. Talents? Is that why Ansoni is the new champion? What does he have that makes him.." He paused, a memory just struck him. _"Ramirez. She said something about the marks... Is 'he' the one she seeks?" _

But during all this talking, nobody noticed that Kein had fallen silent. "Ehr, Schiver. Are you.." Nate had already ended his turn, and Kein had drawn a card. "This." A card which apparently rattled him to his very core, he just stared at it. "Gaaah!" Then he reached for his head and screamed out loud. "Kein! What is wrong!" He was in pain, but nobody knew why. "No. No..not this. Not me." He rambled in between his cries. "It can't be!" Richard's caught a glimpse of the card. "It is here." And at that time, she showed up. "Ramirez?" The pale girl stood just outside the palace, looking down on them from the balcony. "And it has chosen.." She pointed her finger towards the agonizing Ace. "..him." Everyone gasped and looked back to Kein, who had gone quiet again, but was now gasping for air. "Now..I understand. But this is not..how I wanted..it. Not how I wanted to win!" And then lights appeared from the ground, purple energy shot up into the sky. "Again?" It was just like in North City, a maze of light came from a possessed duelist.

The energy spread out, covering half of the gardens and trapping all the duelists and visitors that were present. "What the devil is going on now?" It barely missed the hotel itself, though they were in spitting distance of the light. "I have seen this before." Kai recognized this, this was just like the blackout two days ago in her city. "What is it supposed to be?" It was even more radiant this time, you could see the shape the light carved into the earth reflected in the sky. "Looks like a fish to me, a shark or a whale even." All the lines assumed another figure of the Nazca grounds. "Whatever it is, we need to get out of here."

Everyone outside the palace was trapped as well, except for Ramirez who was outside the range of the light. "Deja vu.." Ashworth found the scene familiar, the holograms of the monsters looked more fleshlike and he again he stood at the center of it all. _"I better defend myself."_ He activated his trap card Reinforce Truth, to re-special summon Fortress Warrior(600/1200) from his deck. "I won't, I won't." Kein still struggled, but he could not even get his body to throw the card away. "But he can't summon it, can he? Those things require field spells and.." Macbeth's eyes widened. "No." Closed Forest was still on the field, its roots and trees growing through the marble tiles. "I did not expect this." The Ace of Clubs would not have played field spells if he had known the entity would take over his partners body. "How could this have happened. I thought you had this under control!" The Rangers panicked. "How you ask? That's simple." In fact only two people remained calm in this situation. "This was what Kein wanted." And one was still smiling "Lincoln?"

"Heh. It's obvious. The immortals are drawn by mortal desires. And Kein Schiver had the best combination of the two: he wanted to win and he wanted to summon them. Now he accomplished both, just not in a way he would have liked." He spoke with a smug tone. "How do you.. know all this?" Macbeth asked. But the answer was clear. "He was right, there was an insider all along." Lincoln drew his head back and let out a howl of laughter. "Ahahaha, that is easy to say now, isn't it? I no longer have to pretend or hide." He slowly walked backwards, actually forcing himself through the light barrier. " Lincoln." Kein managed to grunt one last word, before he froze up completely. "Stop!" Macbeth and Richard tried to follow, but were repulsed by the energy. "What?" This was not supposed to happen. "Looking for these?" Lincoln dangled two talismans from his hand, before slipping them back into his pocket. "You.." It appeared that was what he used to get through, the other Aces could not follow. "Settle down now. You are out of time anyway."

"No.." They saw Kein, with a new expression on his face. "Free..." Gone was his tempered rage, it was just absolute terrifying glee which had etched itself on his face. "Don't." Nathan knew bad things would happen if he would do what he feared he would do. "Why not?" The new Kein spoke with a heavier echoing voice. "You who have wounded one of my brothers, you make no demands." He removed the two Nimble Mantas from his field. "It ends, all of your souls are forfeit!" He tribute summoned the monster in his hand. "Farewell, old friends." Lincoln waved at them from the other side. "Say hello to Chacu Challhua for me!"

(To be Continued in Mark 027: Thin Dead Line)

**New cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Max Warrior<br>Junk Defender

-  
>Reinforcement of the Army<br>Mystical Space Typhoon

-  
>Imperial Iron Wall<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Mother Grizzly<br>Nimble Manta

-  
>Salvage<p>

-  
>Ritual Buster<br>Torrential Tribute


	27. 027: Thin Dead Line

**Mark 027: Thin Dead Line**

There it was in the sky again, the duelists from north city all recognized it. "Is the network glitching again?" Within a pillar of energy that pierced the clouds, was a rocklike heart. It hovered above the gardens. "I thought they..fixed that." All those that walked the paths between the trees, flowers and bushes felt a sharp pain in their chest. "This is..this is.. gaaah!" And it got worse, one by one the unfortunate victims fell prey to it. "What is happening, why is this.." They dissolved into a purple mist, which was pulled towards the beating heart. "No. I thought.." Even Psyche was caught in its wake. "I thought I would be safe here. Why was I wrong?" His body and cloak disappeared, nothing remained of the psychic duelist. This happened to every last soul that was trapped within the borders of the light lines. Those outside could only watch in horror, or in enjoyment. "I hope you liked that meal, immortal." Lincoln was the only one that laughed in the face of this disaster, even as his companions were about to suffer the same fate. " I..huh?" Or so he thought.

"We're.. alive?" Ada looked around, and saw that none of the duelists near were still there. They did not fade away like the ones in the distance. "Does anyone know.. what is going on?" And that might have been because something unusual was happening with one of them. "Sarah?" Their eyes were drawn to her, specifically her left arm. "Well well well.." Lincoln saw it too, it was like a glowing tattoo. "She has a mark?" Macbeth and Richard knew what this meant. "Mark?" Urizen heard the word again. He quickly looked back up at the palace and saw Ramirez staring down just as intently. "What do you mean? I don't remember having this.." Sarah blinked and rubbed her arm. It did not come off, and it felt warm. "Or doing that." She noticed that a red transparent barrier had been formed around all of them. "There was a Marked one among the crowd all along." Macbeth wiped the sweat of his forehead. "That was a close one." Nathan meanwhile stood outside the barrier, still in the middle of his duel. "Will someone clear a few things up here?"

Nate's LP: 1900 Keins LP: 1300

"Heh, I would love to. But I have to go." Lincoln chuckled. "Vince! Why did you do this." Richard called out to him, as he was about to walk away. "Please, I do not explain anything to the losing side. Consider this hour the final result of my yearlong career as an infiltrator." He then glanced up at Ramirez as well. "And I thank you for smoothing things over. But do not get in my way." He did not have to worry about her with the headstart he had. Besides her disk had been confiscated. "Signer or not, I think I shall not see you again." He waved his hand again. "And you have something else to concern yourselves with right now." He then left, as the beating heart crashed down into the lake, staining it red and purple. "Oh no." The immortal had been successfully sacrifice summoned. It stirred the murky waters, and a fin emerged. "That is the thing that ate all those souls?" Xavier shook with fear. "This is me. Chacu Challhua!" The possessed Kein screamed as the beast arose, a large Orca(2900/2400) that overshadowed the palace.

"A whale huh." Nathan was worried sure, but he believed he could get out of this mess still. "How similar to the last time." Kein seemingly found the set-up similar as well, the opposing duelist hid behind an indestructible Fortress Warrior(600/1200) once more. "Yet even if it is you that fuels this body's anger, even if it is you that disrupted the glorious ascension of my brother Cusillu. You are just another soul in my shadow. And I shall not savor your taste." He entered his battle phase. "He is attacking?" And Chacu Challhua swam through the air itself, setting course for Nathan Ashworth. "Look out!" Yale yelled. "But it should not be able to.." Fortress warrior tried to intercept the orca, but the earthbound whale went straight through it as it wasn't made of solids. "It can attack directly!" He stared straight into the jaws of the immortal. "No, Nate!" He could not escape. "Of all the ways to go." The should-be-ace duelist was swallowed whole, his lifepoints reduced to zero and his body gone from sight. "One more to sustain me."

Nate's LP: 0

"Where... Where did he go?" Ada did not believe what he saw. "Do not tell me, this can not be real.." This was insane. "He killed him, consumed him entirely. What is left of Nate is inside the belly of that beast." Macbeth explained solemnly. "I had never seen them claim a life before. It's more heinous than I ever imagined." The rest was equally stunned, not able to find the words for this terrifying sight. And while the duel was terminated, and the whale dove down into the waters, the lines of energy did not go away. "Ahhh. It feels good." Kein cracked his neck a bit and then took a moment to gaze at his hand. "This vessel will do." He then slid his hands into the fountain water. "To feel waters warmth, I have waited too long for this. The world is ours once more!" He discarded his dueldisk along with the deck in it. "I do not need these mortal tools anymore." He also tossed away another pack of cards from his suit and into the water, a sealed package. "!" Urizen cringed, as he knew whose deck that was. But in this situation there was little that could be done about it. "Come my brothers! Come!" Kein raised his arms into the sky and started screaming. It was an excruciating wail that sent shivers down every lasts duelists entire nervous system. "A special one is here."

"Special? You mean me?" Sarah was still as bewildered as one could get. "Yes you, marked duelist. You do not seem to understand just what gifts you hold." Now that the tattoo did not glow as much anymore, she could see what symbol it was. It looked like a wing. "You carry the mark of the wing. You are one of the few to inherit the brand of the gods." Kein rolled up his sleeve and revealed a glowing mark on his own forearm. "Just like I allowed this vessel to carry mine." His had the shape of an entire animal, the Orca. "So I am..like you?" It was still hard to get. "No. Far from it. You and I are opposites. Your very existence denied me the chance to feast on the souls of your close ones." He pointed at the red shield she had unknowingly casted. "Only one who has been touched by a god can escape another gods wrath. And we are gods." He pulled a talisman from around his neck, which had been hidden underneath his tie up until now. "We do not validate false gods." He crushed it between his fingers. "You built these from the flesh and blood of true signers, did you not?" Kein glared at Macbeth and Richard. "You can sense that much I see." Richard nodded. This was truly the worst-case scenario.

"Ah they are here." But it could always get more abysmal. "Huh? I thought they were all.." Xavier and Ada saw a group of people headed their way. "Are they..possessed too?" Their way of walking did not exactly make them look normal. "Tsk. It seems.. we have brought them all." There were four in total, they walked through the walls of light with the greatest of ease. _"One can get in, but not out."_ Ramirez noted, still motionlessly observing the whole ordeal. "Allow me to introduce my brothers." Kein took turns pointing at the new arrivals. "Ccapac Apu." The first had taken over one of the random officers that used to work for Kein. "Ccarayhua." The second an almost sweet-looking old lady. "Aslla Piscu." The third was an asian female duelist. "And my elder, Uru." Finally there was a familiar now unhooded figure. The psychic Psyche turned out not to be all that old under that getup. "When we so desire, we can walk with the bodies our brethren have claimed." Chacu explained. "And we will claim many more."

"But why." She still did not understand, nor did a lot of the others. "Why do you do this, why are you after people's souls?" At this point the psychic stepped forward. "Because they belong to us. They will bring us back to our former glory. We are the builders, the givers of life. And yet your kind betrayed us, tricked us and bound us to the world me made. Yet trapped below a surface we ourselves designed, it was not difficult to find a way back to freedom." After him the girl continued. "We gave you life, and as such we are connected to it. Life is what makes us stronger, life is what weakens the barrier between the beneath and the above." Then the old lady started talking. "Your emotions rattle the soul, soften its defenses. We push a mortal to his breaking point, to the moment where the body and mind are at their lowest." And finally the officer concluded the speech. "But it is not just any soul that will do. Parts of ourselves were lost to your kind, it is only when we devour those with marks like ours, that we can become what we once were."

They all glared greedily at Sarah. "Join us, girl, and we will spare the essence of you. You shall be a part of us, join us in our ascension and thrive in our new world." The one now called Uru extended his hand. "But.. but you.." Her voice trembled at first. "You can not force me?" Yet she rediscovered some bit of composure within her, and an interesting epiphany. "You can't, can you?" She smiled, as none of the possessed ones answered immediately. "No, we can not force the hands of the marked. But we can challenge them." Uru raised his hand and took out Psyche's old deck. He burned it, only to replace it with a different set of cards. "A duel? Gods have to play games?" Urizen found this notion rather ridiculous. "This is more than a game, child." The girl duelist shrieked at him. "You do not even see, in which way these spirits are linked to your life. To all your lives." Sarah by now was not so sure about this again, she saw what kind of monsters they summoned. "Duel me, girl. When I defeat you, I can add all of you to our dominion."

"Not so fast!" A dramatic sounding voice spoke up suddenly. "No-one shall lay a hand on any fair maiden as long as we are around." It was Ranger V, speaking with unexpected determination. "Frank. Now is not the time." His associates were not as spirited. "Wake up Dan, Eric, if we do not fight here, we will die!" Ranger V snapped at D and E. "We are not those people right now, we are heroes. And if we have to go down, we can at least go down like we try to live!" He turned to Psyche/Uru. "I shall duel you first, foul creature!" And now they found out that the possessed bodies could still smile. "How amusing, these mortal quirks." He seemed interested enough in the proposition. "Wait. We can not let you duel him alone." The Destiny and Elemental Ranger rose up as well. "We fight as one, or we do not fight at all!" They joined hands. "Yes, this is how it should be!" As they did their posing, the old lady approached the psychic. "We do not have time for this, brother." She hissed at a soft pitch. "On the contrary, brother, we have all time."

Just then another beam of light shot into the sky. "Uh oh." Lines of energy spread across the gardens. "No!" They covered the section the whale mark had not already covered, which included the hotel. "We should have left when we had the chance." Kai cursed, as she and the other hotel inhabitants were now as helpless as those that fell before them. "They can carve the earth twice?" Richard's worst expectations kept getting outdone by the minute. Not even Gaunt could have prepared for this. "Are you ready, heroes?" Uru chuckled. The trio felt the air weigh down on them. "Wait!" Before they could respond, Xavier and Ada ran up to them. "Use this!" The students handed them a data stick. "What is this for?" Ranger E took it. "Plug it into your disk. It carries a special program that will allow you to work together like a true team." Because Ada had not been able to duel all this time, she spent her time on modifying the code they used back in North City's park. Now it could be used on any dueldisk. "Okay, we will." They took turns to upload the data. "Macbeth, you can still join us if you want. For old time's sake." Ranger D looked at their former partner. "I am sorry but.." Yet the Ace of Hearts did not share their courage. "Very well, we will not judge you.."

Rangers E's LP: 8000 Uru's LP: 8000

"We are ready!" They already noticed a difference from usual 3 on 1 duels, only one player had his lifepoints registered. "Curious." Meanwhile uru was not granted any of the priveleges a double or triple-teamed duelist usually got; no increased lifepoints or doubled starting hand size. "You do not have to play by their rules." The officer growled. "But on the other hand, we do not have to use our full potential either." Was Uru's raspy reply. "This shall do. I will shape the beginning!" He drew six cards from his new deck and placed one monster card down. Yet it rested on nothing, it hovered in thin air as if he was wielding an invisible disk. "Welcome, to my lair!" He then activated a continuous spell card and a field spell card. "Verdant Sanctuary and Spider Web." Now mushrooms, plants and smaller trees with insecthives grew from the ground. At the same time webs of pure energy tore through the tiles and covered all of the palace along with its backyard. "Then he must be, the spider." Yale saw a spider symbol on Ramirez's sheet as well.

"Now we will show you our strength!"Right off the bat, Ranger E activated Polymerization. "I fuse Hero Heat with Hero Flash!" He combined a fire warrior with a hero to fusion summon a fiery elemental(2600/2100). "E-Hero Nova master"When he vanquishes a foe, I can draw 1 card!"Then he normal summoned E-Hero Ocean(1500/1200). "Be gone!' Nova Master reduced a cricket(1200/1300)to ashes. "Howl." It was a Howling Insect, an insect whose death called forth another weak insect. "And Pinch." From his deck, Uru summoned a Pinch Hopper(1000/1200) in defense mode. "Drown it!" Ocean sank this one with a whirlpool. "Wait." But its effect activated upon its death too, Uru could special summon an insect from his hand, another Howling Insect(1200/1300). "He is keeping us in a loop?"Ranger D noticed that he had added that card to his hand with the effect of Verdant Sanctuary. Whenever insects died, another of the same level could be added to the controller of the sanctuary. And when the Hopper died, he added a second to his hand. "Tsk. He is just toying with us!" If they killed the second Howler, the chain would just start all over again. "Of course, mortals. I have not waged battle for a long time. So please do try to die in a memorable way."

(To be Continued in Mark 028: A Hero Branded)

**Cards used by 'Possessed Kein'/Chacu Challhua**  
>Earthbound Chacu Challhua<p>

**Cards used by 'Possessed Psyche'/Uru**  
>Howling Insect<br>Pinch Hopper

-  
>Spider Web<br>Verdant Sanctuary

**Cards used by Ranger E**  
>Elemental HERO Heat<br>Elemental HERO Flash  
>Elemental HERO Nova Master<br>Elemental HERO Ocean

-  
>Polymerization<p> 


	28. 028: A Hero Branded

**Mark 028: Branded a Hero**

With the spiders mark now entrapping the palace region, Ramirez had few places to run to. But she knew where to go and the pale girl appeared in the throne room and brushed the side of the walls with her hand. Soon she came upon a notch hidden underneath a painting and twisted it. This opened the hidden door for her. "..." She walked inside and ended up inside an isolated room after a few twists and turns. "These are." Inside she saw a whole crate of the same talismans Lincoln had stolen away. The wall meanwhile was filled with screens, cameras all over the place fed directly into this area. "Kein, do you read? Come in Kein!" What she did not seem to pay attention to was the laptop on the desk, and the mike connected to it which someone on the other end was speaking into. "Kein, answer me! Has the target been sighted!"

Rangers E's LP: 8000 Uru's LP: 8000

"A loop? Does that work?" Xavier did not quite follow the links, so he asked Yale who checked the rulings. "Yes, Verdant sanctuary can activate even in the damage step. If they kill a Howling Insect, he adds one to his hand. Same deal with Pinch Hopper." When E-HERO Ocean(1500/1200) drowned the hopper, another was added to the duelists hand and a howling insect(1200/1300) was summoned from his hand. "There is more." Suddenly the Spiderweb field shot out. "No monster can battle in my lair without getting ensnared." The possessed Uru explained, as Ocean and Nova Master(2600/2100) were switched to defense position after their attacks. Ranger E could only set a trap and end his turn. "Tsk. But it is now my partners turn! Go get him, Dan!" Thanks to Ada and her program, all three rangers could take their turns before the enemy took one of his. "And so I activate Chain Material!" The elemental duelist flipped his trap in Ranger D's turn. "Ranger D can now fuse monsters in his deck as well!" Dan nodded and did just that.

"Polymerization! I fuse D-Hero Dogma and D-Hero Plasma in my deck!" The two were banished and formed one black dragonoid warrior(3000/3000). "Destiny End Dragoon is his name. While Chain Material prevents us from attacking this turn, he can forego his attack for his ability! He is the Invincible D!" The dragoon raises the dragonhead which replaced its left hand, and opened it. "I destroy Howling Insect with his effect, which does not trigger its ability!" The dragonmouth released fire which consumed the cricket. "You take damage equal to its attackpoints!" Uru just grinned as he took the damage. With Verdant Sanctuary he added a third Howling insect to his hand. "The loop has been broken!" Ranger D then placed two traps down on the field and activated the continuous spell D-Formation. He also summoned Destiny Hero Diamond Dude(1400/1600), although its ability did not grant him any spells this turn. "During my endphase, Chain Material destroys my fusion monster." Dragoon shattered into pieces. "But you are wide open!"

Uru's LP: 6700

"I summon Vision Magician." He called out a cape wearing skeleton(600/700). "Direct attack!" It fired black magic from its staff, which hit the immortal. "Heh. Is that it?" The webs trapped it too, switching it to defense. "Sorry friends, my contributions will have to start out small." He placed one card down as well and passed the turn to their mutual enemy. "This is laughable, just finish them Brother." The officer grunted. "Nonsense, I am enjoying this theater." Uru summoned the Pinch Hopper(1000/1200) from his hand and sent it after the webbed-up Magician. "When you kill my monster, I can special summon a Hero of little strength from my deck!" Ranger V used the destruction of his monster to call out a Destiny Hero Defender(100/2700). "Wait, I thought your name was V? Not D.." Ada thought they already had a Destiny duelist. "It is. Unfortunately, there are few normal effect monsters with the Vision title. I am the support unit so to speak." Meanwhile the grass-hopper too could not escape the spiders web and got caught. "I set four cards down and end my turn." Four traps now waited in the mossy fields. "Traps and loops, it feels like he is just stalling for time until he can summon his immortal card." Urizen was disgusted by his tactics.

Uru's LP: 6100

"Let him try!" Ranger E's turn started. "I use the effect of Ocean, to reclaim an Elemental Hero in my cemetery!" He took back Hero Heat. "Then I activate Hero's Bond. When I control a Hero, I can summon two more form my hand!" His spell summoned E-Hero Heat(1600/1200) and E-Hero Wildheart(1500/1600). The former(2400/1200) gained 200 attackpoints for each HERO monster on his field. "Finally, I activate another Polymerization. I combine a warrior on the field with a HERO." He fused the webbed up Ocean together with Destiny Hero Diamond Guy, and brought out a white alien like knight(2500/1000). "E-Hero Neos Knight. This warrior gains half the attack of one of its fusion materials." The Knight(3200/1000) absorbed the spirit of the Diamond Dude in its sword. "It can not inflict battle damage, but is far stronger than any other monster!" He entered his battle phase. "I strike!" He launched his attack, Heat(2600/1200) burned through the hopper with a flaming punch. The sanctuary added a different lv4 bug to his hand and he summoned the final Howling Insect from his hand. "More!" Neos Knight cut it down with its sword. "You will have to run out of insects eventually!" But as the Knight and Heated one were affected by the webs..

"Tragedy." Uru chained the switching of positions with one of his traps. "When a monster cowers, all cowards are executed." A series of Guillotines appeared over the field. "Oh!" The guillotine blades fell down, cutting off the heads of all defending monsters. "Gack." It was a bloody display, Nova/Heat/NeosKnight and the D-Hero Defender all were cut down a notch or two. "Delicious." The webs were stained red, the other immortals were ecstatic. "Destiny Signal!" In response, Ranger D flipped his trap cards. "A level 4 Destiny Hero from my deck avenges the deaths of his comrades." First he special summoned a Destiny Hero Doomlord(600/800). "And D-Time" Then his second trap answered to the death of the Nova Master. "A Destiny Hero with the same level as the slain Elemental comes to my aid as well." Nova was of the 8th level, so he could take another level 8 Destiny Hero Plasma from his deck out. "Heh. No matter how many I kill, more will try to get retribution. Is that it?" Uru laughed sadistically. "More for the slaughter."

"I can still strike." Wildheart, who was unaffected by traps anyway, crushed the final Pinch Hopper. This time Uru summoned a level 4 Koa'Ki Meiru beetle(1900/1500) from his hand with the pinchers effect. "I use the power of my fusion monster: Revive D!" Ranger D took his turn and he could banish a D-hero like Diamond Dude, from his cemetery, to bring back Destiny End. "Whenever a dark or light monster is special summoned, it will cower as well." That triggered his beetle's ability, which forced the Dragoon to defend. "Grr. It is you who is cowering, hiding behind your monsters effects!" He suddenly sacrificed both Wildheart, Dragoon and Doomlord. "No more!" Three tributes were required to bring out one half of the Dragoon equation. "It ends!" It was the most vile of Destinies, the bloody Hero Plasma(1900/600). "He negates the effects of all your monsters!" Ranger D explained why his new hero did not get switched to defense mode by the Beetle. "And Much like you can absorb souls, Plasma drains entire bodies away!"

Plasma folded out its wings, which hovered over the beetle, before devouring the Koa'ki insect whole and adding half of its attackpoints to itself(2850/600). "I set a monster card and then I declare a direct attack on you!" The demonic hero released a burst of bloodred energy from its monstrous hand. "Yet you still can not lay a hand on me!" But Uru revealed his second trap: Spider Egg. Which could only be activated if there were 3 or more insects in a players cemetery. "Your strike is deflected by a mere egg." The trap summoned an egg to absorb the blast, the impact shattered it and released 3 little spider tokens(100/100). "Even more pests.." And even worse the spiders web still forced Plasma to defense mode. He was out of ideas. However Ranger V was smiling. "Do not worry my comrades, I have the ultimate Pesticide ready." He took a card from his hand. "I summon E-Hero Voltic(1000/1500) and activate the effect of your spell, D." He tributed the D-Formation card which had been on the field up until this point.

"When I summon a monster, I can add 1 more with the same name from my hand for each counter that was on this spell." Every time a Destiny Hero had been killed, one counter had been added to D-Formation. So he used the 2 counters which were gained from the first death of Dragoon and the beheading of Defender, to add two more Voltics to his hand. "Then I remove that bothersome field of yours, trading it for one of ours!" He activated Fusion Gate, the permanent Polymerization spell. The webbing shriveled up. "I fuse all three Voltics!" Three heroes formed one red armored warrior, the fusion that his costume was modeled after: Vision Hero Trinity(2500/2000). "Trinity's attackpoints are doubled during the turn it is fused! And it can attack up to three times!" Trinity(5000/2000) flared up a hotred aura. "Jesus! That will do 14700 damage against those tokens!" The V-Hero could slay all spiders with one stroke. "Go! V-Slash!" V sent it off, and it already obliterated the left token. "One more should do!" He was about to strike again, when. "No.." They all saw it emerge. "Damage Condenser." Uru's third trap was sprung, he discarded a card to summon a monster whose attack was lower than the damage he just took. "Come, Earthbound Immortal Uru!"

Uru's LP: 1200

The beating heart appeared above the palace, and again the cries in the distance sounded. "Stop it!" Even more souls were absorbed, turned into red mist for Uru to feed on. Sarah could only protect those close by again, they were helpless otherwise. "Ahh, yes.. yes!" Psyche laughed maniacally as he disappeared into the spiders body. "Behold my true form!" And there he was, the great black spider(3000/3000). Its veins ran red with consumed life. "You monster! I will slay that monster right now!" Trinity flew up towards the spiders head. "Plasma is still negating his effects, so I should be able to attack it!" He was about to deliver a decisive punch. "What you can do is not the same as what you may do." But his final trap reacted to the attack. "Chaos Horizon! What is up is down, what is down is up!" Gravity pressured the fields, Trinity and Uru were pressured into a defending position, Plasma was flipped down, and Ranger D's Destiny Hero Fear Monger(1000/1000) was forced into attack mode. "The fear makers do not fear, heroes."

_Chaos Horizon, Normal Trap  
>Activate one or more of the following effects:<br>- Change all face-up defense position monsters on the field to face-down defense position  
>- Change all face-up attack position monsters to face-up defense position.<br>- Change all face-down defense position monsters to face-up attack position_

"I shall show you my terror, my terror!" The spider shot out a string of fluid from its mouth and ate up one of the spider tokens. "I can consume my own spirits." Then Uru shot another string at Trinity(2500/2000) who lost his powerboost during the endphase. "So I may enslave others!" Ranger V flinched. "No, we heroes have one last move, we always do!" He flipped his trap. "Hmm?" And he discarded his entire hand. "Desperation Polymerization! I fuse monsters in my grave to fusion summon another Vision Hero!" Two Voltics were banished, and from the extra deck came a dark-clad mesmeric warrior(2800/2100) "Vision Hero Adoration. Once per turn he can subtract the power of one of our allies, from an enemy's power! And thanks to our Desperate trap, we can use this effect right now!" Adoration aimed to weaken Uru with Trinity's attackpoints, before it switched sides. "The cries of the desperate, it has been too long." However Uru activated a spell card. "Your cries fall on deaf ears. I use the spell of the Creation Gods Lineage!"

_Desperation Polymerization, Normal Trap  
>Banish from your graveyard fusion material monsters that are listed on a fusion monster card, and from your hand a number of cards equal to the number of fusion materials.<br>Then special summon that fusion monster from your extra deck in face-up defense position.(This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon).  
>If that fusion monster has a card effect, you can activate it during your opponents turn.<em>

_Lineage of Creation, Quickplay Spell  
>Select 1 Level 8 or higher monster you control. When it activates an effect that targets a monster, you can activate that effect once more in a row.<em>

Uru could use its effect twice, another spider token was devoured and another Vision Hero was targeted. "No..our own monsters." V-Heroes Trinity and Adoration flew over to the spiders side. "Now what was it again? Subtracting my power from yours." He used Adorations effect instead, subtracting Trinity's power from Fear Monger(0/1000) "That's it then." Ranger D took off his mask, he knew this was the end. "I guess so. But..I regret nothing." V took it off as well. "We are sorry Sarah, we could not beat him for you." He looked at her and tried to smile. "No, you did nothing wrong.." She did not know what else to say about such selflessness. "Guys!" Macbeth finally rose up, unable to stand it any longer. "It's all my fault. I should have helped you, I could have.." That was when Ranger E took off his mask. "It is fine Toby, we are all only human." He looked at his friends. "Frank, Eric. We will see this through together." They held hands again. "Yes you are..only human." And that was when they received the fatal attacks. Trinity destroyed all their monsters, Adoriation and Uru struck directly. "Re..member.. us.." They were completely vaporized, no particle remained. _"Them too.. This is a nightmare.." _The others were speechless, this could not be really happening.

Ranger E's LP: 0

"And the rest is silence." The spider continued to tower over the others. "I believe we have seeded enough despair now, brother." Chacu Challhua could see how speechless the other duelists had become. "Yes. Let us now enrich ourselves with the signers soul" Aslla Piscu was ready to practically throw herself upon Sarah. "Or will she try to resist like her friends." The girl had no answer. But someone else did. "You will not lay a hand on any of them!" A voice, amplified by a megaphone, came from above. "What the?" Up in the sky were shadows which had not been there before. Helicopters flew through the air above the spider and whale marks. "More mortals?" Ccapac Apu picked up on the fact that the people inside were wearing the same uniform as the body he had taken over. "How did they near us?" Uru did not think such souls could endure his presence. "I said. You will leave them alone." Urizen did not know whether to sigh a breath of relief or cringe in agitation, as he quickly remembered he hard that voice before. "Ansoni.." It was him, Gaunt had sent the new king of games.

(To be Continued in Mark 029: Their Tanged Webs)

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Koa-ki Meiru Beetle<br>Earthbound Immortal Uru

_-  
>Lineage of Creation<em>

-  
>Tragedy<br>Spider Egg  
>Damage Condenser<em><br>Chaos Horizon_

**New Cards used by Ranger E**  
>Elemental HERO Wildheart<br>Elemental HERO Neos Knight

-  
>Hero's Bond<p>

-  
>Chain Material<p>

**New Cards used by Ranger D**  
>Destiny HERO - Plasma<br>Destiny End Dragoon  
>Destiny HERO Doom Lord<br>Destiny HERO Fear Monger

-  
>Polymerization<br>D-Formation  
>Defusion<p>

-  
>Destiny Signal<br>D-Time

**New Cards used by Ranger V**  
>Phantom Magician<br>Destiny HERO Defender  
>Elemental HERO Voltic<br>Vision HERO Trinity  
>Vision HERO Adoration<p>

-  
>Fusion Gate<em><br>Desperation Polymerization_


	29. 029: Their Tangled Webs

**Mark 029: Their Tangled Webs**

The helicopter flying closest to the ground had a man in it who shouted at the gods themselves. With his straight blonde hair and pristine white uniform he might as well have been a paladin or angel coming to save them all. "That is Ansoni?" This was the first time Xavier and Ada saw him in person, or at all really. "No mistaking him." Other duelists were more familiar, especially Urizen. "Our leader has sent him to assist us. Gaunt be praised." Macbeth was relieved, for reasons that soon became clear. "You are trespassing, mortals!" Said the still looming giant spider, as it flared up its red aura. "You will leave them be, immortal!" And just then barrier of the same color wrapped around each chopper, shielding them from the gods energy. "What?" This shocked the posessed ones enough to make them gasp. "He is marked too!" They saw it now, the mark of an organic heart shined through his sleeve. "He is marked too now?" Urizen grew even more agitated, now all that talk about his talents seemed to make actual sense. "You.."

Upon closer inspection it appeared that it wasn't him alone that saved the rest of the helicopters, each vessels pilot was outfitted with another talisman which deflected the negative energy of an immortals presence. "Of course." Kein/Chacu Challhua looked down at the crushed gem under his foot. "They had to have drawn a signers power from somewhere. So this lot had a signer in their pack all along." Then most helicopters scattered, heading off towards the hotel and the gardens. "Look for survivors! There may still be some people outside the lines!" Ansoni ordered through the megaphone. "Now take us down!" While he descnded, the pilot landed the vehicle in the backyard. "So, another signer graces our presence." Uru was amused enough to discard his monstrous form and shift back into the body of Psyche. He and the other immortals regrouped and circled around the newcomer. "One who has far more experience with what makes him unique." Ansoni stepped out and glared at this vile gathering. "So everyone is here."

"This is all you and Gaunts doing isn't it?" Urizen broke up their big staredown. "You started this phony tournament, with empty promises, just to make the surface look appetizing for these freaks. And now you come here, late I might add, to swoop in and play 'knight in shining armor'!" A few good years of pent up frustrattion was slowly slipping out. "Because you are the damn glorious King. I get it all now, you have that mark. You are truly special, while I am just his son. Of course he would discard me at the first sign of someone more promote-able! A champion who does not need technology to look good." Ansoni just let the words come out, and spared him a quick glance. "You left us, Artani. It was not the other way around. And your father would have wanted to explain to you, why he did the things he did. But it would have put your life in danger." He stroked his glowing wrist. "Let's just say that there you and I were chosen by sir Gaunt for similar reasons. But it is not my place to tell you the whole truth. And right now we have more important matters to tend to." Urizen grit his teeth. "I suppose you have a point." He could set aside his anger for now, because they were far from safe yet. In fact the champions life was on the line just as much as theirs now.

"The wing, and now the heart. Perhaps we should press the signer for further information, it sounds like he knows more than he is letting on." Ccapac Apu cracked his knuckles. "Tsk. They got one of ours." One of Ansoni's escorts grumbled, he knew that body from work. "We can still save him." Ansoni gestured the men to stand down. "So we should not harm them." Some had already loaded their guns. "As if your metal shells can even disrupt the tiniest fragment of our essence." Aslla cackled, bullets would only do damage to their hosts. "But it seems you do not absorb the memories of those you take over, at least not immediately." If Chacu Challhua had claimed everything from Kein, he would not have been surprised by the fact that Ansoni was a marked duelist too. "In time we shall. In time all souls are repurposed. But as we have clarified to the other." The old lady pointed at Sarah and then at Ansoni. "It is you who who are of greatest relevance." He still looked the enemy right in their eyes. "Then you can have me, if you can defeat me."

Nobody thought he would give in that fast, neither mortal nor immortal. "Under one condition, you will not endanger anyone else during our duel." The possessed ones froze up, as if they were all thinking it over at the same time. "We accept. However nobody shall be allowed to escape the earth we have carved." Chacu Challhua swept his hand across the field, and released energy from his own barrier. "Gah!" It shattered the rotor blades of the helicopter, rendering it inoperable. "If anyone leaves, we will call off this arrangement." It ordered. Ansoni sighed and nodded. "Now then my brothers will hold back, while I shall take you up on that proposition." Psyche/Uru stepped up to the challenge a second time. "Our brother always gets the best." Aslla Piscu griped, since now she could not go after Sarah either. "If we did not let him have his way, we would be waiting even longer." Ccarayhua rasped. "Very well. Take the children back inside the palace." At least that building was still within the zone limits they had established. "Do not return here, until I say so."

The soldiers obeyed and started taking the duelists away, using their talismans to force a way through Challhua's light lines. "I said everyone had to leave." Ansoni repeated his order, because both Macbeth and Urizen stayed behind. "And let you have all the fun. No. If our lives depend on your skills, I want to see how you fight." Urizen explained, feeling this was only fair after all he had been through. "And I want to see this fiend face justice as well." Macbeth meanwhile still felt guilty about not aiding the rangers earlier, and wanted their souls to be freed from the spiders insides. "Do not think about using your cheat again to join him in battle, this will be a true duel between marked ones." Uru referred to the hack Ada and Xavier had inserted in Ranger E's disk. "I was not going to suggest that. I am just looking forward to your demise!" He snapped back at the immortal. "Unlikely." Uru just sneered at him and reshuffled the cards in his hands. "Ready?" By now all others had withdrawn. "I spent years preparing for this day, Immortal. I _am_ ready."

"Does he even stand a chance?" Yale, Sarah, Xavier and Ada were escorted into the palace by Richard and the guards. "I feel bad for letting him duel alone." Xavier walked up to the window, but could not see the duel from there. "Do not even think about helping him now, Ali." Ada dragged him away. "But he is.. like me then?" Sarah looked at her hand, the mark was gone again. "It is a long story.." Richard was about to clear up a few things, when they heard footsteps coming from another hallway. "Who is there!" One officer drew his gun. "Wait!" But the source of the sound was someone the others knew. "Ramirez! You're alive!" The infernity duelist stepped into the room. "Was I.. supposed to be dead?" She asked, sounding rather calm about the whole situation. "Well, that big spider came and swallowed up all souls." Yale thought she would have been a victim too. "I found protection." The girl shrugged and showed off a talisman. "Oh. Those would have come in handy. Actually why didn't you guys mass produce them and hand them out to everyone?" Yale asked Richard. "The Talismans are fused with the DNA of signers and draw power directly from them. They can not provide for more then a dozen at a time, and a talisman has has less range than a signer himself. Of course the problem is that we were betrayed by someone who knew this technology all too well."

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Uru's LP: 8000

"You speak of years as if they matter on a large scale." Uru drew five cards. "Do not speak to me as if your experiences compare to mine." He let Ansoni draw six, giving him the first turn. "You are not invincible, I know one of you was beaten already." He placed a card down. "Cusillu was wounded during his summoning, but he will eventually recover. Only one like you can permanently bind us, and even then we shall not die. All you can do is buy your kind more time, so stop stalling and show me what spirits you wield, duelist of the heart!" Even the lord of spiders grew impatient with talking. "Very well. I summon Koa'ki meiru Wall!" He called out a literal walking wall(1900/1200). "The iron core? How archaic." Wall was one of many monsters whose lifeforce was fueled by a special core. "I activate the permanent spell: Core Transport Unit, I discard a card to add the iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru to my hand!" Ansoni threw away a Magic Hole Golem, to add the core of his entire deck to his hand. "I show Koa'ki Meiru Boulder in my hand to you, to keep Wall on the field." During the endphase, Koa'ki Meiru monsters had to consume the core to stay alive, unless you showed a certain monster in your hand. In Walls case it was a rock-type monster. "That is it."

"Spiderweb." Urur's first move was to cover the entire area in webs again. "I know what the field is for! My Wall can sacrifice itself to negate any spell!" The wall however tackled the card itself, and dragged it along with itself into the graveyard. "Hmph. I can already smell your fear." Uru did not sound upset. "I have eaten every soul I can in this realm. I do not require my true form for this fight." He activated Verdant Sanctuary instead, raising the great see of trees. "In fact it is you who need to push me that far, as it is the only way for you to free your kind." He summoned Ground Spider(0/1500), but did not attack with it because it had no offensive strength anyway. "Is that true?" Urizen wondered what exactly needed to be done to defeat these things and release what they had absorbed. "It is. Destroying their true form weakens them and frees their victims. It is not enough to win the duel before they even summon a god, Richard found that out. Only the power of a mark can bind a defeated god." That was at least what Macbeth had heard.

"I activate Transport Unit again!" Oddly, Ansoni discarded his core to add a second core to his hand. "I know what that spider does. As soon as I summon a monster you can switch it to defense position." Despite knowing this, he summoned a rock monster(1200/1000). "Koa'ki Meiru Boulder." And the Ground Spider immediately shit its webbing at the Boulder to ensnare it. "That is why I set up for this!" He countered with his trap. "Nega-Ton Corepanel! When I control a core monster and have a core in my graveyard, I can negate any monsters effect!" The web was absorbed by a panel, which reflected it back at the spider. "I believe I will score the first hit in this confrontation!" Ground Spider was destroyed, leaving Uru wide open. Though he was allowed to add a level 4 insect to his hand due to Verdant Sanctuary. In this case he chose a Spyder Spider. "Direct attack!" The Boulder rolled over to the possessed psychic, and punched him in the face. "Ah. So that is the pain of a mortal." Again the immortal did not seem to mind

Uru's LP: 6800

"You better not damage this body too much, Marked One. The soul may not be able to return if you do." He chuckled. Ansoni did not answer. "Out of words to say? Such a cowardly male." Aslla Piscu giggled. "Quite. But he will break before the end of the hour." Uru activated a spell card. "Earthquake! All spirits on the field shall tremble and bow before me!" The spell cracked the floor, sending tremors throughout the backyard. "Whoa!" Even inside the palace the shocks could be felt. "All that for such an effect?" Urizen nearly fell into an opened fissure, while Boulder was merely switched to defense position. "Spyder Spider." Uru called upon out an arachnid(1500/1200) with sniping goggles equipped. "Destroy." The spyder crawled over to the other side and melted the stone monster down with an acidic spray. "When Boulder is destroyed, I can add another Core monster to my hand!" Ansoni added a Koa'ki Meiru Guardian to his hand. "That is fine. In return, when Spyder feasts, he can regenerate another insectoid." Uru revived the Ground Spider(0/1500).

"I do not intend to swayed by your words, immortal." He summoned Koa'ki Meiru Guardian he had added to his hand earlier, who looked like a guardian statue(1900/1200). "This one can be tributed to negate the activation of monster card effects." Uru heard this, yet activated Ground Spiders effect anyway. "As I have told many before you, you do not seed fear here." The two monsters killed each other. "Right back at you!" But Ansoni then special summoned a rock monster. "By banishing two rock monsters in my grave, the Earth Giant can be formed." He removed Koa'ki Meiru Guardian and Wall, their rocks formed the body of a bigger golem(2800/1000). "Gaia Plate will halve the points of any monster he battles with! You could call it a different kind of intimidation!" Gaia overshadowed the spyder spider(750/600) and crushed it under its feet. "You will have to do far more, signer." Verdant sanctuary activated for both kills, allowing Uru to add two level 4 insects to his hand. "Until now, you have not proven yourself worthy of that mark."

Uru's LP: 4750

Elsewhere the only other survivor if this disaster was securing his way out of here. "Oho." Lincoln ran to the parking lot, where a limousine was waiting for him. "Fancy that." The door was opened for him, and a man was waiting inside. "Come in, my boy." It was a rather old man, wearing noblemans clothing. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, sir Malcean." The ex-ace stepped inside, taking a seat opposite of the man. "I trust everything proceeded smoothly." The man said with a halfhearted tone. "It could not have gone better, in the end good old Kein was the best host to start the chain reaction." Lincoln chuckled. Meanwhile Malcean gestured for the driver to take off. "I trust you were not followed. And that you have taken care of the eyes in the sky." He pointed to the roof of his car. "You can rest assured, my oldest friends rest in higher places than my newer friends did." He was certain they had nothing to worry about. "Indeed. But then I hope, your newest friend will be your best friend." The old man chuckled, and the two drove off into the distance.

(To be Continued in Mark 030: Rotten to the Core)

**Cards used by Ansoni**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Wall<br>Koa'ki Meiru Boulder  
>Koa'ki Meiru Guardian<br>Gaia Plate the Earth Giant

-  
>Core Transport Unit<br>Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru

-  
>Nega-Ton Core Panel<p>

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Ground Spider<br>Spyder Spider

-  
>Earthquake<p> 


	30. 030: Rotten to the Core

**Mark 030: Rotten to the Core**

"Yes. Yes we are sure, it is Lincoln who set this all up." One of the guards reported back to headquarters, as soon as he heard the news from Richard. "Yes. Put out a track for him immediately. He can not have gotten far unless he had outside help. And the satellites and security cameras we put in place should be able to pinpoint his movements." Lincoln had initiated this whole mess, and they had no idea why. "Wait, what do you mean?" And apparently there was bad news from the other end as well. "What is wrong?" Richard inquired. "They say they're having problems with the network, the satellites have been offline for some time and the cameras stopped recording a few minutes ago as well." With these inconveniences, it would be impossible to find his whereabouts "Looks like he covered his tracks." Ada cursed, he was as mad at the guy as anyone else. "How could he have fooled you? He was the Ace of Diamonds for years, was he not?" At the very least he was one before Richard and Macbeth. "I..I do not know." Richard sighed. "I am guessing the mask did not help things." Xavier joked.

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Uru's LP: 4750

Uru and Ansoni were still at it, but surprisingly Ansoni seemed to be doing well all things considered. ".." Uru just ekpt on summoning weak insects and letting their deaths fuel his Sanctuary. When his spiders were killed, he took out a Desert Protector and a Pinch Hopper from his deck. The latter(1000/1200) of which he normal summoned in his turn. "Spider's Lair." He activated a continuous spell which covered the fields with a thinner more solid kind of webbing. The Grasshopper hid behind the threads. "Any monster that strikes an insect of my choosing, will be trapped." He also placed two cards down. "Tsk. Again with this tactic." Urizen noticed he was just stalling until he could summon his true form again. "I know I can not finish you off until you summon the Immortal Spider. But that does not mean I can't push you close to the brink of death!" Ansoni summoned a new core rockmonster, Koa'ki Meiru Sandman(1900/1200). He also still had Gaia Plate(2800/1000), though he had to banish another dead rock monster to keep it in play.

"I Attack!" The Earth Giant moved towards the Hopper(500/600) he weakened. "Trap: No Entry!" Uru reacted with a trap that switched all monsters to defense position. "I negate that trap!" But the Sandman could negate any trap card if it was tributed, so the sandy golem spread out over the field and let its sand bury Uru's trap. "But this too is as I designed it." The Pinch Hopper was crushed. Yet while its extermination hurt Uru, it also let him add another lv4 insect to his hand. "Then, Spiders Lair." The Gaia giant was caught and switched into defense position by his spell. "And the spell: Guard Penalty." Thirdly he revealed his other face-down card, which let him draw once when a monster was forced to go into defense. "I special summon an insect from my hand." And finally he could use Pinch Hoppers own effect, to bring out a old warrior in white beetle armor(2500/2300). "I special summon Poseidon Giant Beetle." Uru was closer to defeat, but now it seemed like he was going to counterattack. "Not yet enough, but it is an improvement." He chuckled as Ansoni placed a trap card down. "Your turn then." He wondered why he did not use Pinch Hopper to bring out Uru instead, but he must not have had it in his hands yet. "So it is.."

Uru's LP: 2450

"At the very least you make me want to corrupt even more of this land. I activate another field spell." Macbeth flinched, he should have expected these people to have more than one field. "Hive of the Forbidden." The trees grew even closer as rotting ant and beehives grew all over them. By now the dueling area had been turned into a festering jungle teeming with bugs. "Monsters can no longer die in a fight. However, they also can not fight back with their special powers." Gaia Plate's effect to halve attack and defense would be sealed. "Poseidon can strike a monster up to three times, if it refuses to go to the grave." Uru explained before he summoned the level 4 insect that came into his hand last turn. "And Cross-Sword Beetle adds the touch of piercing to all living insectoids." A bug with massive pincers(1800/1200) cralwed out from underneath dead leaves. Now Ansoni counted up to 5300 points he would lose that way. "You asked for pain, you shall receive it. Go!" Poseidon raised his trident. "I am going to have to minimize that pain!"

_The Forbidden Hive, Field Spell  
>Face-up monster cards can not be destroyed as a result of battle, and the effects of the attacked monster cards are negated during the damage step.<br>Once per turn you can tribute one insect-type monster you control to negate the effect of a monster card your opponent controls._

But Ansoni activated his trap in time; the Spiritial Earth Art - Kurogane. "I sacrifice one earth monster to revive another!" Gaia Giant crumbled into dust, the dust then became sand and the sand took the shape of a golem(1900/1200). "So your Sandman will take my blows? Very well!" The Giant Beetle cut through the sandman three times, since it was in attack mode Ansoni lost 600 lifepoints three times. "That ends my turn." But thanks to the hive, the Sandman did not perish. And Cross-Sword Beetle was 100 points shy of being able to compete with the Koa'ki Meiru. "Okay!" The signer drew another card. "I sacrifice Sandman to bring out the Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord!" This one was unlike his monsters up until now, he had called out a mechanical stomping warrior(2800/2200). "Rooklord is a level 8 monster, but requires only one Koa'ki Meiru card to be tribute summoned. And when it is normal summoned, I can banish one core monster from my graveyard, to destroy two cards you control!" He removed the Sandman and pointed at both of Uru's insects. "I select those two!" If he could get rid of both, he could direct attack and win the game. "You want to end our fun so soon, signer? I think not." However only the smaller beetle died, Poseidon lived on.

Ansoni's LP: 6200

"You forgot about his field spell card!" Urizen yelled at him. "No, I did not. I knew he could negate my effect if he were to tribute an insect." The Cross-Sword beetle had been offered to save his bigger relative. "I know I can not end this game yet. But I have to keep pushing. He does not want to lose either." He entered the battle phase and sent Rooklord to attack Poseidon. The core warrior could not smash it, but the assault did do damage to the spider duelist. "Lose, win. They are all terms that only matter to your mortal race." He shrugged of the hit. "In the end you will die, and we will not. That is the ultimate victory that cheapens all others. You are all fools to reject our gift. You could just join us, and live on forever as part of us." Uru spoke with a sudden respectful tone. "But I already know your answer, all answers are the same." Ansoni placed a card down and ended his turn. During the endphase he had to discard the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru in his hand to keep Rooklord on the field. "The fools choose death."

Uru's LP: 2150

Uru drew again, and received a keycard. "And I do not deny them this. The time has come again." Another little spider(0/0) scuttled across the hives. "Dark Spider. This one will increase the level of another insect by two stars." Poseidon Beetle went up from the 7th to the 9th level. "What is that for?" Macbeth did not see the point, yet. "Insect Imitation." Now he did. "Oh no. That spell.. it sacrifices an insect to bring out another from the deck. Of one level higher!" And all Earthbound Immortal cards were of the 10th level. "Behold!" Red light burst out of the body of the Giant Beetle, as his exoskeleton was scattered across the forestfloor. The light itself retook the shape of the gigantic black spider(3000/3000). "Look out!" Its size had been increased since the last time it was summoned, two of its legs crashed right into the palace. "Hey! Leave them alone I said!" Ansoni could not tell if that injured anyone inside. "That was a mere incident. I do not have to justify myself if that ended lives. The way you see ants, that is how I see you."

And then Uru activated his effect, tributing Dark Spider to take control of Rooklord. "Ugh." The Koa'ki Meiru was caught by web fluid and flung over to the possessed Psyche's side. "First your spirits will become part of me, then your body, and finally..your soul!" He entered the battle phase. Rooklord raised his smashing pillar hand. "Release from Stone!" Ansoni hastily activated a continuous trap. "I can bring one rock monster out of the other dimension!" He special summoned one of the three rocks he had banished to summon and maintain Gaia Plate. "I summon Magic Hole Golem! In defense mode." Now a hollow ringshaped golem(0/2000) could take the direct attack, and Rooklord could not break it thanks to the Forbidden field spell. "You will not forget that I can attack anywhere I want, will you?" But the Earthbound spider was able to strike directly. "Ansoni!" Macbeth gasped out as he saw the duelist get overwhelmed by tons and tons of webs. The impact shattered more ground and spread dust in every direction.

Ansoni's LP: 3200

"I am alright." Coughs came from the smoke, Ansoni emerged relatively unscathed. "You are made of sterner stuff it seems." Uru did not expect him to die, but he knew few mortals that could get up again after a blow like that. "I will not go down until my lifeforce has been extinguished." He drew a card, ready to continue the duel. "This is." But what he gained was a spell which required the Core itself, that one was stuck in his graveyard right now. "I activate the effect of Magic Hole Golem! I can halve my monsters attack to let it land a direct hit to my opponent!" Rooklord dashed through the hole in the golem, and it(1400/2200) went on towards the possessed Psyche. "You choose to fight in our way?" It bypassed uru's true form and hit the human host. The blow actually reduced it to red mist, which returned to the body of the spider. "You shall not live to strike again." Yet with no more cores to discard for his Koa'ki Meiru monster, Ansoni had to let Rooklord go to the cemetery. "Your turn." His last defense could not defend at all.

Uru's LP: 750

Uru started the turn by placing the card he drew. "Desert Protector." Uru then normal summoned the last level 4 insect in his hand, a red antlion(800/1000) that gained 300 defense points for all spells and trap cards on the field (Protector: 2500 defense). "I will not control your Golem, as there is no point to it." Uru released another burst of webs, which nearly flattened Ansoni. "Ghk." Now blood was dripping from his forehead, and his life had been reduced to nearly nothing. "Blood looks good on you." Aslla commented from the sidelines. "..You can not stop my attacks at all, can you boy?" Uru then ended his turn. "Draw!" And Ansoni drew another monster. _"This is it, the last turn."_ He considered his options, the monster in his hand was strong enough to finish off Uru with another Magic Hole-allowed direct attack. But that would only reduce the lifepoints of the host. To win he had to destroy Uru as well. "You seem lost in thought. How about I ease your suffering?" But that was when Uru activated his final trap for the duel: Lair Wire. "I banish one fallen insect to slay one living golem." The spirit of Ground Spider appeared and shot out a razor thin wire towards the Hole Golem, shattering it into a million pieces. "Well, there goes that plan." Urizen cringed.

Ansoni's LP: 200

"You leave me no choice." Ansoni said with a hardened tone. "Hmm?" Uru watched as he discarded the monster from his hand into the Core Transport Unit spell, and he transported the third and final Iron Core out of his deck. "This is the last chance. I activate Koa'ki Ring!" A ring of explosives appeared. "This spell destroys one monster on the field and inflicts 1000 damage to both players!" It was a core-version of the wellknown Ring of Destruction trap, this was why he needed to have The Iron Core card in his hand. "I choose you, Uru!" The ring flew towards the spider. "You dare!" He actually raised his voice, and at the same time Desert Protector jumped in the path of the ring. "No!" He had overlooked it, the insect who could tribute itself to stop the destruction of other insect monsters. "You will not reach me." The antlion was blown up by the ring, and both players lost their remaining lifepoints. However the one thing he had set out to kill, still loomed over the gardens. Trees broke down and mushrooms wilted, but Uru remained. "I..failed."

Ansoni's LP: 0 Uru's LP: 0

"Hmph. The body felt too much pain." But at least Uru had lost as well, and both his forms started to evaporate. "My brothers. I trust for you to finish off the lot, while I recouperate and find another vessel to possess." The red barrier faded from the area as well, leaving just Chacu Challhua's symbol etched into the earth. "But know one thing, signer. Thanks to your weakness, I will be able to continue feasting on the souls I captured." Uru had one last laugh before the Earthbound vanished into thin air. "You were too careless, brother." Ccarayhua hissed at the one who was now gone. The rest of the immortals turned on the three duelists. "Now then. Do you wish to try with someone else, signer?" Ansoni seemed too shaken up to answer. "Ansoni. It was the only thing you could do, if you had not ended the duel at that point, you would lost your soul too." Macbeth did not think he had made the worst choice. "Enough of this. If he can not face us, we will claim his essence by force." They started to close in on him.

However before any of them could claim the next round or the one with the heart mark, Urizen rose up and rushed towards the four. "Urizen!" Ansoni cried out, as the son tackled the possessed Kein. "What are you doing?" Chacu Challhua shouted before the two fell into the water. Chacu quickly emerged and actually managed to walk on the surface of the pool. "What was that? You wish to confront me in the water itself? I am lord and master of the oceans, child!" Artani surfaced a few moments later. "No. I just wanted to get this back." He showed off the laminated pack of cards with a smirk. "Ah. So you wish to challenge me." Kein grinned as well. "What makes you think I would.." He was about to reject him, when he realized something. "This body has memories of you, they are reaching out to me slowly." Keins eyes widened. "You.." He waved his arm around and created a whirlpool. It parted the waters around the two and placed them in the middle of a raging vortex. "Yes, I believe you will make a fine opponent after all."

(To be Continued in Mark 031: The Abyss stares Back)

**New Cards used by Ansoni**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Sandman<br>Koa'ki Meiru Rooklord  
>Magic Hole Golem<p>

-  
>Koa'ki Ring<p>

-  
>Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane<br>Release Stone

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Dark Spider<br>Poseidon Beetle  
>Cross-Sword Beetle<br>Desert Protector

-  
>Spiders Lair<br>Guard Penalty_  
>The Forbidden Hive<em>  
>Insect Imitation<p>

-  
>No Entry<br>Lair Wire


	31. 031: The Abyss Stares Back

**Mark 031: The Abyss stares Back**

"Signers.." Richard began his explanation to Sarah and the others present. "..they are a select group of people, who have been marked with symbols like yours. Information unearthed tell us that signers have existed for centuries even though most were unaware." Richard pointed at her wrist, which was bare now. "People can live their whole lives and not be aware of their existence. But this is not such a year, the marks have been active for some time. Ever since the previous incident. On that day the first signers arose, and on that day the worlds worst enemies awakened." He looked out the window. "They managed to drive the enemy back, but could not kill them. And now, two years later, they have returned." He returned to look at the duelists. "We do not know how one becomes a signer, or why. But we feel that they are part of a greater entity's design, a god that was not bound to the earth. Through them, we all can fight back against the fallen gods." Xavier suddenly raised his hands. "Wait, you said signers. If Ansoni is one of them, and you did not know about Sarah until now.. Who is the other?"

Elsewhere

"Memories about me?" Urizen faced off against the immortal god that possessed Kein. "What does Kein know about me, that I do not?" It appeared that Chacu Challhua was starting to access the Ace's memories. "Hmm, certain figments that seem to have been kept from you. Not specifically about you yet they are of importance to us both." They were standing in the middle of a water vortex, on the bottom of the garden lake. "My father, I suppose." Urizen spat and wiped some water from his face. "I see no need to tell you. You can ask this body yourself. That is of course..." He extended his hand and created a new set of cards from the water that swirled around them. "..if you can survive. If you do not, your soul will be a worthy addition to our collective." The redhead smiled. "That is what I wanted to hear." He took out his deck too. "I figure that if I defeat you, all the people you absorbed will return as well. That means the bodies your friends are possessing here will be driven off as well." Chacu neither denied nor confirmed his theory

"Urizen..You can't duel him!" Ansoni could only watch from a distance and yell at him. "Why not? Is it because I am not special like you? Who cares! If I can destroy that whale form of his, then everything should be allright. Right?" That was technically true, but Ansoni knew it was still better to let someone like him do it. "Besides, you had your chance. And you failed at it. I see now that the champion that replaced me is not worth all that much. And your mark is about as useful as an actual tattoo." Artani figured he wanted to protect him from the enemies before him, but he was tired of that kind of sentiment. "No more duelists will duel for me. If I am to go down, I will go down because of my own failure as a duelist." He glared at Ansoni. "No King decides my fate!" Before turning back to his opponent. _"He really is as stubborn as sir Gaunt said he was." _Ansoni sighed. "The kid is right. This duel is already decided upon, you will not interfere, signer." The other immortals surrounded Macbeth and the champion. "Your turn will soon come."

"I do not suppose these things are waterproofed." Urizen came to the realization that his dueldisk had not liked his dive into the water so much. "If it is energy you require." But the immortal gestured his hand once more, and the thing powered back on. "The kind we use is purer." He did not need a disk anymore either way, like Uru he just let the cards float around in front of him. "Your life must be very exciting." Urizen started shuffling both his old deck and his new deck together. If this thing was taking over Keins memories, he did not want to use the same deck that he lost with last time. "Beyond your comprehension. But now we are reduced to this, to your definition of living." He started the duel properly, drawing six cards. "That is why we need souls like your friends, part of them should never have been trapped in mortal form." Urizen drew five cards. "How noble. But that guy is not my friend, he isn't even someone I can call a friend." Keins face formed a smile. "Is he now?" He placed a monster down and a trap card. "How sad."

Chacu Challhua's LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"Sad how? You think I could have led a better life if I had a friend like him?" Urizen placed a trap as well. "You gods have a strange sense of humor!" Then he summoned a dual lance wielding knight demon(1600/1400). "Lancer Archfiend attacks your facedown!" This archfiend could add piercing to one monster on the field, including himself. "And you killed it, my Nimble Sunfish." The lance ripped through a glowing blue fish(1000/100). "Nimble?" And Artani did not like the sound of that, nimble monsters usually summoned each other from the deck upon death. "When the Sunfish dies, I can bury another fish at sea and summon a second Nimble Sunfish." And this one did so as well, another(1000/100) appeared and a Fishborg Blaster was tossed into the water around them which posed as the graveyard. "Fishborg?" That monster was also familiar to him. "You are trying to summon it already?" The Blaster could be revived when a player controlled a lowlevel water monster. He would have two tributes for the Orca immortal. "Damn it. I end my turn."

Chacu Challhua's LP: 6500

"Consider it an honor, I am going to end you with my true strength." He discarded a card, which was what Fishborg Blaster(100/200) needed to revive itself. "And then, the field itself." He was about to activate the field spell: A Legendary Ocean. "I may care about honor, but I will pass on a honorable death! I chain with Dark Bribe!" Fortunately he had drawn a counter trap in his first turn. "Your field is destroyed and you can draw a new card instead!" Keins near gleeful expression faded. "Thus you choose the long road to death." The immortal was not too broken up about this setback. "Deep Sea Diva." A seaserpent mermaid(200/400) emerged from the lake. "She summons another seaserpent from my deck." And after her came a trident wielding fishwarrior(1700/0). "I believe you call this: Synchro summon." Diva was a level 2 tuner, which he tuned along with the level 3 Gillman to form a level 5 Synchro monster. "You can do that too now?" Urizen did not expect gods to keep up with recent game developments. "Whatever you make, we can control."

The combined result was living moving water in the shape of a winged dragon(2300/1800). "Sea Dragon Lord, Gishilnodon." Just then Chacu flipped his trap card. "Fish Depth Charge. One fish is sacrificed to kill another, and add another card to my hand." The Fishborgh was the one he sacrificed, and Lancer Archfiend was the one he drowned. "Ggh, and that.." This also powered up Gishilnodon(3000/1800) due to its own effect. "When a level 3 or lower sea monster dies, its power goes up to 3000 eh?" That much was obvious now. "Strike him, my servants." The Dragonlord and Sunfish swam across the vortex and struck Urizen from behind.

Urizens LP: 4000

"Gah!" His lifepoints had been halved at once. "Hey what is.." He also noticed the water level was rising, the vortex spun closer and closer. "When you lose all your lifepoints, you will be claimed by the oceans." Chacu explained as he ended his turn. "How appropriate. I am starting to wonder if it was an accident that you possessed Kein of all people." His Gishki family did shift seamlessly into the 'terrors of the deep sea' theme. "I activate Veil of Darkness. And set a monster." A continuous spell card and a face-down monster was all he put on his field during his second turn. "I can do nothing more, so here you go.."

"You seem awfully calm, young one. Perhaps you believe your death will be painless, if it is not at the hands of my true form." Chacu discard another card to revive Fishborg a second time. After that he summoned a new serpent, the level 5 Divine Dragon Aquabizarre(2100/1500), by tributing the Fishborg. "But I must insist, we do this my way." Then Aquabizarre opened its mouth and swallowed up the sunfish. "What?" This act powered up Gishhilnodon(3000/1800) again. "Aquabizarre can return wasted fields to the top of a deck, at the cost of another water spirit." The dragon regurgitated the Legendary Ocean card. "You have one more turn, but first.." He entered the battle phase again. "More pain." Aquabizarre swept its tail around, crushing Urizens set Mystic Tomato(1400/1100). "I can special summon another Mystic Tomato from my deck!" A second appeared, just in time to for Gishilnodons assault. "And now I special summon a Steelswarm Gatekeeper!" The second tomato's death was used to bring out the armored insectdemon(1500/1800).

Urizens LP: 2400

"The true colours of our cards, you favor the darkness." Chacu ended his turn once more. "These demons have been with me since I started this game, but it's just pure cosmetics. No duelists worth anything would let appearances run his fights." Urizen drew again. "The monster here is you, everyone can see that." He then sacrificed the Gatekeeper, a new insectoid(2200/0) burst out of its shell. "Steelswarm Mantis. Once per turn it can revive another Steelswarm, for a price." He gave up 1000 of his lifepoints to revive the Gatekeeper. "When Gatekeeper is on the field in the same turn I successfully tribute summoned, I can tribute summon once more!" The Gatekeeper was sacrificed for a second Steelswarm. "I call out Steelswarm Moth, and set its effect loose on your dragons!" The moth demon(2400/0) hatched from Gatekeepers corpse as well, and another 1000 LP was paid. Two cards could be returned to a players hand, and he chose Gishilnodon along with Aquabizarre. "Now let's see how you like direct attacks!" Then the Moth and Mantis flew over towards the possessed Kein and slashed across his body with claws and scythes. "You do not mind harming this body." Chacu looked a bit worse for wear. "I do not.." By now the water was inches away from him.

Chacu Challhua's LP: 1900

"Alas, you hurt yourself more than you hurt me. And now I will finally show you the proper respect." As his turn start a new creature leaped out of the water. "What the?" It was the Treeborn Frog, an angelic frog(100/100) that was ressurected if a player controlled no spell or traps on his field. "You discarded that last turn to revive Fishborg?" He had not payed attention to what was thrown out of his hand. But then with the graveyard being a raging whirlpool, that was not all that easy. "Indeed." And speaking of the devil, he discarded the returned Aquabizarre to bring the Blaster back as well. "Then the field spell!" He activated a Legendary Ocean, which empowered all creatures of water and reduced their levels by 1. The field supported the players as well, they now stood and a pillar in the middle of the maelstrom. "I sacrifice my servants, to assume my godlike form!" Fishborg(400/300) and Treeborn(300/300) sank into the water, and Kein dove in as well. A dark shadow swam just below the surface. "Earthbound Chacu Challhua!" And there it(2900/2400) appeared. "I shall not waste your last few moments of life, this is the end!" The Orca whale gazed down upon the duelist, Kein had become one with the beast. "Direct attack!" It barreled down towards him.

Urizens LP: 2400

But a loud sound echoed across the garden. "What is this?" A tiny pendulum demon(0/0) rang its bell, and the resulting noise pushed Chacu back. "Battlefader, I can discard this card to negate your attack." Afterwards it was summoned to his field. "You hold one of the few things that can stand in our way, if that is a coincidence it is an impressive one." Two trap cards were set down and the god ended his turn. "I guess." He drew a card, which was a dark monster. "I activate Veil of Darkness's effect. I can discard dark monsters I draw during my draw phase, to draw again." He discarded the dark monster, aand drew another. This one he decided to keep. "I sacrifice two my monsters for the Archfiend Empress!" He tributed Battlefader and Steelswarm Mantis for a demonic queen(2900/2100), dressed in bloodred cloth and pale white metal. "I also activate the spell card: Shadow of Damnation, which allows me to take back a dark monster that was removed from play!" Battlefaders were usually banished when they left the field, to prevent it from being overused. But now it was back in his hand and ready to stop another direct attack from the Earthbound. "I end my turn." That was good, because he did not know how to get rid of it yet.

Chacu Challhua's LP: 2900 Urizens LP: 400

_Shadow of Damnation, Normal Spell  
>Your Opponent gains 1000 Lifepoints. Add 1 of your removed from play DARK monsters to your hand.<br>You can not summon or set that monster card during the turn you activated this card._

"Child. Do you intend to toy with a god? Do you hope that the same charade will fool me twice?" Chacu started his turn and for some reason he dove back into the water, switching himself to defense position. "You are naive, son of Gaunt." The disembodied voice continued to speak to Urizen, it no longer sounded remotely like Keins voice. "Like my brother, I too possess a unique ability." The whale's fin came to the surface, circling around the pillar that the duelist stood on. "I can inflict damage equal to half of my defensive strength to you, while I reside in this position." And that meant he was about to take 1400 points of damage, 1000 more than he could handle. "You tried, and you failed. You have not lived up to your potential, and now.." The fin blasted straight towards Urizen. "You never shall!" And engulfed him with water.

(To be Continued in Mark 032: Declaration of War)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Lancer Archfiend<br>Steelswarm Mantis  
>Archfiend Empress<p>

-  
>Veil of Darkness<em><br>Shadow of Damnation_

-  
>Dark Bribe<p>

**New Cards used by Chacu Challhua**  
>Nimble Sunfish<br>Fishborg Blaster  
>Deep Sea Diva<br>Spined Gillman  
>Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon<br>Divine Dragon Aquabizarre  
>Treeborn Frog<p>

-  
>A Legendary Ocean<p> 


	32. 032: Declaration of War

**Mark 032: Declaration of War**

Chacu Challhua's LP: 2900 Urizens LP: 1600

"Urizen!" Ansoni and Macbeth had been powerless to stop it, to stop what appeared to be the end of Urizen. "He survived?" Chacu Challhua had sent 1400 points of damage the duelists way, yet he gained lifepoints instead of losing it. "Damage Eater!" They saw the cause behind this miracle, a yellow demon was gulping up all the water that nearly drowned his master. "Yes, that fiend can be banished from the graveyard to convert effect damage into healing energy." Ansoni realized that this was the card he discarded through Veil of Darkness earlier. "Heh. Looks like I must disappoint you again, god." Urizen smirked at the submerged one. "I would not all it disappointment that I am feeling, son of Gaunt." At that time a new seaserpent arose from the waters, one he normal summoned from his hand. "I feel.. excited, that is the right word." It was a Codarus(1600/1400). "But you are just delaying the inevitable, that is all your mortals can do. Those destined for death should do so in a way that serves those who can not.." It placed a trap card down as well and ended its turn. "Yeah I do not feel like it." Urizen drew a card and was about to declare an attack on the Codarus with his Archfiend Empress(2900/2100) or Steelswarm Moth(2400/0) "Now, stop hiding already!"

But both sea creatures stayed underwater, out of reach of his demons. "I can not. When I am defending my enemies can not declare battle against me." Urizen could not even enter a battle phase. "Tsk. I set a card and end my turn." As he did the orca(2900/2400) surfaced again. "Then I shall switch myself to an attacking position." Since his damaging effect could not reduce Urizens lifepoints to nothing in a single turn, he would instead settle on brute force. "I activate the effect of Coadrus. By destroying the card 'Umi' on my field, two of your cards shall perish along with it." Umi was a standard field spell, but certain cards could copy its name. "You mean you are gonna destroy your own field?" Cards like A Legendary Ocean, which was keeping Chacu in his true form at the moment. "Yes and no." But a certain trap called 'Forgotten Temple of the Deep' also sufficed, and the god just flipped it face-up. "Tsk." Codarus destroyed the card and Urizens two monsters along with it. "When Archfiend Empress is destroyed by an effect, I can revive one demon in my graveyard!" Urizen revived Steelswarm Mantis(2200/0). Though that would not stop a direct attack from the immortal. "Ah but one other demon remains with you too."

The last defense Urizen seemed to have was the Battlefader in his hand, which he could summon to end Chacu's battle phase if he did attack directly. "I have a servant for that spirit as well." Another Mermaid(1400/400) appeared, this one was less serpentine and more human. "Mermaid Archer can equip one level 3 seaserpent to herself." She turned Codarus into a snake-like bow, which she could because A Legendary Ocean had reduced its level from 4 to 3. "She gains strength from it." Now his Mantis was strong as the Mermaid(2200/400). "And then the spell equipment: Hydro-pressure Cannon." The archer also wielded a seashell cannon now. "Oh no!" Now whenever she destroyed a monster, that monsters owner would have to discard a card from his hand. "Fire away my mermaid." The archer released Codarus and shot it through the Mantis demon. It died, whil she(1400/400) lived because she could let the equipped monster die for her. And because of HydroPressure Cannon the only card in Urizens hand was thrown away, his Battlefader.

"Now you are truly helpless. Let us see if this end is to your liking, son of Gaunt!" Chacu Challhua jumped out of the water and came close to crashing into Urizen and the pillar he stood on. "Fiendish Chain!" But he still had one last defense to deploy, the binding demonic chains. "What, what is this?" The immortal was trapped, he could nether attack nor use his abilities. "Looks like I have bound me a god of the ocean. This trap negates all your effects." Urizens smirk grew even wider. "No, that is not possible!" He was powerless, his turn had to end. "And now, while you are like this, I can attack you." Normally Earthbounds were untouchable, but that effect was sealed too. "I draw!" He discarded one dark monster again through the Veil of Darkness, but kept the second. "I special summon The Dark Creator(2300/3000) and he special summons Archfiend Empress from my graveyard!" With more then five dark monsters in his cemetery, he could call the dark version of The Creator, who recreated the demon queen(2900/2100). "You would not dare!" Chacu struggled, one attack from the queen would destroy them both. "You can not hope to contain the energies you would unleash!" But Urizen just shrugged. "All I hear are the words of a beached whale, why should I care?"

Archfiend Empress plunged her claws into the whale's sides, and the wound released a massive outburst of energy that erased her. Even the helicopters from afar could see it shoot through the clouds.. "Brother!" The other three immortals just stared as the godlike form of Chacu Challhua dissolved into fine purple particles. And the energy lines started to flicker. "He did it?" The dying gods remains trashed around in the water before melting completely. A few moments later Kein dove back up and climbed on top of another pillar. "You.." from the tone of his voice, and the glow in his eyes, Urizen could tell the earthbound was still possessing the body of the ace. "You actually have unmade my true form, no mortal without a mark has ever made me feel such pain. The same pain that Cusillu felt..." Keins hand slowly twisted into a closed fist. "I will not let our efforts be undone by the likes of you, even if you are the son of a signer!" He shouted at the duelist. "Wait. What did you say?" And revealed something Urizen had not yet been aware off. "Gaunt is.. like Ansoni?"

And yet the more time he had to let that sink in, the more sense it made. _"Ggh. No matter, I will worry about that later."_ He shook his head and continued his battle phase. "Creator!" The Dark Creator sent out a black hole which destroyed the Mermaid Archer. "You will not claim victory here, I will not release the souls. My brothers and I control them, they belong to us!" But scoring a good hit and taking out the god card itself was not apparently enough to free the people he had eaten. "I will bury you at the darkest depths of the ocean, you can not escape that fate!" The immortal meanwhile had fully lost all semblance of 'respect' for his opponent and frantically drew his next card. "Behold the Rage of the Deepsea!" He summoned a level 5 monster without tributes, which was possible because A Legendary Ocean turned it into a 4th level monster. "Rage of Deep sea!" A figure resembling the sea god Neptune himself rose out of the lake, dragging all the water in its wake, and all dead se creatures within as well. Rage gained 500 attackpoints for each dead fish/aqua/seaserpent type. (9 monsters = 4700 atk). "So you gods can feel rage like us humans can huh? I thought you made anger?"

Chacu Challhua's LP: 2000

"We have been bound to your earth for so long, we have gotten infected with your emotions. My brothers and I will no longer have that weakness once we are complete!" Rage pointed his trident at the opponent and stormed towards him. "Yeah somehow I do not think me and my 'brothers' would go for that. No offense, but an immortal like you who can not understand death, has no right delivering it!" Urizen banished a Necro Gardna from his cemetery to negate his attack. "You do not understand us, you never will! You are not marked!" Chacu continued to wail. "Cry me an entire ocean. I am sick and tired of this special-bullcrap. Because.." Urizen drew a card. He let Dark Creator revive Steelswarm Gatekeeper(1500/1800) from his graveyard and then sacrificed both his monsters. "..you are through. I have won." He summoned Steelswarm Longhorn, a gigantic black insect fiend(3000/0) with massive pincer arms. "When a Steelswarm was tributed to bring him out, I can destroy all monsters my opponent controls at the cost of 1000 LP."

Urizens LP: 600

The Longhorn absorbed some of Urizens lifeforce and shot an energy blast from its tail that ruptured through the Deepsea Rage King. "I do not care about any of that crap, who made who and who branded who. I am ending this, deal with that!" Then longhorn delivered a direct attack to Keins body. "No.. You..you can not do this. Not a signer, not." The blow disrupted his control over the Ace fully, and Kein fell to the floor. "Brother is.." The mark of the whale faded from the lands, and the mist that lingered returned the people to their physical living forms. "He was sealed, we can not anchor these bodies to this world without him." Aslla Piscu, Ccarayhua and Ccapac Apu were starting to lose control over their bodies. "This is not yet over, mortals." The souls of the humans were forcing them out. "We will keep on coming until the very last mark has been claimed." The old lady, officer and girl duelist collapsed to the ground, the Battle Garden had finally been restored to its normal state. "He did it."

Chacu Challhua's LP: 0

The entire lake had evaporated, Urizen and the unconscious Kein rested at the bottom. It seemed most of the people that Chacu had eaten were still asleep as well, the strain had been too much on their souls. "Oww.." Though not all were knocked out. "What the heck happened here, to me?" Nathan was there as well, lying in the same dried up basin. "I remember a big fish, and a lot of screaming. I must have dozed off." Urizen looked at him, he acted rather cheerful for someone that had just gotten devoured by a dark god. "Wait, that was all real wasn't it?" He saw Kein, he noticed where he was, the signs were undeniably there. "You do not remember being inside of it?" Artani asked him. "Inside of what? That thing? I guess.. I really can not recall." It really did feel like was just sleeping. "But from the look of things, everything is fine now. And hey.." The two spotted a card that Kein was firmly holding on too, even if the rest of his body was out cold. "The card?" Artani took it away, and saw it was the Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua, in card form. So that was what they meant with 'sealed'.

"It's safe?" Ada peeked out the doors of the palace. "Looks like it. The air is not that spooky anymore." Xavier and the others soon followed. "Did you do it, Ansoni?" Richard and the guards walked up to the champion. "No. It was not me, I could only tie with one of them." He shook his head and pointed to Urizen. "He was the one that sealed one of them. It appeared that the one he challenged had provided his brothers with hosts." And when Chacu went down, the others could no longer stay on the surface. "He did? Guess we owe you a lot Urizen." Yale said to Urizen as he climbed out of the basin. "Do not get started on that crap again." He tossed the Earthbound card at Ansoni. "Here you go, that should be one down." The champion caught it and now the others could see it too. "Wait, you told me only signers could seal earthbound gods." Sarah blinked and turned to the sealer of god. "So you're like me too?" She smiled. "What? A signer? No. No tattoos suddenly started burning my arm. But it turns out.." He glared at Ansoni and the two other Aces. "Dear old dad is.."

"Oh, he found out." Richard sighed. "Yeah the enemy wasn't too discrete." Macbeth joined in on said sighing. "How do they even know about my father?" Urizen growled, he had a lot more questions for them. "Because he was there at the last incident, he was one of the two signers who drove the earthbounds back two years ago." Ansoni explained, though it did little to relieve the anger the son was feeling. "Two? You said yourself you had never dueled one of them before. So who was the other one? And just how many of them are there?" He asked again and again, but Ansoni was interrupted before he could respond "Hold on." One of the guards handed him a phone, and he listened to the man on the other end. "Hey do not ignore me!" Luckily for Artani, he did not listen for long. "Here and now is not the proper place to answer any questions you and your friends may have." He gave the phone to another guard, who used it to tell the other helicopters to return. "We will tell you anything you want to know, back at headquarters. Where your father is waiting..."

"Headquarters?" Urizen was too frustrated to reply to that, so Yale did the talking now. "You mean we can come too?" He knew he wouldn't reject that kind of offer. "I feel we owe you that much, and you have in part helped avert an escalation of this crisis. At any rate, sir Gaunt will want to meet you ms. Rain." He extended a hand. "You will be safer with us, we will accommodate for you and any immediate family members you have." She took his hand and started shaking it excitedly. "Oh I can't wait! Your place must be awesome, filled with technology and what not." Her hyper-active reaction was not exactly what he was expecting. "Oh my brother will be so jealous. But do you think they will start targeting my family to get to me? They always do that in movies." Even sentences like that sounded unusually positive. "We do not know how they will retaliate, it is better to be safe than sorry." Just then a rescue helicopter landed on the no longer pristine palace yard. "It is up to you. Once you come with us, you can not go back to the way you lived before." That was his final warning. "We already can't." And it was Ramirez that rejected the warning first. "Unless we want to be blind and deaf to the world around us." He took that as a yes.

Not that far off, the limousine made a stop in the middle of the city, on the lowest floor of a multi-story car park. "So why are we not leaving the area yet? My friends can not keep the satellites confused for too long." Lincoln stayed inside. Malcean took this moment to breathe in some air. "You are not my only friend, Mr. Lincoln. I have another project running which will soon reach fruition. Re-raising the immortals was just the first step towards our mutual goals." He lit his pipe and started basking in the fumes. "I see you have not told us everything?" The former ace chuckled. "But if you want to keep enjoying our protection, you will have to meet us halfway." Malcean spared him a quick glance. "I probably will. Then let's just say that I am going to remove some key players from the chessboard soon. Players that do not deserve to play along anymore." On the horizon was a tall skyscraper, a group of helicopters flew towards it. "You see, Lincoln, this is a war. And both sides are inevitably going to ruin each other. Aheheh.."

As he started laughing, the mark of a claw started glowing on his forearm. "And the one who gets to keep the rewards, will be our side. Ahahaha!"

**END OF ACT 1**

(To be Continued in Act 2)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Damage Eater<br>Steelswarm Longhorn  
>Necro Gardna<p>

**New Cards used by Chacu Challhua**  
>Codarus<br>Mermaid Archer  
>Rage of Deepsea<p>

-  
>Hydro Pressure Cannon<p>

-  
>Forgotten Temple of the Deep<p> 


	33. 033: All True Colours

**ACT 02: MANIFESTATION**

**Mark 033: True Colours**

The Helicopter flew over the gardens towards the city. The ground and the air too was filled with other helicopters and vans from the news channels, along with restless crowds of people. "So what is going to happen here?" Xavier asked, looking down at all the panic. "Crowd control will be put in place, and another cover story is sent to all media outlets. At the same time we will take all survivors to a hospital funded by a branch of R-tech, were we can monitor their recovery cycles." Richard explained. It seemed all the bodies that Chacu Challhua had consumed and then released returned to the world in a state of coma. Kein was one of them. "Why are they unconscious, if I am not?" Only Nate seemed to escape this fate. "We do not know. You weren't inside of the god as long as the others." But the ace knew the time difference was not all that much, so another factor had to have played a part in that. "Have people recovered before?" Since this had happened before, Ada wondered just how many were victimized last time. "Eventually they did, but we got to them in time. Uru still has all the people from the hotel." He shook his head. "It's not your fault Ansoni. It was Lincoln that ruined it all." Macbeth sighed. "But now we do not even know where he is.."

"We're here." The pilot said as he landed the helicopter as the sun set on the horizon. "Where is here? Are these your headquarters?" The vehicle had touched down on the rooftop of a large tower at the center of capitol city. "I mean leave it to that guy to choose the most conspicuous building in all of the country for his home base. But this place is not owned by R-Tech, is it?" Urizen did not recall having been here before, but then he expected his father to keep a lot of secrets from him. "This place is owned by the End-syndicate. My adoptive father is head of the chairman board." Ansoni said as he everyone got out. "Oh right. The company R-tech bought stocks from and is planning to merge with." Yale had heard of it before. "Well I do not wish to bore you with matters of business. All you should know is that my company decided to aid Gaunts company to combat the threat as one." He motioned for them to follow him and the Aces. "Come, we will see Gaunt, and from there we can sort this out." The duelists started walking down the stairwell.

"So how did they find you?" Sarah was curious if he just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time too. "I found out myself actually. The day of the first disaster, my mark just started glowing. I actually posted about it on the net, thinking nobody would buy it. But it was a funny story either way." He laughed to himself. "Guess someone did buy it." Yale chuckled as well. "Yeah. But by the time they brought me in, they had already drove off the earthbound immortals. So I never got to fight them. It seems the mark can respond to danger, but only if you are within range." Sarah blinked. "So the first time they appeared, it was not here?" She had lived in West City all her life and nothing ever glowed for her. "No, they broke out of their confinements back in the southern continent. That was where I lived as well for a while.." Ansoni then noticed Urizen was glaring at him. "So I guess that is why Gaunt was disappointed in me." Urizen remembered dueling in a tournament on the same continent at the time. "The son of a signer, showed no mark."

"Also, I will have to ask you to refrain from taking pictures." Ansoni said as they left the stairwell. "Awww." Sarah put her celphone away. "Hey!" At that time they entered the holding room, where several helmeted officers and a detained duelist resided. "John?" A certain identity stealing duelist. "Oh right. After we arrested him for pretending to be that psychic, we brought him here." Macbeth had forgotten about him in the wake of everything else. "Unfairly, I might add!" The kid struggled, his hands were shackled to a bench. "You are lucky." Suddenly Ramirez spoke up. "Huh?" She had been surprisingly quiet so far. "You were eliminated. Yet you came to the garden. Had you not been found, you would have died." Her stating these words in such a harsh way did get him to stop fidgeting. "Wh-what?" He now felt more affraid than angered. "We shall clarify later, we have more urgent matters to tend to. Sorry." Ansoni went on his way, and the group left the room. "By the way John." Only Urizen stayed behind. "You were wrong about Ansoni." Just to say something to his face. "He 'deserved' to be just as much of a champion as I did."

Having said that, he rejoined the others as they made their way into what appeared to be the command center. ".." Men and women were feverishly working behind their desks, observing data and input from their own computers and screens on the wall. It was the kind of setup you'd expect from a federal bureau or a counter terrorist unit, except they were battling the gods themselves. "So you brought friends." There was a separate chamber behind glass walls, within the opened doors of that chamber stood a man. A man with dark hair, dark eyebrows, dark eyes, everything about him down to the military uniform was imposing. "Why don't you introduce me to them, Ansoni Helion?" His authorative voice had barely changed, his features were equally the same, that man had not changed after all the time Urizen had spent away from him. "Yes sir. These are the duelists that have assisted us: Sarah Rain, Yale Quincy, Xavier Ali, Ada Wolfram, Nathan Ashworth, miss. Ramirez and.." He paused when the fathers gaze passed over his son. "Yes, him I know.."

"Pleasure seeing you again too." Urizen managed to sound somewhat respectfully. "You probably have a lot of questions." Gaunt asked no-one in particular, though his eyes stayed on Urizen. "Well yeah.." Xavier was about to unload his, but Ada shushed him. "Not now." Because she picked up on the tension between the two Artani's. "I do. I never did get to ask why you thought it was necessary, to make me into a false king. But I suppose that is not important right now." The son maintained eye contact as well. "But I do have to ask, why you thought you had to risk the lives of everyone in this damn game, just to draw out some immortal beings. You knew they could show up, and they did. You knew only signers were required for your counterattack, and only they would survive a gods harvest. The rest of us were all sacrifices, for both their sake and yours." He clenched his fist. "You knew all that, yet you let it happen! Do you even care about the people you are trying to save?" He finally reached his boiling point, yet Gaunt remained calm. "Do you?"

"What?" The shout was deflected. "Do you care, Urizen?" He was interrogating now. "Are you mad because because people's lives were at stake, or just yours? You never had any friends, you never expressed sympathy for the people you defeated, so I am curious." Urizen was utterly speechless, how could this man say that? "Or is it because the plan came from _me_?" He added with an even colder tone. "Do not talk to me like you were hurt, Urizen. When the whole world is no longer at risk, then you can make it about yourself. Was my plan dangerous? Yes. But it is better to draw out the enemy in a controlled environment, than to let them set the time and date. Had it not been for a few interferences, nobody would have had to lose their lives." He turned to the others. "I know not what stories you have heard, but I am not a tyrant. I cared, but for this plan to work you all had to continue in ignorance. I shall not apologize for holding back information then. But now that it has come this far, I will tell you everything we know about _them_."

He grabbed a remote and used it to activate one of the larger screens. "This is ground zero." It showed off a map of the the Nazca region, a red light blinked at the center. "As you know, this area is famous for its mysterious lines, images of animals and objects carved into the earth. Many legends surrounded these symbols, or geoglyphs as they are now called. One of these turned out to be close to the truth." Screenshots of all glyphs were shown. "The legend states that the symbols represent fallen gods, who turned on their own creation and were in turn trapped underneath the surface of the world as punishment. The lines mark the graves of the undying." Six geoglyphs were highlighted. "Monkey, Whale, Spider, Hummingbird, Lizard and Giant, these are the encountered earthbound so far. There may be more, but none have risen." He then showed scanned-in newspaper reports. "We do not know why or how, it all might have been started by one of the country's many archeological excavations. However it started, soon they started to wreak havoc in the country, possessing innocent dueling civilians and harvesting souls. But that was where we came in." As Gaunt said this, a mark began to shine on his arm too. It looked like a Trident. "We Signers awoke. And we defeated them."

"Excuse me!" Sarah raised her hand to ask a question. "Do you know why our marks are different? They get whole animals, but we get wings and hearts? And do we get any special powers?" By now her mark and Ansoni's mark were glowing as well. "If we believe what the earthbound have told us, then our marks are part of a greater whole. Possibly there was a seventh god, one so great his body had to split across multiple lines after a great battle with his brothers. It seems those symbols have eroded away through time." The map showed no glyph corresponding to their tattoo. "We received the signature of this god, a deity that aided humanity when the other gods rebelled. And while the earthbound were unearthed, they are still bound to this world. They need the power of the seventh to release themselves permanently. And once they do, they can reshape our world in any way they see fit. This is why they want our souls above all else, normal souls merely allow them to get close to their full power. We do not know how many of us there are, four have been sighted. More may exist. But our only powers seem to be the immunity against gods will." Sarah moaned. "Aww. With wings I would have expected to be able to fly or something."

Next Yale wanted an answer. "How long have you known? About your mark I mean.. was it before or after you became CEO of this company?" Gaunt almost cracked a smile. "Hm. Before. Call it divine inspiration, or call it coincidence. But I struggled my way to the top, all because of the way this mark made me feel." Urizens eyes narrowed, his father swords only confirmed his belief that he cared the most about this damn game. "I could not turn my back on it. And I can sense another mystery you'd like solved." He sighed, knowing this would sound odd. "The game.. it is not a game anymore. You all know R-Tech created it, but the original inventor has gone missing and we never realized that he may have had deeper motives in making it. Now for reasons I can not fathom, the gods manifest themselves through it. They will or can only possess the minds of duelists or bodies they have already eaten. They accept the rules of, and can only devour while dueling. The only way to free those souls is to destroy their true form in a duel. It is possible that since they uphold the laws of the duel, they can only enter a mind that is frustrated because of a duel. Duelist Zero was obsessed with winning, Kein was in the end obsessed with proving his superiority over Ashworth."

"But they will keep on coming back, unless one who is marked, managed to mark them. So far we have not succeeded." Just then, Ansoni coughed. "Actually." He looked at Urizen. "When Urizen won his duel, there was a reaction." He took out a card. "What?" It was the Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua. "Impossible! That god..is sealed?" Gaunt was stunned. "Sealing?" Urizen did not get it himself. "We theorized only a signer should be able to seal a god after a duel. And that theory seemed proven when Ashworth destroyed Cusillu's true form, yet we ended up with an empty prison, so to speak." Richard took out another card, it was the blanked out earthbound card Duelist Zero has used. "Oh, guess I should have let Kein duel him then." Nathan laughed nervously. "You disrupted its true form, that will at least keep it down there for a while." Macbeth reassured him. "Yes. But disruption is not enough, I should know." Gaunt sighed. "Two years ago, we knew too little. We thought we had triumphed, we destroyed their true forms and they did not resurface. But the gods were just biding their time, recovering from their wounds. I knew deep down that this war was not over, so I started searching for others like me. That was when we found Ansoni."

"There was another before him, but he is lost to us now." A strange expression crossed his face and he fell into silence. "So what now? We have no leads.. Lincoln left the stage and the gods have gone under." Macbeth wanted less exposition and more action. "Well we could start by asking one of your friends here, what she knows." Yale suddenly chimed in, taking out a sheet of paper. "What is that?" It was the drawing Ramirez had made, everyone saw the same symbols that were outlined on the screen. "Ramirez gave us this, she somehow knew about the marks." He turned to her. "You wanted to find the signers didn't you? The marked ones?" The girl stared back, but said nothing. "This is the girl Richard dueled? The girl whose disk is a model not sold by any shop. That is interesting. As is the fact that no archive has a birth record of any Ramirez that fits your description." All eyes were upon her now. "That's right. Richard said she had another secret." Ada wanted to find out what that was right now. ".. I." She started to look uncomfortable.

But salvation came in the form a sudden blackout. "A power outage, now? First satellite problems and then this?" The light turned on again immediately, thanks to their backup generators. "What were we hit with?" But they might not withstand another impact of whatever it was. "Don't know sir." The workers behind their stations could find no source for the disturbance. However they soon discovered the cause was not mechanical. "Ehrm, sir, you should see this. Switching to satellite feed now." The monitor switched to a top-down view of Capitol city, where a hauntingly familiar image had cut its way through the streets. "It can't be!" It was a Nazca geoglyph, lines of light surrounded the tower and assumed the shape of a lizard. "It is here?" Then the entire building started to rumble and shake. "I was affraid, this would be the next step."

(To be Continued in Mark 034: Sins in Innocense)


	34. 034: Sins in Innocense

**Mark 034: Sins in Innocense**

The city was in a state of chaos, as half of it had been trapped behind a barrier of light. All power went out, except in a few key places. But those inside were far from safe. "Oh man, they found us?" Xavier panicked as the tower above them started to tremble. "What do you mean, this is the next step?" Urizen heard his father talk as if he expected this. "Finding us would not be too hard, even so I did not think they could get us here. There are few duelists in capitol city and none in this tower outside of you and this John person. Only a duelists spirit will allow them to manifest the glyph lines and summon their true form. A normal soul has never shown signs of possession even under extreme emotional duress." He explained. "Perhaps the gods only come when _they_ want to." The son grunted, wondering if his father ever considered that idea. "Even so, the source of the reptile mark is coming from this tower itself. Someone inside is being controlled by an Earthbound God. I did not desire this, the situation escalated before I could arrange for a mass evacuation."

"However we prepared for this." Gaunt said before Urizen could even complain further. "You know what to do." He turned to the Champion and Aces. "Macbeth. Oversee the protection of the citizens within the afflicted area. The local authorities will help you bring all of them to one spot. That way they can all be shielded at once" Macbeth took out another talisman. "I understand and it shall be done." He ran off. "Ansoni, you get the people out of this building." The champion nodded. "I know. My mark will allow them to pass the barriers." He left the command room as well. "Richard, you will join Macbeth after you have taken these children to a safe detaining facility." Gaunt's last order was accepted by the Ace of Clubs, but not as much by others. "Aw man, what did we do?" Nathan protested. "Someone let that immortal in here, it was the only way for them to bypass our defenses." Right now Gaunt could not trust anyone. "It is also for your own good, you do not want to be in this building now." Richard added. "Alright fine. Lead the way." The group sighed.

"That goes for you too, Urizen." They were lead out, yet Urizen stayed behind. "And what will you do, Gaunt?" He wondered what his task was supposed to be. "I am to remain here and coordinate all movements. Furthermore those talismans are imbued with my blood as well as Ansoni's. They draw power from me, so I have to stay focused." The son just smiled. "Well if you can trust your own blood, you can trust me too." They were related by blood after all. "And I want to see you in action, father. I want to know how you will handle this 'escalation' you foresaw." Gaunt stared at him for a second. "If you insist."

Meanwhile the remaining duelists were walked back. "Oh come on, we all know who did it." Ada was annoyed because she thought the culprit was obvious. "Occams razor, people! We should just ask Ramirez right now and here about this!" Some shared her suspicions, but not all. "I do not know. Could Lincoln have set this up in advance?" Yale asked Richard. "It is possible. But." Yet at that time, the light all went out again. "Another hit?" Only the emergency lights came back on. "She's gone!" And the half-minute it took for that to happen, was enough for miss Ramirez to disappear from their sights. "I knew it! Only the guilty run!" Ada hissed. "Yeah. I will not let her get away with it, not after what she did to you!" Xavier slammed his fists together and dashed off. "Wait! Ali, you do not even know which way she went!" Ada chased after him. "Guys, wait! I think you're supposed to stay with a signer in a case like this!" Sarah freaked and was the third to run off. "Blast it." Yale had no choice either and left just as quickly.

"Oh come on fellas, don't do this." Only Richard and Nate stayed behind, the latter to tired to move. "I mean we probably got cameras all over the place don't we?" It would save them time and energy to just use those. "We do. But in this kind of emergency, those may be offline." Richard shook his head, he had been too careless. "I don't even know if she really did it. But then again, apparently ramirez isn't even her real name or something." Since Gaunt told them she had no birth records. "But if that is not Ramirez's harmless secret, what was?" Nate now remembered Ada mentioning it. "Something I alone must have noticed. Few have dueled her like I did, few have looked into her eyes while others talk behind her back. There was no response at all. She did not hear them like she did not hear the voice in the palace's secret room."

For whatever reason the woman had fled, she definitely appeared to have a direction. Ramirez stopped as soon as she found a large secluded area, a separate chamber behind blastdoors. This was the research department. _"Empty?" _The doors were open and the place was empty. "..." And there it was, her own dueldisk lied on a table. All confiscated objects had been brought here, and it looked like she came to claim hers back. "Wait." However the department was not entirely devoid of life. She stumbled upon a body behind a desk, a guard knocked out and robbed of his armor. "Who is here?" She shouted out loud and let her eyes scan the entire area. "Tsk." The new owner of the guards outfit came out of hiding, all but his mouth hidden behind a helmet. And a dueldisk was strapped around his arm. "Don't you listen to orders?" The man cursed. Right now Ansoni's voice called for an evacuation over the PA-speakers. "Or can't you listen?" His frown turned into a smirk. "I guess it is true then, you really are deaf."

"Now if you will excuse me." He slowly circled around the room, edging closer to the exit. "You let it in." But she raised her dueldisk. "What?" The red lights turned on, and his device was activated as well. "Oh. So you can force duels on people whenever you want eh?" He chuckled. "Who are you?" Ramirez then walked over to the door and placed her hand on a button which lowered the blastdoors. "I could ask you the same thing. You are quite the mystery, made it very easy to set you up as my fallguy. I did not expect you to find me here. Or rather you did not come to find me at all. Bad timing on my part." He took out a pack of cards. "How do you follow my words, if not with your ears? Lipreading I presume?" If he wanted too he could just put down his faceplate and keep her in the dark entirely. "Well, if you can defeat me, I shall answer you, miss Ramirez. But if I win, you have to show me the same courtesy. I have time to kill, since my immortal friend is already on the loose." He inserted his deck, she did the same. "Then.. I can not lose."

Faceless Guards LP: 8000 Ramirez's LP: 8000

"I'll start us off! I set a monster down and end my turn." The unknown guard left it up to one defensive monster. "Infernity Knight." Ramirez left it up to one attacking monster, a black knight(1400/400). "Ah yes, the Infernities. No record of those cards exist on any official site. One of my questions will be, how you got those." He chuckled. ".." She let the knight cut down his monster, which was a halo-shaped flame angel(1400/800). "You killed Nova Summoner, so I may summon another from my deck." His second Nova(1400/800) took the place of the first one. "Light." His deck appeared to be of the divine angelic type. "Set." She placed three cards down and ended her turn. "This is how a turn starts for you normally, is it not?" The guard drew another card. "I have heard of your duels, some even call you a reaper. But I know that is not who you are." He summoned a different light monster, a machine-type shaped like a cube(800/800). "Anyway, this is my tuner monster: Vylon Cube. That is my deck, the legendary Vylons!"

"Synchro summon!" The level 3 cube joined with the level 4 Nova Summoner. "Come out Vylon Sigma!" The level 7 endresult was a mechanical white angel(1800/1000) with golden halos all over its body. "The Vylons are renowned for their mastery of weapons! For instance when Vylon Cube is used as a synchro material, one equip spell can be added to my hand." The guard took from his deck, and equipped to his monster, Mage Power. "I place one card down." Thanks to Mage Power, Sigma(2800/2000) gained 500 attack and defense points for every spell or trap card on his field. "And when Sigma declares battle, he can claim any equipment from my deck, disregarding the costs!" Sigma flew towards the Infernity Knight. "He equips Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce!" And along its path, it(2800/2500) grabbed hold of two electrically charged swords. "His attack goes down, but he can attack twice now!" The attackpoint-loss was cancelled out by the powergain from Mage Power anyway. "Destroy it!" One lightning blade cut down the black knight. "And now for the coup de grace!"

Ramirez's LP: 6600

Sigma raised its second sword. "Since it strikes again, it can wield another weapon from my deck." A large ring with two red pikes attached to the angels body. "Vylon Component. My Vylon monster can now pierce monsters." Ramirez tilted her head. "Then you knew." She discarded her hand, and Infernity Knight reappeared from the grave. "Of course. I can read." The Knight's effect stated it could be resummoned by discarding two cards. "You are like a fine mystery novel, Ramirez. One never knows what will happen on the next page." The even more powered up Sigma(3300/3000) cut down the Knight again. She would have suffered more damage had she called it back in defense mode. "But I may have spoiled myself. I know too much about the Infernities to be surprised anymore. Even if I do not know which plot twist will happen next, I know which twists exist." He ended his turn. "..Do you?" She drew and summoned an Infernity Necromancer(0/2000). "Yes, I believe I do. I activate Effect Veiler!" Yet he discarded a light spellcaster card from his hand, the veiler which sealed off effects for one turn. "It can not bring life?" Necromancer was unable to special summon anything this way. "You wield the dark, I wield the light. Your deck can't survive when it faces mine."

Ramirez's LP: 4700

Now she had a useless Necromancer on her field, which she could not even shift to defense mode with its effect. "Not defenseless, yet." She however banished a Necro Defender from her cemetery, which she had discarded through the Knight's effect. "Ah. Necro Defender, for a whole turn it will keep your Necromancer alive, and nullify all damage its master suffers." The guard drew again, since she could do nothing else. "And I am running low on spell slots, so.." He activated a field spell. "Behold, the Divine Armory! From now on, we can place spells and traps in our monster zones!" He demonstrated the effect of his new spell by placing two trap cards down right next to Sigma. "I believe I shall attack!" The still strenghtening Vylon Sigma(4300/4000) readied its weapons. "So I can use its effect twice!" Sigma slashed the Necromancer, but neither sword could break through the Necro Defenders protection. However each hit allowed the guard to equip his synchro angel with a Mage Power from his deck, one in the last spell zone, and one in a monster zone. "More power! Unlimited Power!" Not only the first Mage Power, but each of them added strength to Sigma for all 9 spell/trap cards on the field. It(14800/14500) had become a terrifying sight.

_The Divine Armory, Field Spell  
>Monster card zones are also treated as spell &amp; trap card zones.<br>If this card is removed from the field, destroy all spell & trap cards in monster card zones._

"Might as well complete the field." The last open monster zone was soon filled by a golden mechanical angel(1400/1000), a Vylon Vanguard. "I end my turn." Ramirez drew another card, and placed it face down. "However don't get your hopes up." He flipped a continuous trap face-up. "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror! The effects of all dark monsters on the field and in the graveyard are cancelled!" A black mirror sucked up the necrotic energy of her infernity fiend. "Even cards like Necro Defender or Infernity Archfiend can not help you now!" The enemy laughed. "And switching the necromancer to defense will not work against someone equipped with Vylon Component, so.." Yet while he gleefully scoffed at her situation, she calmly flipped one of her three face-down cards. "..is that a Dark Hole?" He gasped.

The spell would erase all monsters from the field. "Ggh. Collected Power!" He activated another trap. "I switch all equipment cards from Sigma to Vanguard." The Mage Powers, Component and Twin Swords were now wielded by the Vanguard. Both Vylons and the Necromancer died regardless. "When Vylon Vanguard is destroyed, I can draw a card for every spell he was equipped with." So he got to draw five times. "And when a Vylon spell is sent to the graveyard, I can add another to my hand." He took a new Vylon equipment out of his deck. "Then I attack." She in turn summoned an Infernity Beast(1600/1200). It's powers were gone, but it's points were not. The beast hit the guard with rotting flames. "You are good, Ramirez, That much seems true. But you will not defeat me, and you can stop what is to come. This place is history!"

Faceless Guard's LP: 6400

Back at the command central, Gaunt and the rooms tech support directed all actions taken outside and inside the tower. Because they focused too much on the evacuation, they did not know there was a duel going on in the research room. "It seems to be going smoothly enough." Urizen observed on the screen, so far the citizens were compliant and moved in a calm fashion. "We have many connections with the police and fire department, they know how to handle this event." Gaunt said with pride, but he looked concerned. "It is odd though. It has been half an hour since the mark appeared, and no immortal has shown up yet." The cameras focused on the holding room. "Not even John, color me surprised." Urizen smirked, if anyone was going to be possessed, it would have been that guy. "But where are the others?" None of his supposed friends were there yet however. "I do not..know?" Gaunt however had his attention elsewhere. "Hey, what is wrong with.." A bold tech agent started to spasm, to the dismay of his coworkers. "!" The two Artani's did not need much time to figure out what was happening to him. "Stand back!" The man froze up, his face twisted into an inhuman expression. "Ahhh.." He glared at his 'boss'. "I remember you, Signer."

(To be Continued in Mark 035: Hear no Evil)

**New Cards used by Ramirez**  
>Infernity Knight<br>Necro Defender

-  
>Dark Hole<p>

**Cards used by the Faceless Guard**  
>Nova Summoner<br>Vylon Cube  
>Vylon Sigma<br>Effect Veiler  
>Vylon Vanguard<p>

-  
>Mage Power<br>Twin Sword of Flashing Tryce  
>Vylon Component<em><br>The Divine Armory_

-  
>Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror<br>Collected Power


	35. 035: Hear no Evil

**Mark 035: Hear no Evil**

"It got Frank?" One of the tech agents cried as he saw his neighbor convulse. "I guess they can possess nonduelists after all." Urizen figured that theory was too flimsy to rely on. "Hss." The worker settled down, settling his gaze on Gaunt. "Yes I do, I remember you. So many days ago.. or were those years for you?" A throaty hiss escaped his tongue, like he had swallowed a snake whole. "How did you get inside?" The signer replied with a heavy tone. "This mind was hollowed out and given another spirits scent, a hole was left for me to crawl into." He took off the mans glasses and looked at his own hand with the body's eyes. "This vessel is flawed, but that is how I prefer it." He tossed the glasses away. "So he was mentally weakened by an outside source? Rather than his own emotions?" Urizen had no idea who could have done that. Did Ramirez have that kind of power perhaps? "The geoglyph outside is yours. That would make you Ccarayhua, correct?" Ccarayhua was the quechuan word for lizard. "You would be right, duelist of the tail mark."

The possessed one raised his hand and a stack of cards appeared from nothing. "A duelist's mind, or a mind tempered by a duelist. Both will do. And now.." He shuffled his cards and let them float in front of him. "You will face me, or everyone here will be devoured. You can not decline." Gaunt looked around and sighed. "I have no such intentions. In fact it is you who will be devoured." The mark on his arm started to glow. "Give me the strongest deck we have here, hurry!" He ordered one of the remaining employees to hand him one of the decks from a crate which stood in his office. "But sir, you have not dueled for a while now." He objected but followed the order. "Not since that day, I know." Gaunt took the deck and a dueldisk. "That day?" Urizen wondered which day could have gotten him to quit dueling, but he did remember the old man stopping while he was still around as a champion. "Stay clear Urizen. This is my duty, what I was born to do." He started to shuffle his deck. "You were born, to die, signer." Ccarayhua grinned.

Faceless Guards LP: 6400 Ramirez's LP: 3700

While that duel was about to begin, Ramirez's was not over yet. And her opponent had just drawn a whole new hand. "I activate Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen!" He played a continuous spell in his spell zone. "I can special summon a fairy-type from my hand, since I control no monsters." From the Palace the Goddess Tethys(2400/1800) arrived. "Then I normal summon Vylon Stella!" Besides it floated a pyramid-shaped angel tuner(1400/200). "Level 3 Stella and Level 5 Tethys!" He used the two as materials for a level 8 synchro monster. "Descend, Epsilon!" A larger mechanical white angel(2800/1200) came from the extra deck. "Now when Vylon Stella is sent to the grave from a monster zone, I can equip it to one of my monsters after I pay some lifepoints." He paid 500 and Stella was equipped to Epsilon. "And Vylon Epsilon can sacrifice an equipment card, to destroy any living monster!" The synchro immediately tossed the tuner away, sending it crashing into Infernity Beast(1600/1200). "You are wide open. Yet not defenseless."

Faceless Guards LP: 5900

She still had two traps facing down. "Vylon Segment will take care of that." He activated the equip spell he had added to his hand when Vylon Component had been destroyed. "Segment makes my Vylon cards untargetable by your card effects." He had already sealed her dark monsters powers with his Shadow Imprisoning Mirror, now her spells and traps too. "Direct attack!" Epsilon fired a golden halo of energy at the woman in black. ".." She was only one step away from defeat now. "Your move." And her fate depended on her deck alone now. "Draw..twice." In her drawphase she gained a spell, and she activated it to gain more drawing power. "Aurora Draw?" He recognized the spell, if she had no other cards in her hand she could draw two cards. But her next battle phase would be skipped. "Set.. and set." Yet what she gained could not break through his sealing cards, so she placed the monster facedown along with a trap. "Looks like I almost cornered you. Only a few more places you can run too, places I can cut off.."

Ramirez's LP: 1900

_Aurora Draw, Normal Spell  
>Activate only if you have no other cards in your hand. Draw 2 cards. Skip your next Battle Phase.<em>

"Consecrated Light!" He called out a sphere(0/0) that radiated holy light. "As long as this card exists, you can not summon or attack with dark monsters!" That should have trapped her even more, but she responded with one trap. "Break it." It was Infernity Break, she banished Infernity Knight from her cemetery to destroy the Consecrated one. "Just another twist from a common category: Royal decree!" He chained as well, with a permanent trap that negated all other traps. "Dust Tornado." However she chained to his chain. "What?" And before the Decree was implemented, she let a tornado of dust destroy his Divine Armory field spell card. "Dammit." He had placed both Decree and his Mirror trap in the monster zones two turns ago, thanks to his field spell. But when the Armory went down, they could not stay there any longer. "Clever girl." Shadows were no longer Imprisoned, and Royal Decree could not stop Infernity Break. Consecrated Light exploded as well. "But you weren't able to destroy my synchro monster! I sacrifice Vylon Segment!" Epsilon tossed the golden tool at the defending monster, an Infernity Archfiend(1800/1200). "Well this was an amusing diversion.." Vylon Epsilon charged up the on its back again. "But nothing more. Direct attack!"

Ramirez's LP: 900

The attack hit.. something. "She didn't.." Not her. "Call of the Haunted?" Ramirez played her final trap, Call of the Haunted, to revive Infernity Archfiend. Its death reduced the damage she could have suffered. "Since you summoned it while your hand was empty." The Archfiends conditions were met, she added Infernity Launcher to her hand. "Curse your luck." All of his precautions were done away with, she could start her combos freely now. "End turn." And no time was wasted to initiate them, the girl placed the card she drew during her draw phase down. "Launching." And then she activated Infernity Launcher to revive Infernity Necromancer(0/2000) and Archfiend. "Add." The latter's effect was triggered again and this time she took an Infernity Beetle(1200/0) from her deck. "Divide." She summoned the infernal insect tuner and used its ability to split it up into two Beetles(1200/0). "Necromancy." Necromancer meanwhile resurrected an Infernity Archer(2000/1000) she had discarded at the start of the duel when Infernity Knight died. "And synchronize." The level 6 bowshooter and one level 2 Beetle were tuned together to form her Dragon of death, Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400). "I think.. I know who you are." She added. "Wh-what did you say?"

Around that time, one other duelist closed in. "Come on Sarah. If you were a girl on the run, or a guy chasing a girl, where would you go?" She had no luck in finding either Ramirez or Xavier and company, they had all gone off in different directions. "Oh hey, what is this place?" The sign above the department caught her eye though. "Research? Wasn't this where Sir gaunt said they had taken her dueldisk?" Sarah remembered that unusual black disk. "But the doors are locked, how to get in?" She asked herself, and then noticed another door close by. "Oh?" It was open and she peeked inside. This room appeared to be right next to the other, and a glass window separated the two. "Aha!" And there she saw Ramirez. Dueling a guard it seemed. "Found her at least." The Infernal duelist just used her Doomdragon to destroy a Vylon Epsilon, while Infernity Beetle and Archfiend delivered two direct attacks. "Hey guys! can anyone hear me? They are at the research place!" She shouted through the hallways, hoping someone would hear.

Faceless Guard's LP: 1500

"1400 effect damage and 3000 battle damage. You are catching up fast" The fake guard lost his playful tone. "And now you went and said that, you are even more of a threat to our cause then I imagined." He reactivated the Valhalla spell, special summoning a gold/silver angel(1700/1000) from his hand. "Vylon Soldier, and then Vylon Pentacro!" This turn's normal summon was an egyptian themed pentacle fairy(500/400). "Pentacro is a union monster. So I equip it to Vylon Soldier. For every equipment Soldier wields, he can switch a monsters position!" The soldier gathered holy energy. "I switch your Necromancer to attack mode and vanquish it!" The golden blast was fired towards the helpless Necromancer. But Ramirez played the permanent trap Spirit Barrier. "Argh, why wont you fall!" While her monster was blown to smithereens, she suffered no damage. "Because, they depend on me." Was her simple reply. "Hmph. Anyway, when a monster equipped with Pentacro takes down a monster, I can destroy another card on the field!"

However he could not choose her Barrier yet. "I destroy Doomdragon!" Since Vylon Soldier was not stronger then two of her monsters. "Then I activate Vylon Matter!" He played the spell he had added to his hand when Vylon Segment had been sacrificed. "I am allowed to return three used up equipment cards to my deck to either draw or destroy." He sent the three Mage Powers back. "Go down, Archfiend!" And the demon left the field. "Your turn." His confidence started to return. "..Not alone." However as Ramirez pointed out something that would displease him greatly. "What? Hey!" Only now did he realize there was someone on the other side of the glass wall. "The signer girl." Sarah pounded on the glass and opened her mouth, yet no words came out. "Ah she found the testing area, those glass windows can withstand explosions even." Naturally they were soundproofed for the sake of the researchers as well "But.." He however knew ramirez could read lips. "She wonders, what is going on." Ramirez could repeat what she was saying.

"Can they even hear me?" Sarah scratched her head, she was sure Ramirez responded to her just know. "hey what is happening.. Oh there she is!" Ada stumbled upon the chamber as well. "It's just you here?" Yale and Ali did not follow him. "I could not keep up, I am not a track runner you know." Ada did sound like she was out of breath. "But what is this all about? A guard found her and challenged her to a duel?" She did not think now was a good time for that. "Wait, that does not add up. Urizens father said none of his employees here were duelists or knew how too duel." And from the look of things, this guy was good enough to get Ramirez down to near death. "There must be a way inside here." She started looking around the room for an entrance. "I tried, but all doors are locked. They do not want anyone to come in, I guess."

While the two girls searched the testing area, the guard could only guess what they were saying. "It does not look good for you." Ramirez stated as she switched her last Infernity Beetle to defense mode and placed a trap card down. "Is that so?" The guard entered his turn again. "They know, in that amor you should not be dueling." She explained. He just shook his head. "Well I do not care how they see things. They can not interfere." He played the equipment; Armed Charger. "I discard another Nova Summoner from my hand to activate this spell." Now Vylon Soldier could switch two positions at once. "He attacks your Beetle." But again no damage could be inflicted due to the Spirit Barrier. "Pentacro is triggered as well!" But that trap was soon removed by the Union Vylon's ability. "And when a monster equipped with Armed Charger destroys a monster as a result of battle, I can add one of my grave-bound monster to my hand. As long as it is weaker than my Soldier." He reclaimed Vylon Stella and resummoned the level 3 tuner.

He ended his turn after placing a trap on the field. "..Beginning of the End." And she began her turn by activating a spell that allowed her to draw thrice, if five of seven or more dark monsters in her graveyard could be banished. "This is unreal." She removed her Infernities(Archer, Beast, Doomdragon and 2 Beetles) and drew Rope of Life, Necro Gardna and Into the Void from her deck. ".." However both monsters could not be summoned in the same turn, her hand could not be emptied right away. "Into the Void." So she first played the spell among the three cards. When she held three or more cards in her hand, she could draw one more time. "You.." This time she gained Infernity Mirage, and a plan formed in her mind. "Inferno." She had to flip the Infernity Inferno trap she had set one turn ago, to set it all in motion. It allowed her to discard up to 2 cards from her hand to send up to 2 Infernity monsters from her deck into the cemetery as well. "Sever.." If she were to discard Necro Gardna, she could use Infernity Mirage's effect to revive Necromancer and Archfiend and start the whole combo all over again. _"No. No you will not."_ Yet before she even was aware of what she had done, she discarded Infernity Mirage instead. "Wh..why?"

For some reason she had picked the wrong card. "Heh. Don't look at me." And the guard feigned ignorance. ".. how." She did not understand, but had to run with it. Luckily she had alternative options to explore. "General!" Infernity Inferno made her discard an Infernity General. "A card like that?" The guard saw what card she discarded, a monster that could be banished from the grave to give life back to two level 3 or lower Infernities. "Your trick, will not help." She removed the General and brought out Infernity Beetle and Necromancer. "Their effects are sealed!" He protested. "Yes." But she summoned the Necro Gardna(600/1300). "Synchronize." It was a level 3 monster, so it could combine with the level 2 tuner and level 3 necromancer. "Doomdragon again? That will not do enough damage." He did not fear the infernal dragon. But that was why she summoned a different synchro. "Blood Mefist?" She called out a devilish crimson mage(2800/1300) wielding a skull wand. "That thing can inflict effect damage for every card on my field." If she attacked now, he would certainly lose. "Tsk, no choice.. I can not believe I have to do this." As Ramirez entered her battle phase, he flipped his last trap. "Urgent Tuning!" He was allowed to synchro summon during her turn, he tuned Stella with his level 4 Soldier. "Come out Powertool Dragon!"

(To be Continued in Mark 036: Sharper than a Serpents Tooth)

**New Cards used by Ramirez**  
>Infernity Archer<br>Infernity General  
>Blood Mefist<p>

_-  
>Aurora Draw(++)<em>  
>Beginning of the End<br>Into the Void

-  
>Infernity Break<br>Call of the Haunted  
>Infernity Inferno<em><br>(++) Based on a spell used by Aporia in YGO 5Ds_

**New Cards used by Faceless Guard**  
>Airknight Parsath<br>Vylon Stella  
>Vylon Epsilon<br>Consecrated Light  
>Vylon Pentacro<br>Vylon Soldier

-  
>Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen<br>Vylon Segment  
>Vylon Matter<br>Armed Charger

-  
>Royal Decree<br>Urgent Tuning


	36. 036: Sharper than a Serpents Tooth

**Mark 036: Sharper than a Serpents Tooth**

Ramirez's LP: 900 Faceless Guard's LP: 1500

"Powertool.. Dragon?" They all saw it, but could barely believe it. "Wasn't that the synchro monster your friend used? YQ?" Sarah had seen that one before in the duel against Lincoln. "Yes, but... it must be coincidence. His deck seems to revolve around equip cards." Ada could not think of any reasons for Yale to don a guard outfit to duel Ramirez in. "I don't believe in coincidences." Sarah shook her head. "I mean where did Yale even go?" Back in the actual research room, there was less shock and awe. "I take it this did not take you by surprise." The guard sneered as he saw his opponents unmoving expression. "But if you attack me now, you will trigger Vylon Stella's ability." Power Tool Dragon(2300/2500) had equipped Vylon Stella from the grave, after the guard paid another 500 lifepoints. "When a monster with Stella does battle, the opposing monster is destroyed. Attack me now and lose your last defense." His synchro was in defense mode, so her Blood Mefist(2800/1300) could not do battle damage either. "Yes..I know. Yale Quincy."

Faceless Guard's LP: 1000

Powertool would survive an attack anyway by sacrificing the card equipped to it. The girl thus ended her turn. Yet during that phase, the bloodred synchro activated its ability. Inflicting 300 damage for each card the guard controlled. He controlled three cards (Valhalla, Stella and the Dragon), so he barely endured the bloody fumes Mefist unleashed. "I guess it was the laptop." He grumbled as he looked to his side, Yale's confiscated laptop lied on a desk as well. "That was one..clue." She responded. "Hmph. I should not have tried to come back for it, I did not expect them to take it away in the first place. All traces to the family have to be erased." He drew his card. "Now then, Powertool dragons effect activates!" He took three equip cards from his deck, three Mage Powers. ".." She had to select one, but not it did not matter. "Heh." He equipped the one she chose, and the tool dragon(3800/4000) gained 500 points for every spell or trap on his field. "Now I can finish you. However, you did send a Necro Gardna to your grave just now."

Faceless Guard's LP: 100

If he were to attack, she would stop him. And in her next turn Mefist would burn away his remaining lifepoints. "But.. I have this, the spell card Hidden Armory! I can add any equip card to my hand!" He had to skip his normal summon for the turn, and discard the top card from his deck. But any weapon was now available to him. "Go Power Pickaxe!" He gave his dragon a mechanical pickaxe. "Now when it attacks, I can banish one card from your cemetery, Ramirez!" Her eyes widened as Power tool used the axe to dig up Necro Gardna, removing it out of its path. "It gains even more attacking power now!" The dragon(4800/4500) powered up twice, due to the Pickaxe and due to Mage Power. "I do not know how you manage to be in the way so perfectly, but that time is now over. So move it!" The Dragon plowed right through Blood Mefist, ending it and ending her in the same instant. "..you are not.. like others." The attack sent wind all over the place, breaking even the soundproofed glass. "You have said more than enough!"

Ramirez's LP: 0

The dragon suddenly slammed the girl with its hand. "Ah!" She was knocked against the wall and passed out.. "Hmph. She pushed me this far, I did not want to use..." He had won, yet he had forgotten he was not alone. "Ramirez!" Sarah and Ada gasped, finally able to speak through the now shattered window. "It is him!" Ada now recognized the voice, one which Ramirez could never have heard. "Yale, how.. why.." But that knowledge did not clear things up for her. "I suppose you would notice my absence eventually anyway. Hello Ada, I enjoyed our time together." The man smiled as he opened the doors again. "However I too no longer have to put up with this identity." He then let the dragon used its drill hand to smash the table with all the confiscated ware on it. "How can he..make his dragon do that?" Sarah was amazed that his hologram could interact with solid matter. "There is no need for you to know." The dragon was dismissed and he edged towards the door. "You're out of time. Follow me, or take care of Ramirez. It is your choice."

...

Ccarayhua's LP: 8000 Gaunts LP: 8000

"Stop stalling, signer. I know you are buying time for this rotten city." Urizens father and the possessed tech agent were ready to duel, though the former spent his time looking at his hand. "I do not deny that." He placed one monster card down and activated two continuous spell cards: Gateway of the Six and Unity of Six Samurai. "Six Samurai?" Apparently what Gaunts aids understood to be the strongest deck available was the Six Samurai series. "Ah, that is not what you used the last time." Ccarayhua hissed as the turn passed to him. "No longer the element of darkness, now you command all six elements."

"Savage Colosseum." Right away the Lizard god played a field spell to prepare for his inevitable summoning. "All monsters will be forced to do battle. Hesitators shall be executed." And every time a monster did battle, his owner would gain lifeforce too. "Reptilianne Scylla." The gods first monster was a lizardlike centaur(1800/1200), with mouths all over its lower body. "Reptilianne Poison." The gods first spell was a poison. "Defenders deserve no strength." It flipped Gaunts defending monster into attack position and reduced its attack to zero. It turned out to be Shiens footsoldier(0/300). "Scylla devours." The Reptilianne swallowed the footsoldier whole, yet spat it out right afterwards. "If her meal is without attacking power, it will be reborn on my field." However it still hit the graveyard in between that death and life cycle, which was enough to trigger that monsters ability. "I can special summon a Samurai of the Six from my deck! And I choose the Legendary Six samurai- Shinai!" A water-warrior in purple armor(1500/1500) entered the colosseum.

Ccarayhua's LP: 8300 Gaunts LP: 6200

"When a Samurai is summoned, Gateway of the Six gains 2 Bushido Counters, while Unity gains 1." At the same time Ccarayhua had gained life from his field spell. "Interesting. I hide two cards and end my turn." Gaunt nodded. "I may not have dueled in a while, but I understand the power of this deck. watch closely, immortal." He special summoned two samurais from his hand, the fiery dagger wielder Mizuho(1600/1000) and the earthen swordsman Kizan(1800/500). "Mizuho can be special summoned because Shinai is on the field, and Kizan can be summoned because a Samurai is present at all." Furthermore Kizan(2100/800) could improve his stats when two or more other samurais were with him. "Now, I summoned two more." Gateway had six counters now, Unity had two. "I can remove 4 Bushido Counters from my field, to let gateway put two Samurais in my hand." He removed two from the Unity spell and all from the Gate. "I take Kageki and Enishi! When I normal summon the first he can special summon the second!" Through the gate jumped the four-armed thunder swordsman Kageki(200/2000) and the militaristic divine swordsman Enishi(1700/700). "All five Legendary Samurais in one turn?" Urizen had to admit that was impressive.

Enishi(2200/1200) and Kageki(1700/2000) also gained powerbonuses when they were with other samurais. "They attack your two monsters!" Kageki's sword electrocuted the stolen Footsoldier, while Enishi cleaved the Reptilianne in two. "You damaged me, but damage equals power.." Ccarayhua revealed his left trap. "Damage = Reptile.." Once per turn he could now call a reptile from his deck, one with less attackpoints than the damage points he had taken. "Naga." And he called out a little girl who was half serpentine, a cobra naga(0/0) in defense mode. "She will never be slain by physical means, and those that strike her shall lose all their powers." Gaunt cringed, because due to the Colosseum he had to continue attacking. "I do not remember that card." Mizuho(0/1000), Kizan(300/800) and Shinai(0/1500) all were forced to slash at the Naga, to no avail. In return all their attackpoints were taken away. "Or rather, you did not use that card the last time." Fortunately due to the field spell, Gaunt had also regained 300 lifepoints five times.

Ccarayhua's LP: 7900 Gaunts LP: 7700

"You think we would not change our legions over the years? It is because of you humans that we can enjoy many new spirits. You mortals made the tools of destruction." Reptilianne was indeed a series Gaunts very own company had invented. "Then I shall undo it all!" Mizuho's effect was used. "I can tribute a Samurai to kill a monster!" He sacrificed Kizan, and chose to destroy the Naga. "Snake Whistle." This however triggered Ccarayhua's right trap. "You lack the time, to live up to that promise." The Whistle responded to the death of a reptile, by summoning another from his deck. He called a second Scylla(1800/1200).

"As you say, it is my turn." The possessed one drew a card. "Now, Gorgon." And he summoned an older serpent woman(1400/1400). "And Molting Escape." He equipped that monster with a spell, a second skin. "When Gorgon strikes, her victims will be drained of all their strength. And thanks to this spell, she can survive her own demise once a turn and grow stronger herself." The Gorgons eyes lit up and she slithered over the arena grounds towards Enishi. "Poison him." She bit the warrior, who countered with his holy sword. However she shed her old skin and let that take the blow. "More damage." Of course his lifepoints were still touched, he gained 300 and used the 800 points he lost to let his permanent trap summon a Reptilianne Viper(0/0). At the same time the molted Gorgon(1700/1400) grew stronger while Enishi(500/1200) only had his ability's attackpoints left. "Guess I chose a good deck after all." One tech agent smiled, seeing how well the samurai's natural abilities countered Ccarayhua's newfound penchant for zero attackpoints.

Ccarayhua's LP: 7400

"Some helpless remain." But Mizuho and Shinai did not have such luck, and Scylla was about to eat the fire warrior. "I discard Shiens Squire from my hand!" However a young squire absorbed the blow from Scylla, letting Mizuho live despite the painful blow. "You do not wish to see another one die, do you?" The enemy entered his 2nd main phase. "You struggle for the impossible." Suddenly Viper and Scylla left the field. "I believe you call this a Synchro summon." Viper was a level 2 tuner, Scylla was a level 4 reptile. Together they formed a many-headed snake dragon, the Reptilianne Hydra(2100/1500) in defense mode. "Hydra sends all those who lack power, to an early grave." Two heads of the hydra unleashed a scream that broke the bones of Mizuho and Shinai. Only Enishi and Kageki endured. "And I may draw for every lost life." Since two monsters had died, the enemy could draw twice. "I hide another card and end." But before Gaunt could draw again, Ccarayhua posed a question. "Yet I do experience a curiosity, a hole in this time."

Ccarayhua's LP: 7700 Gaunts LP: 5900

"Someone is not here.." His wide eyes stared right at the man. "Silence." Gaunt wanted to hear nothing of it. "Enishi's ability is this: banishing two samurais in my cemetery, to send a face-up monster to your hand." Enishi plunged his sword into the ground, letting it absorb the spirits of Kizan and Shinai. Then he swung his sword to create a wave of light towards the Gorgon. "For all of your efforts, you can not succeed. Hiding sacrifices, denying deaths, that is not what a god can allow." Unfortunately he could sacrifice Gorgon before it came back to his hand. "Offering to the Snake Deity." He flipped his trap, which ended the Reptilianne's life and ended two other cards at the same time. "I undo, your Gateway and your Holy samurai." Gateway of the Six broke down and Enishi started to melt away in a bloody puddle. "Urp." Some of the workstaff was not used to this display, they certainly had not programmed holograms to bleed. "Quickplay spell card: Cunning of the Six Samurai." Yet Gaunt managed to save it in the nick of time. "I can make sacrifices as well, this spell replaces Enishi with another Mizuho!" The executed fire samurai was reintroduced to the arena. "She sacrifices Kageki!" The woman slashed down the thunder warrior and sent flames towards the Hydra. The many heads were burned to a smouldering black mass.

"Direct attack!" Next she slashed her flaming sword across the chest of the body controlled by the immortal. Damage=Reptile only responded to the deaths of reptiles, so a direct attack did not trigger it. "Yes, you would know about sacrifices." It laughed with a raspy tone, taking the words right out of his sons mouth almost. "I told you to be quiet, this is nothing like that time." Gaunt sent Unity of the Six Samurai to the grave. "I can draw cards for every counter on this spell, when I tribute it. And it can hold up to 2 counters" However Ccaray suddenly chained. "Trap Card: Insightful Cards of Reversal. Now I can draw for every card you drew." So both players drew twice. "Your turn." From the forced gleeful expression on its face, Gaunt knew he had to have drawn the god card just now. "I banish Reptilianne Viper from my cemetery, to use Reptilianne Spawn." Especially not when the enemy played a spell that summoned two tokens(0/0) to his field. "No!" This could only lead to one thing, two tributes and a field meant the god was about to summon his true self. "Yes. It is already in my hand. For all the time you bought, and all we have given you. You accomplished nothing."

_Insightful Cards of Reversal, Normal Trap_

_Activate only when a card(s) is added to your opponent's hand outside their Draw Phase. Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your opponent's hand (Max 3)._

"This is what you call.. a Tribute summon.."

Ccarayhua's LP: 6100 Gaunts LP: 6200

"Is everyone safe?" Ansoni had managed to bring most of the staff outside, leading them all to the same place where Macbeth was taking the citizens. "Command central has not been evacuated yet." One worker answered. "Yes but they should be safe with Gaunt around." His signer mark would protect the tech agents from the immortals symbol. "Richard has not reported in yet either." Said another. "What the heck is going on in..there?" Some people thought they were imagining things, but they clearly saw a mass of black and green light swirl together in front of the tower. "Too late, it is forming itself!" The heart of another god materialized. "We are not in position yet!" The process began, the soul harvest began. "Stay close to me!" Ansoni's mark began to glow, and he casted a barrier around the people with him. However he could do nothing about the people further down the streets. "Macbeth, did you succeed? Is everyone in place?" He tried to call the Ace, but he only received static from the other end. "No.. Don't say it is so.." And the reptile started to take solid shape.

(To be Continued in Mark 037: Sacrifice)

**New Card used by YQ**  
>Hidden Armory<br>Power Pickaxe

**Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Shiens Footsoldier<br>Legendary Six Samurai - Shinai  
>Legendary Six Samurai - Mizuho<br>Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan  
>Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki<br>Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi  
>Shiens Squire<p>

-  
>Gateway of the Six Samurai<br>Six Samurai United  
>Cunning of the Six Samurai<p>

**Cards used by Ccarayhua**  
>Reptilianne Scylla<br>Reptilianne Naga  
>Reptilianne Viper<br>Reptilianne Gorgon  
>Reptilianne Hydra<p>

-  
>Savage Colloseum<br>Reptilianne Poison  
>Molting Escape<br>Reptilianne Spawn

-  
>Damage = Reptile<br>Snake Whistle  
>Offering to the Snake Deity<em><br>Insightful Cards of Reversal (+)_

_(+) Based on the trap used by Yusei in YGO 5ds episode 149_


	37. 037: Sacrifice

**Mark 037: Sacrifice**

"Guys!" Xavier stumbled his way into the research area, finding Sarah and Ada tending to an unconscious Ramirez. "Geez Ali where did you go? I thought you were a goner for sure." Ada snapped at him. "These guys found me." He pointed at Nathan and Richard who entered the room as well. "It was not that hard once you got a map." Nate sighed. "So what happened here? You found Ramirez and.." The whole place looked like a truck had run through it. "It was not her. It was.." Ada hesitated to say it because she still found it hard to believe. "That Yale guy!" Sarah found it less hard to say. "He dueled Ramirez and knocked her out cold, somehow." Xavier gasped. "Ýale? He ran off? Does this mean.. he was the one that let the god in, and not Ramirez?" The two girls nodded. "He then ran off saying we should either chase him or save ourselves. I guessed he meant that with a god about to be summoned, the three of us had to stick together or risk losing our souls." Sarah looked at her signers mark, which already started to glow. "It looks like you were right." Richards talisman reacted violently too. Loud noises came from outside. "Oh that can not be good news." Nathan said, trembling because the tower itself was trembling more then ever.

Ccarayhua's LP: 6100 Gaunts LP: 6200

He had sacrificed the two reptilianne tokens for the dreaded card, Ccarayhua summoned himself to the field. "Where..where is it?" But no monster was visualized by the dueldisk. "Did you assume I would let this room constrain my true shape?" The possessed tech worker scoffed as the entire center started to shake. "It is.. outside?" Urizen could not see it inside, and he knew these gods did not rely on hologram emitters. "You shall not remind blind to it for long. Direct attack.." Gaunts eyes widened as suddenly a gigantic black fist smashed through the walls. "Sir!" Everyone ducked for cover as it crashed into the floor, sending them and the Artani's flying. Most workers were knocked unconscious when they hit the floor or got hit by scattered debris. "It punched..through ten layers of steel." One of them managed to not pass out, though he was in too much pain too move. Only Urizen and his father were still standing. "Now once more, witness your worst fear." And through the hole in the side of the building they could see _him: _Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua. "Yes, I remember." It was a black lizard(2800/1800) with mad eyes and green lines drawn across its thin body. "I remember the true nature of each and every one of you horrors." Gaunt coughed.

Gaunts LP: 3400 Ccarayhua's LP: 6400

"How many did you devour this time? How many?" He demanded the god to tell him. "Hst. Does a king keep track of every person that dies under his rule? I can not count the number, though I do not forget the taste. I will tell you that I have had better meals." In a way that was good news. "Then at least some were evacuated to safety, or at least protected." That was his hope, but that also meant there were innocent lives inside the god as well. "The way you humans care for each other, it is incomprehensible. Love evolved beyond our designs. In the end you all wither, perish and leave this world unmarked." The god had ended his turn it seemed. "Well what about the bond between you and your brothers eh? What about that Whale that I sealed." Urizen sneered, thinking they would at least have some connection between each other. "What we could call a relationship, is far different from what you do call it." The possessed man and the lizard god both pointed at Gaunt. "But we are aware of your feelings, Signer. It is up to you to not fail them, and all the sacrifices you have made. In death your souls have value at last."

"Spell card Zero Reverse." The god was not done with his turn yet, he played a quickplay spell to revive a powerless monster. "Reptilianne Naga." The little girl appeared and immediately lashed out at Mizuho(1600/1000). She counterattacked with her daggers. Naga however could not be destroyed as a result of battle, and reduced the samurai's(0/1000) attack. And thanks to the 1600 points of damage Ccarayhua took, Damage=Reptile could summon another reptile, an Oshaleon(1400/800) from his deck. All three attacks restored some of the gods lifepoints thanks to the Savage Colosseum. "Sacrifices you say?" The colored chameleon shot its tongue out, which cut through the weakened Mizuho like a cutting beam. "Sacrifices, you demand them from us. But you have never had to sacrifice anything yourself. You do not even understand the concept like we do."

Gaunts LP: 2000 Ccarayhua's LP: 5400

_Zero Reverse, Quickplay Spell  
>Special Summon 1 monster with 0 atk from your graveyard in attack position. That monster's battle position can not be changed.<em>

Gaunt drew a card, but could do little in this turn. Aside from summoning another Kizan samurai(1800/500). The earthen swordsman cut down the Oshaleon. He gained 300 lifepoints from the attack as well. Yet this allowed Ccarayhua to add a reptile with less than 500 attackpoints to his hand, he claimed another Reptilianne Viper. At the same time Damage=Reptile summoned a Reptilianne Gardna(0/2000) from his deck in defense mode. "But I do. I can, if I read the memories of my harvest." The tech agent strained his face to form a smile. "Do you know, do you know what this vessels memories were? What was going through his tiny brain the last few moments before I called him to me?" Gaunt did not ask, but he would get an answer anyway. "Why he asked. He did not understand why he was chosen, by you. He feared for his existence every waking moment, ever since you made him a pawn in your war against us. And now that I have stolen your piece, he shall never have to fear again." Gaunt said nothing. And now it appeared like Ccarayhua's next attack would end the duel. "Sir! Don't listen to him or let him defeat you! You are too important to die!" The barely conscious employee cried out. "We do not think of you like an executioner, we.."

Ccarayhua's LP: 5000 Gaunts LP: 2300

"I know." The worker struggled to get up, but Gaunt already had an answer. I know you are all willing to put your lives on the line for the greater good." Unable to make any other move, the god had to give Gaunt his turn. "You do?" Urizen meanwhile did not like what he was hearing. "You think that they all will die so gladly, for your plans?" Gaunt drew his next card and looked at the boy. "I know what this is really about, Urizen. But no, I do not think they would be glad about it. They _do_ know it has to be done. _He_ did, he had no regrets." He gave his son an almost affectionate look. "I would have asked the same of you. But the choice had always been yours." After that the signer placed two more traps down and passed the turn back to the enemy. "You mean, you would have asked if I turned out to be like you. But who is this 'He'?" Urizen had a few ideas, but he wanted to hear this from the old man. "I can tell you that, sealer of Chacu Challhua." Ccarayhua hissed as it switched itself back to attack position. "It was the other marked one, was it not? I recall that mortal too. As finite as his resistance was. That is the hole in this world of years gone by." Gaunts expression darkened. "He was a great man, greater than me. His end was a great loss to us all."

"He died? He got defeaten in a duel?" That could explain why his father stopped dueling around that time. "Oh no. Far worse, the man had to end his own life just to take us down with him. All because this one here could not protect him self or his friend. That mark was lost to your reaper, now it waits to be reincarnated." The god started its turn and entered the battle phase. "I will not let this mark visit the same destiny. It belongs here! Death calls. Do not run from it, embrace the fate you forced upon others!" And he attacked. "Six Style - Dual Wield!" However Gaunt would not go down that easily. "When I control just one samurai, I can return 2 cards on the field to a players hands!" Kizan unsheathed a second sword and both started to glow. "You will not free any souls that way!" Ccarayhua shrieked, returning gods true form to their hosts hands did not count apparently. "Who said I was targeting you?" However Kizan slashed twice, at the Naga and the Savage Colosseum. "The field spell, of course!" Without a field, an earthbound could not exist.

"No!" The god started to dissolve, black particles scattered away like ashes in the wind. "And because the god was destroyed by his own effect, rather than one of min,e it can not use its effect!" Gaunt remembered the abilities of each Earthbound Immortal too, Ccarayhua for instance destroyed every single card on the field if another effect killed it. "Look!" The tech agent and the people outside the city could see it, green energy returned to the streets. The lost souls and bodies were recovered. "He did it. Sir Gaunt did it!" Ansoni was elated, in the end whatever citizens had been devoured, they had only been gone for ten minutes. "Does that mean we are safe?" And inside the tower, Sarahs mark stopped glowing and the barrier she had put up to protect everyone disappeared along with it. "It appears so." Richard tapped his talisman, there was no response. "You stay here just in case." He walked out of the room. "Hey where are you going?" Ada asked him. "To chase a man. If Yale truly did what you think he did, he must not be allowed to leave."

"Hsssss. The time I was given was too small, I can not even recall the taste." Back at command central, Ccarayhua was more than a little peeved that his true form had been removed so swiftly. "I shall not be going without at least one victory, one essence." He placed a trap card face down, and also a monster. Urizen could not tell whether it was Reptilianne Naga or Reptilianne Viper. He did however not reactivate the Savage Colosseum yet. "If you can defeat me, you can still claim my mark. I know that. However I will not let it come that far!" As he regained his turn he summoned Shiens Advisor(1200/400) to the field. "Since another Samurai is present, the Advisor can stop the special summons a certain monster type." Naturally he picked reptile types. "Now Damage=Reptile equals nothing instead." He then flipped his other trap card: Double-Eddged sword Technique. "I can use this trap to return two samurais back to life!" He revived the Samurai Enishi(2200/1200) and the samurai Mizuho(1600/1000). Kizan(2100/800) powered up as well.

"But that trap will..." Urizen knew the trap truly was double-edged as Gaunt would take damage equal to both monsters attackpoints during the end. "If I do not take this risk, I can not break through his defenses. And I have no intentions of letting my own trap be the end of me." There was a loophole he could exploit, Double-Edged Sword Technique only did damage if the revived monsters were still alive during the endphase. "Foolish Burial." But first he had to get more samurais in his grave. "I discard another Kageki from my deck and then I activate Enishi's effect!" He banished the two Kageki's from the cemetery, so the holy samurai could return Reptilianne Gardna to Ccarayhua's hand. "And then Mizuho's effect!" His idea was to tribute Enishi and take out whatever that facedown monster was. This would take away the damage Enishi would give him at least. Sounded like a good plan... "Earlier you said we did not understand sacrifices." .. on paper. "If that is your belief, then let a lack of sacrifices be your undoing." He flipped Mask of Restrict. "No!" Urizen could not believe it, he had that kind of trap waiting? "You..sealed tributes?" The mask restricted all sacrifices, even Mizuho's. "Now you can not send your warriors to their deaths, it is you who has to suffer the blade."

"Damn it." His one hope was that the facedown monster had been Reptilianne Viper after all. But Shiens Advisor's attack revealed that it was the Naga(0/0) after all. "You took too much weight on your shoulders, now you break down." He could not kill the Naga, he could not win. "Gaunt.." Urizen did not expect this; the great signer Gaunt had fallen. "It will be alright, Urizen. This is not the end." He let the turn end, the fire and light samurai's deaths caused 3400 damage to him. "Ansoni will know what to do, how to stop them." The holograms faded. "But what about you? How can you be okay with this?" Urizen was more angered than upset, how could he have let this happen? "I can be saved too. Do not worry about me, son. And for what its worth." Gaunts harsh tone softened, while the mark on his arm lit up. "Everything I did, the modifying of your dueldisk and the falsifying of your victories. It was all to test you. I had to know.. if you would have to suffer like I did. I am glad you do not." He said kindly and gave his son a genuine smile.

Gaunts LP: 0

"G-Gaunt?"

"Even after all that, you still do not adress him by his birth name." Yet that smile instantly turned into a malicious grin. "What?" His father had a new expression on his face, one too sinister even for him. "But I suppose you have demonstrated to us, how one generation of mortals is connected to the other." It quickly dawned on him that this voice did not belong to his father at all. "You.." And when he noticed how the tail sign had been covered with a red spider sign, he no longer had to guess which one of the immortals he was dealing with. "Return him!" Urizen wanted to challange Uru, only to find out it would not turn on. "You may have sealed Chacu Challhua, but you do not possess what we need." Uru chuckled. "Let us not waste time, brother. This body and its essence must be integrated fully." Ccarayhua was still in the room as well. "Very well. Consider this city fortunate, we will return for the other signers when we are done with this one." And just like that, the possessed pair vanished into red and green mist. "No, no, no! Come back here!"

Elsewhere the city was in a state of panic. The stolen souls, while few and long since restored, were enough to get the people around riled up and rioting. "Well this is not orderly one bit." Macbeth and the local police department tried to calm them down, even though there were men in their own ranks who started to freak out. "We can not handle this on our own, we need the mobile reinforcements!" A sergeant shouted at the Ace. "Then get it authorized. Install a curfew, or anything!" Macbeth was not receiving any new orders from central command, he had no idea what was going on. "Hey." And just then another confusion was added to his addled mind. "What is that soldier doing there?" He noticed a trooper from the tower, randomly running through the alleys just across the evac center. "Hearts, report." He then finally received a call from someone else. "yes, Clubs? Come in." It was Richard on the other end. And he made his report, however when Richard told him what happened, he raised an eyebrow. "Oh really, that Morphtronic kid huh?"

(To be Continued in Mark 038: Royal Flush)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Shiens Advisor<p>

-  
>Foolish Burial<p>

-  
>Six Style - Dual Wield<br>Double-Edged Sword Technique

**New Cards used by Ccarayhua**  
>Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua<br>Oshaleon  
>Reptilianne Gardna<p>

_-  
>Zero Reverse<em>

-  
>Mask of Restrict<p> 


	38. 038: Royal Flush

**Mark 038: Royal Flush**

After another half hour, Ramirez finally started showing signs of consciousness. "Ah, we thought you'd never get up." Xavier breathed a sigh of relief. "But wait, she is deaf you say? How do we talk to her then?" He asked Nate who had heard that from Richard. "I don't know.. gestures?" He knew off those, but only knew so little. "Wait, maybe this will help. Ra-mi-rez? Are you o-kay?" Sarah looked straight at her and moved her thumb up and down. ".." The girl just stared blankly at her. "Fine." Before answering. "So, you know." It did not take a genius to figure out why they were behaving that oddly. "Yeah. Oh and sorry about thinking you were a spy or something and chasing you down." Xavier said quickly, even though she had not even been aware of said chase. "Anyway we should probably head back dow, the worst seems to be over now." Ada said, noting that there were no more noises. "Yeah, Urizen is probably still up there." Xavier replied. 'Though, now that i think about it. It was Yale who insisted on us being friends with him in the first place." He was not sure where the motives lied with him. 'Yale.." Ramirez meanwhile stared at her own cards, Infernity Mirage and Necro Gardna in particular. _'He did something.. to me.."_

"Humans show their true natures in these kinds of situations, would you not agree?" Malcean witnessed the rioting done below from the second story of the parking lot. People were tipping over cars, looting stores and fighting back against the police. "So unseemly." He scoffed. "It's in our genes, some might say." Lincoln said while leaning on the car. "They can not help but be descended from a lesser breed." Just then a third figure joined the conversation. "Hm?" This one wore a uniform of Gaunts unit, yet he did not sound like one. "Hello father." The kid took his helmet off revealing himself to the Ace of Diamonds as the one he dueled when he called himself Yale Quincy. "Welcome back, Jason. We have missed you. Your sister has been very worried about you." And now he saw him as someone else. "I see. Your other project eh?" Lincoln realized Malcean had picked an infiltrant from his own family. "No offense to your contribution, but my son here was the only one that could get close to Gaunts son. And the only one with the ability to bring god within Gaunts domain." Malcean explained. "None taken. I assume we can leave now?" He opened the doors of the limousine. "Not yet. I fear I have been spotted." Jason sighed. "I can take care of prying eyes on the ground, and your friends can take care of those in the sky. But I am not sure if my powers work against those with the talismans." Lincoln just smiled and took out his dueldisk. "Then allow me.."

The two turned out to be the other two Aces, Richard and Macbeth. "He was last seen here." The few troops they could spare had the parking lot surrounded. "Good, do not let anyone out under any circumstances." They did not want to let him slip away. "Aye-aye. That man will not get away with this." The officer saluted the two and had his men take their positions. The two then decided to search the area themselves. "It's odd, right Rich? Why would a kid like that, do that? And how?" Macbeth had heard the story about YQ, but he did not quite understand it. "And they say he can make holograms do real damage? Like the earthbounds can? That sounds like a link to me." Richard nodded. "Yes. The damage to the lab looked like a monster had torn it apart. It seemed he wanted to destroy the laptop specifically, even though our department did not find anything out of the ordinary on it." They reached the second floor and stopped. "All technology leads to somewhere, Marshall." Lincoln stood on the opposite end. "In this case, to your dead end."

Before they could exchange any words or even insults, the masked man raised his arm and revealed an activated disk. "You!" A light came from underneath Lincoln which encircled the trio. Both their disks were turned on by it as well. "It seems I did have to see you again. My mistake. This time I will make sure you are put under." He drew five cards. "What is this? You want to duel us here?" Macbeth did want this, he just did not think the man would come up to them. "Obviously. Let's just say I am here to distract you." He chuckled, by now Jason and Malcean had managed to break free he wagered. "That is acceptable. Capturing you will yield results as well." Richard drew five cards as well. "That's right!" Macbeth was the last to add cards to his hand. "This is a two-on-one duel then?" It seemed Lincoln wanted to take them both on at the same time. "You can say that. I will alternate turns between the two of you. I do not need to increase my lifepoints or handsize." He pointed at the Ace of Spades. "You may begin, Marshall. Duel!"

Lincolns LP: 8000 Macbeths LP: 8000 Richards LP: 8000

"..Card Destruction." He started off with a spell that forced everyone to toss out their old cards in their hand and draw new ones. "The deck destruction deck still eh? Your style conflicts with his.." Lincoln saw that neither had changed their decks since the last day. "We do not mind." Macbeth retorted. "Not when your conflict with ours is far greater." Richard added and summoned The Fabled Rubyruda(1100/800). He also placed three spell/trap cards down and ended his turn. "So you say. And yet your first act served me well, Marshall." Lincoln started his turn. "My deck relies on a full scrapyard. You saved me a lot of trouble."

He summoned the Scrap Chimera(1700/500). "Uh oh." Chimera used its ability to rebuild a Scrap Beast(1600/1300) from his cemetery. "I use these two as materials for my Scrap Dragon!" He tuned the two level 4 scrap cards to call out the level 8 Scrap Dragon(2800/2000). "I can not attack during this turn, but I can destroy." He activated a card called Scrap Lube. "That sounds wrong." This oilzone spell could rebuild scraps from the graveyard, and Lincoln used it to bring out the Scrap Beast again. "I destroy Scrap Beast, to destroy your Fabled monster." The dragon used its ability, and Lincolns beast was dismantled already. "Beast Soul Swap." But Richards beast was not, for he used his trap. "I swap Fabled Rubyruda with Mine Mole." He returned the bird to his hand and brought out a mining mole(1000/1200) in defense mode. "I missed huh?" However since Scrap Beast died, Lincoln could take back any scrapped scrap monster. "No matter." He put Scrap Chimera in his hand and placed two spell/traps. "Well then Tobias, show me what you got."

"I will!" Macbeth drew. "The Card Destruction did not hurt me much. Quite the opposite!" Now had Gemknight Fusion in his hand, and he played it. "I fuse Gemknight Tourmaline with Gemknight Crystal!" He combined pure white crystal with bright yellow, to form a bloodred gem warrior, Gemknight Ruby(2500/1300). "Then I normal summon Gemknight Alexandrite, and sacrifice it!" Ruby could absorb the blue crystal knight(1800/1200) to take over its attackpower (Ruby: 4300 atk). "What I have is this, the outrage of all the people you betrayed and hurt. All the duelists souls you wounded! Take this, Ruby-Drawing Axe Slash!" Scrap Dragon had been summoned to defense mode, yet since his fusion monster could inflict piercing damage, this attack costed Lincoln a great deal of lifepoints. Richard at this time moved his hand to one of his face-down cards, but apparently decided against using it. "Betrayed you say? That's a joke!" But when a Scrap Dragon was broken to pieces, any non synchronized scrap monster could be revived.

Lincolns LP: 5700

"To not betray you, would be to betray my true self, my true friends." He rebuilt a Scrap-Golem(2300/1400) monster. "Your true self?" Macbeth placed two cards down and ended his turn, Ruby(2500/1300) lost its powerboost. "Don't bother asking." Lincoln drew and immediately resummoned the Scrap Chimera. "You do not deserve to know." The Chimera revived the Beast, and he used them to synchro summon his second Scrap Dragon(2800/2000) in attack position this time. "Tuner Capture." Now Richard used his second trap, a capturing card that took Scrap Beast from Lincolns graveyard and placed it on his field. "Hmph, you can wait Marshall." Lincoln did not seem to care. "Macbeth made me feel too little, I will not be as lenient." Then his Golem used its ability. "I can bring one Scrap monster back, to any side of the field." The golem used leftover metal parts from cameras and kitchen tools to forge a Scrap Goblin(0/500). "Hey?" And he gave it to Macbeth. "This should not be new to you. Scrap Goblin can not be killed in battle."

He entered the battle phase. "This is how I cause the most pain, now feel it." The dragon and the golem both struck the indestructible Goblin. With zero attack, those attacks might as well have been direct hits. "Gggh." And the damage the Ace of Hearts took, was felt by his body. "And now to destroy it." In his second main phase he flipped a trap card. "Widespread Dud. I target two monsters in attack position. When one dies, so does the other. When the trap is removed, both explode" Dud claymore mines attached themselves to Ruby and Goblin. "Scrap Dragon destroys the Dud, to destroy Mine Mole!" This way all three monsters would be blown to pieces. "Defusion!" However when one of three was removed, the duds went off prematurely. "I unfuse Ruby." Ruby became its fusion materials Crystal(2450/1950) and Tourmaline(1600/1800). "Feh." Scrap Goblin was destroyed and so was Widespread Dud. The dragon lost its target before it could use it against Mine Mole. "Then I suppose you it is down to synchro versus synchro." He ended his turn.

Macbeths LP: 2900

"Yes." Richard resummoned Fabled Rubyruda. "Chain Dog." Secondly, since he controlled more than one beast, he could revive a discarded ChainDog(1600/1100). "Voltic Bicorn." He tuned the level 3 Mine Mole with the stolen Scrap Beast to form the two-horned horse(2500/2000). When Mine Mole was used for a synchro summon, he could draw a card too. "And Lightning Tricorn." The three-horned horse(2800/2000) was synchro summoned as well, after the level 4 dog and the level 4 Fabled tuner were combined. "They both attack." Voltic galloped towards Lincoln first, however its target was the superior Scrap Dragon "What?" Macbeth gasped as he saw the dragon counterattack and kill the Bicorn. "I get it." Because it was killed, all three players had to discard seven cards from their decks. Next the Tricorn charged. "They are equals." The two synchro monsters destroyed each other. Both could special summon monsters from the grave upon their deaths. "Nice!" Richard called back the Bicorn, Lincoln called a second Scrap Golem(2300/1400)

Richards LP: 7700

"..Not so nice." It appeared Lincoln had discarded a second Golem when Bicorns effect hit him. "Third attack." But Bicorn could kill the first Golem for some more damage at least. "Greed Grado." Before he ended his turn, he played a quickplay spell. "Draw two cards." He could use it when an enemy's synchro monster had been killed in a turn. "Set a card, end turn." Lincoln smirked. "Heh. I gave you that card, didn't I?" However he flipped the same spell and drew twice as well. "Thankfully I had multiple copies." And one of the cards he drew appeared to be a second Scrap Chimera. "But since one head will not do against two." This Chimera(1700/500) was summoned too, and it summoned the Beast tuner from the scrapheap a third time. And the second Golem recrafted the same Scrap Goblin to Macbeth's field. "I synchro summon!"

Lincolns LP: 5500

The level 4 Orthros and level 5 Golem used their own parts to assemble the two-headed dragon(3000/2200). "I set a card and destroy it, to return your two trap cards back to your hand." Lincoln let a spell of his go, and bounced back Richards and Macbeths face-down cards. "I want to ensure that this will reach its goal." He entered the battle phase again. "Because you are the weakest link, and you always have been. Macbeth!" The two heads released a blast of energy and steam at Scrap Goblin. A strike like that would deplete all his lifepoints. "He is not alone in this!" Fortunately one of the seven cards Richard had thrown away earlier was a Necro Gardna, which he banished to negate Lincolns attack. "Rich!" Macbeth cried out with joy. "You will have to take us both down, Vincent." Richard said with a determined look.

Back at the tower..

"Whoa this place got trashed." Nathan and company entered the command chamber, which had seen better days.. "Is everyone allright?" Most of the staff was still unconscious. "I called for medics, they and Ansoni will be here soon." The one conscious worker replied. Urizen at least seemed to be okay, yet he was not speaking. "Hey, but where is.." Yet the most prominent figure was absent. "Oh no." And this lead to one unfortunate conclusion. "Yes. That is the right phrase." Urizen said, his fists still clenched. "He failed. And.." His tone was calm, but that soon ended when he noticed who else was in the room with them. "YOU!" Heis eyes caught Ramirez. "You did this, you let the thing in! That is what you do isn't it?" He rushed over to her and grabbed her by the collar. "You defeat duelists, turn them into hopeless shells, make them hollow enough for these gods to possess?" She did not answer, but that was because he was talking too fast for her to keep up with. "Hey, wait. Relax! She did not do it!" Xavier shouted. "It was Yale, Yale let it in!"

"Yale?" Urizen repeated incredulously, as he let Ramirez go. "Him? How, why?" That just added more layers to his current confused state. "We know as much as you do, dude." Nathan shrugged. "Tsk. But that is not the end of it. She knows something." Urizen looked at _her_ again. "You are always there when these things pop up, you knew about the nazca geoglyphs as well. All of them, and all of the signer marks. You wanted to find people like Sarah, and you believed I was one as well. Because of my father, is that it?" He did not even know how she knew about him, if she knew about him. "Now I want clear answers, no vague sentences or riddles or any of that bullcrap. Tell me what you know!" That his words were loud was not a problem, this time he spoke slow enough to be read. "I know only what I hear." She explained. "Hear? But you are.." Though Ada knew that could not have been a literal explanation. "I hear not your voices. Other voices. I can hear.. them. I do not defeat duelists to let them hear too. I defeat them so they do not have to hear."

(To be Continued in Mark 039: Set for the Scrapheap)

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>The Fabled Rubyruda<br>Mine Mole

-  
>Card Destruction<br>Greed Grado

-  
>Beast Soul Swap<br>Tuner Capture

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Crystal<p>

-  
>Defusion<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Scrap Golem<br>Scrap Goblin

-  
>Scrap Lube<p>

-  
>Widespread Dud<p> 


	39. 039: Set for the Scrapheap

**Mark 039: Set for the Scrap Heap**

Ansoni stepped into the half destroyed command center. "Ansoni.. Gaunt is.." A worker approached him with dire news. "I know. I heard." But he had no time to mourn. "Who does that leave in charge, actually? The End syndicate?" Ada wondered, what with the head of R-tech gone. "My father is not as connected to this as Gaunt was. And right now he is handling the political side of this outbreak." Urizens left eye twitched. "Who cares. What I want to know is, how much time there is left for Gaunt.." He did not even know what immortals did with signers, but it could not be good. "Gaunt gave me orders in such an event, if a signer was ever lost and if he was not available for advice. I never thought both terms would apply at the same time. But yes, the immortals appear to need at least 2 full days before they can unite with a signers body and soul. After thet the mark is lost forever and the soul permanently damaged." So they had to find act fast. "Maybe she can help us find them, then?" Xavier pointed at Ramirez.

"Yes, tell him what you told us." Urizen said, practically ordering her. "Tell me what?" And Ansoni had also heard from reports that it had been Yale who infiltrated the tower and let the god in, but not what the deal was with her. "I hear. When I shouldn't. I have been.. deaf.. since a long time. But two years ago, I started to hear _them_." The emphasis was on the last word. "Them.. the gods you mean?" The girl nodded. "It was like a dream, but I had them too often.. they were real. They do not speak to me, but they talk. I do not understand.. what they are saying. But I understand some words. Words like Nazca, Suns Day, Garden, dueling." She touched her black dueldisk. "I heard, a bad thing would happen. And only a special duelist could stop them. A strong one.. with a mark." She looked at Sarah. "I dueled, until I could find one that could defeat me. I believed the strong could survive the disaster. The weak had to be stopped.. from going to the garden, I heard they would go there. But they came earlier and elsewhere, I do not hear everything it appears."

"What about now?" Nathan thought it would be helpful if she could hear where they were now. "Nothing, nothing yet." She shook her head. "Grr, what about our other lead? That damn traitor Yale." Urizen spat as he said the name. "I knew it, all along. He was too nice to be honest." No human could be that kind. "Well, he destroyed his stuff. But he did summon a dragon and made it real. Not a lot of people can do that." Sarah said. "What is your point?" Artani grumbled. "I think she means, this power of his may be a lead too." Xavier replied. "And the reptile god said that Franks mind had been hollowed out and given a part of another spirit. Perhaps this is how Yale helped it." The tech agent remembered the explanation from Ccarayhua. "He also..did something." Ramirez spoke up. "What?" They turned to her and she showed two cards. "He made me see.. differently. Made me throw away the wrong card." She had lost the duel because she somehow thought Necro Gardna had been Infernity Mirage. "A trick on the eyes, and manipulation of the mind.."

Ansoni quickly realized what this all added up too. "Psychics! Yale must be a psychic duelist!" He snapped his fingers as the conclusion hit him. "Psychic? You mean they are not fake?" Ada gasped. 'What do you mean, fake? They have their own school and everything." Sarah protested. "I even wanted to duel that psychic duelist back at the garden, but he was already forced out or something...Oh wait.." And this gave everyone the same idea. "Psyche?" If anyone would know more about psychic duelists, he would. "He came from that school yes. And if that place can link us to Yale, we have to find out where it is." It was a private establishment, only members knew where it was. "We will need to go to the hospital. Maybe he and Chacu Challhua's other victims have woken up already." He could arrange for a trip there at any monents notice. "The city is still kinda mad though." They could hear the shouts through the torn down walls of the room. "Indeed. We will take the helicopter. I just hope the Aces are doing okay out there.."

Lincolns LP: 5500 Macbeths LP: 2900 Richards LP: 7700

"So you stopped one attack." Lincoln sneered, Richards Necro Gardna did not allow his Scrap Twin Dragon(3000/2200) to kill Macbeth. "I will never stop coming for you." Scrap Chimera(1700/500) though, could still attack the Scrap Goblin(0/500). "I set two cards and end my turn." After that it was Macbeths time to shine. "That's my line. I do not care who your real friends are. That you had to pretend for so long as is bad enough. Then again with that mask on, I should have known you were up to no good." He drew a card and switched the Goblin to defense mode. "I sacrifice a normal monster to activate White Elephants Gift!" He tributed his left Gemknight, Tourmaline(1600/1800). "Now I can draw two times." He gained a monster and a trap. "I attack, Brilliant Dust Masterstroke!" Crystal(2450/1950), his other Gemknight, closed in on the Twin Dragon. "You are attacking a stronger monster? That can only mean..you have Gem Merchant in your hand." Lincoln smirked and activated Scrap Sheen. "One scrap monster I destroy, and I give gains power!" The Chimera was dismantled and its plates were added to the Twinheaded synchro(3800/2200). "Gah!" Macbeth was allowed to halt his attack, because the loss of Scrap Chimera constituted a replay.

Macbeths LP: 1200

Macbeth had to end his turn, after he placed two cards down. "Your tricks do not fool me, Tobias. You may call me a coward for hiding behind this mask, but you hide behind extravagance in appearance and behavior." Lincoln drew again. "You are as fit to be an Ace as I really am. And even now I am still your better." He special summoned a Scrap Orthros(1700/1100) from his hand. It had to destroy one scrap monster upon summoning, so it scrapped itself. But that allowed Lincoln to retake Scrap Chimera from his graveyard. "Oh no you don't!" At that time Macbeth flipped his trap card, Powersink Stone. It gained one counter when Orthros's effect was used. "When this trap has two counters, I can negate all monster effects on the field!" The Ace of Hearts proudly explained. "Then I shall have to punish you with brute force." Strangely he went through with his plan after all, summoning the Chimera who revived Orthros. "If you insist." The Stone gained another counter, and now Lincolns monsters abilities were absorbed by it.

"Scrap Dragon." He did not care and synchro summoned his third and final oneheaded dragon(2800/2000). "And I attack Gem-Knight Crystal!" And he did not seem to care about the threat of Gem Merchant either. "You are trying to trap me too, right?" But Macbeth flipped his other set trap: Justibreak. "I reject it too! Justibreak destroys all effect monsters when a normal monster is attacked!" Crystal unleashed lightning across the whole field. "Damn it!" Both his synchros were wiped out, though at least he could revive a Scrap Golem(2300/1400) and Scrap Beast(1600/1000). "Scrap Crash!" He could also now use his trap card, the one which he had planned to use when a Gem Merchant-empowered Crystal killed his dragon. "I can destroy all face-up spells and traps, when a scrap monster dies!" The Powersink stone crumbled into dust. "Curses." With abilities no longer sealed off, Scrap Golem could revive a Scrap Orthros in defense mode. Then the Golem and Beast were used as materials for the synchro summon of a second Twin Dragon(3000/2200). "I will not use its effect however, it would be a waste of my cards in a turn where my attack failed." He placed two more cards down, emptying his hand. Afterwards he ended his turn.

The Justice Breaker trap had also devastated Richards field, and Macbeths Scrap Goblin. Once Voltic Bicorn(2500/2000) had been destroyed again, all players had to discard another seven cards from their deck. "Green Baboon." Yet by paying 1000 LP, Richard could special summon the Forest Guarding Ape(2600/2200) from his cemetery when his Bicorn died. "Lincoln. How did you know it would be Kein?" He asked him, about the moment Kein got possessed by the earthbound. "Let's just say I have a friend who has gods ears and vice versa. I can not help it that they wanted a better vessel after the way you greeted them, Marshall." The masked one laughed. "But why help them, destroy our race?" Richard threw another question his way, but Lincoln did not comment on it. "I see, we have to beat the answers out of you. At least you have a duelists pride still." He summoned a level 2 tuner monster, the Uni-horned Familiar(0/1000). Then he activated Soul Release. "Oh no you don't!" Yet his enemy was one step ahead. "Imperial Iron Shield!"

Richards LP: 6700

_Imperial Iron Shield, Quickplay Spell  
>Cards you control or cards in your deck, hand and graveyard cannot be banished this turn.<em>

"You can not banish any scrap monsters this turn!" He used this to prevent Richard from removing all of the good cards like Scrap Golem and Scrap Searcher. "Then I shall banish my own." Richard removed among others: Fabled Rubyruda and Dark Desertapir. "When a Dark Desertapir is banished, a dead lowlevel beast returns to the field." The removal of the tapir brought back the level 3 Mine Mole(1000/1200). "Synchro summon Thunder Unicorn." It and the Familiar were materials for the level 5 onehorned horse(2200/1800). Mine Mole's effect also let him draw one more card. "It attacks Orthros!" His horse galloped over to the twoheaded metal dog. "And it will fail! Scrap Rage!" Lincolns trap flipped up. "My scrap monster gains defense!" Orthros's plates turned hot red, and it(1700/3100) deflected the Unicorns horn. "You will never wound me again, marshall!" With that opening gone, he had to let the Baboon kill the Twin Dragon instead. Of course its demise only served to revive the one remaining Scrap Golem(2300/1400). "..."

Richards LP: 5800

Richard placed a trap card and ended his turn. "Hmph. You are too soft, Marshall. Always have been. Between you, the fool Macbeth and the obsessed Kein, I do not think it is wrong to say I was the best of us Aces all along." At that time Scrap Rage's drawback was triggered, and Scrap Orthros melted itself down. Of course Othros's death was good for Lincoln, since he could retake Scrap Chimera again. And it revived a Scrap Searcher(100/300) from the cemetery. "And I did not even want to be an Ace, haha.." In his turn, Scrap Golem revived Scrap Orthros. "Look at the two of you, you can not even touch me anymore. Or trap me.." He scanned Richards graveyard, noticing Skill Successor hidden among the many discarded cards. "Not even with dead cards." He performed another synchro summon, for a dragon they had not seen yet. "I combine Golem, Orthros and Searcher, for the Atomic Scrap Dragon!" Three materials, of 5th, 4th and 1st levels, were repurposed for the assembly of a threeheaded nuclear powered dragon machine(3200/2400).

"I can destroy one card I control, to send three cards in your cemetery back to your deck!" Lincoln normal summoned a smaller monster, a demon riding a float. It was melted down by the Atomic synchro. "Darksea Float, when it is destroyed I can draw a card." At the same time he returned Skill Successor, Lightning Tricorn and a Voltic Bicorn. "Just admit it, I was the best! I never lost a single duel in all my time as an Ace! And I will not lose now!" The Atomic dragon then fired three nuclear blasts at the Green Baboon and utterly vaporized it. _"Strange, why did he not kill the Unicorn?"_ Richard knew that move would do more damage. "You are wrong, Lincoln. You may have been a better duelist, but you were not the best of us as an Ace." Was his actual answer. "What? You want me to believe there is more to this?" That just made the former ace laugh harder. "Yes. You do not become an ace for your own sake, you are there to protect and serve all the duelists in your region. Now we know why you never lived up to that task, Vincent."

Richards LP: 5100

"Whatever Marshall. Guilt is not even remotely close to what I can feel at this point." He ended his turn. "We do not care what you feel, Vince. We care how others feel about you. You have committed heinous acts and you have to be brought to justice. And I shall force you there, even if I have to force every step!" He sent Crystal out to attack again, this time successfully discarding the Gem Merchant to power it(3450/1950) up. "Brilliant Dust!" A hail of crystals pierced through the red dragons hull and broke it to fragments. "Pointless." Naturally he revived a Scrap Golem(2300/1400) when it died. "Nothing is ever pointless. And also you should have used your atomic effect on this card too." He banished a Gemknight from his cemetery, which was the cost to bringing a Gemknight Fusion in his cemetery back to his hand. "I fuse Crystal in my hand with another Gemknight Tourmaline on my field. To bring out Gemknight Prismaura!" He combined the knight of yellow thunder with Crystal and called out a sword and shield wielding white knight(2450/1400). "Prism Aura can discard one Gemknight card to destroy any nonset card on the field!" He banished another dead Knight to retake the same Gemknight Fusion, and he discarded that card. "Go down, Golem!"

Lincolns LP: 5250

"Heh."

The lips beneath his mask curved, as his monster was crushed inside a prism of light energy. "I did not think you would play right into my hands." He took the card from his hand and placed it on the field. "What?" Lincoln special summoned a monster. "When one monster I control is destroyed by an effect, I can call this card from the hand." On the field appeared a silver armored humanoid mech(2500/2000), built together from five separate parts. The process blew wind across the area, rattling the cars and even setting off a few car alarms. "Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity!" There was an opening on its chestplate, an infinity symbol whose holes showed off the energy core of the thing. "Meklord?" It was a machine that neither Richard nor Macbeth had ever heard of. "When did.. how did.." And they certainly had not seen him use something like it in any duel. "This will be your executioner, Marshall and Tobias. Consider it a clue of the future you will never experience."

(To be Continued in Mark 040: Minus One Heart)

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>Green Baboon, Guardian of the Forest<br>Uni-Horned Familiar

-  
>Soul Release<p>

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Prismaura<p>

-  
>White Elephants Gift<br>Amulet of Ambition

-  
>Powersink Stone<br>JustiBreak

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Dark Sea Float<br>Atomic Scrap Dragon  
>Meklord Emperor Wisel<p>

-  
>Scrap Sheen<em><br>Imperial Iron Shield_

-  
>Scrap Crash<br>Scrap Rage


	40. 040: Minus One Heart

**Mark 040: Minus One Heart  
><strong>

As the sun rose on the horizon once more the helicopter flew towards the medical ward, Urizen, Nathan and Ansoni were on board. "The enforcers arrived in time." On the streets below they could see extra units of troopers supported the local authorities in suppressing the few remaining protestors. "I guess the curfew will be needed, maybe even nationally." Ansoni knew the people would not stay calm for long. "At least they are still alive." Urizen grumbled, wishing this thing could fly faster. "I have a question though." He turned to Ansoni. "Do you know the signer that came before you?" He was curious about the duelist that had apparently dueled alongside his father. "I am afraid not. Sir Gaunt never told me much about his past." He could not even give a name. "But if so many of us are losing, why just not duel with cards that instantly deplete their lifepoints or something." Nathan said, wondering if they could just not invent a instant kill spell. "If we invent cards like those, the gods can gain access too them too. And it is not as if they follow any ban list. They can use cards even after every copy in existence is burned." Ansoni explained. "Oh..bummer. Wait, then who made the earthbound cards?" Nate wondered who thought that was a good idea. "Not us. It seems as if the original creator made more cards than we have on record. This game has a history which we still do not understand completely.."

Back at the tower, repairs were underway. "Maybe this was not a good idea, to bring you kids here." The tech agent said as he watched over the remaining duelists in the holding room. They were not even allowed to go with the others on their psychic investigation. "You think?" John was present as well, he had been brought back here even after the mass evacuation. "We're not talking to you."Ada snapped at him. "Please, you have bigger things to worry about as far as I can tell." The detained duelist fumed. "Well that is true, all of you are technically free to leave. This place is not that secure anymore." If one god already broke in, others could follow.. "Except for me, I think." As a marked one, Sarah assumed she could not just turn walk away from it all. "If you ask me, this here is the safest place to be. At least with a signer around, we can fight off the effects of the earthbound, right?" Xavier said, not feeling like running away from this anyway. "Though if you wanna go, I will come with you of course." He added quickly to Ada. "Ha. It's not as if mom will miss me, she always did tell me to find my own place and income." She laughed bitterly. "I don't feel like going home yet." The girl sighed. "Besides, after seeing one god, everything else seems less frightening."

Lincolns LP: 5250 Macbeths LP: 1200 Richards LP: 5100

"Meklord Emperors, R-tech did not design that card." The Ace of Diamonds had summoned a machine(2500/200) which their disks should not have accepted. "Ha, not all cards are decided by your minds. You are not the only one who have access to the source." Lincoln drew his card, Macbeth could do nothing else about this thing in his turn. "While it is on my field, no other monsters can declare an attack. However in return.." Suddenly tendrils shot out of the infinity symbol on its chest. "Now I can absorb one Synchro monster on the field every turn!" The lines ensnared Richards Thunder Unicorn(2200/1800). "Absorbing?" As much as the unicorn struggled, it could not stop Wisel from changing its body into pure energy which was drained into the Meklords core. "I gains its attackpoints as well!" The bladed hand of the Emperor(4700/2000), gained an electrical charge. "But I still have Gemknight Prism Aura to defend us!" The Ace of hearts had fusion summoned the blue gemknight(2450/1400) in defense mode last turn.

"Have you forgotten what I added to my hand two turns ago?" Lincoln summoned Scrap Chimera(1700/500). "I will revive Scrap Soldier and summon my final Scrap Twin Dragon!" He could use the twin dragons ability to return both the Prism knight and the trap Richard still had on his field. "D.D. Crow!" But Richard discarded the dimensional crow just in time. "Tsk." He could banish one card in the cemetery, and he removed Scrap Soldier before it could be repaired. "Fine then. In that case.." Lincoln played the spell he just drew. "Smashing Ground!" The ground beneath Prism opened and the fissure sent energy upwards that destroyed the fusion. "Gah!" Now they were defenseless. "I attack, Tobias." The thrusters installed on Wisels legs cut loose and the Meklord blasted forwards. "Then you will deal with me first!" But suddenly an elephant head(500/300) was summoned and that took the brunt of the attack. "You?" "Battle Instinct." Richard revealed his trap; when an opponent attacked the player, a beast like Elephun could be summoned from the hand.

Richards LP: 900

The impact of the electrically charged blade cutting into the monster sent waves across the area, which shattered glass and left a crater in the floor. "What kind of fight to the death do you think this is? It does not matter who I kill first." He ended his turn. "..I know what this is." Because Elephun had been killed in battle, Richard could add a banished level 3 or lower beast monster to his hand. "Rich, thanks." Macbeth gave him the thumbs up. "We are not safe yet." Richard added a Dark Desertapir to his hand. "Draw." And he drew a very good spell from his deck. "Monster Reborn!" Richard played the card that raised the dead, and he intended to take Scrap Twin Dragon from Lincolns cemetery. "Resorting to stealing my cards now? A legitimate strategy, but you are one round too late!" However Wisel Infinity fired a laser from its head, which tore through Monster Reborn. "With Meklord on my field, I can negate one spell every turn. Your last hope is gone, Marshall!" He laughed out loud. "Maybe you want to call in backup eh? "

"We will not leave you an opening. Even if we fail, someone else will catch you." Macbeth boasted. ".." Richard however was not so optimistic. "Unicorn Beacon." So he played the last card he could play. "Huh?" By banishing Desertapir from his hand as a cost, which triggered the Tapirs ability as well. "The Beacon unbanishes Rubyruda and the Tapir revives Lockcat." The level 4 winged tuner(1100/800) and level 3 cat(1200/800) returned from the other dimension. "Synchro summon." And he used the two as materials for another Voltic Bicorn(2500/2000). "I see, you want to defend against his monster with deck destruction." 14 Cards had been discarded from the masked mans deck, and he had drawn 19 cards. Exactly 7 cards remained in his deck, exactly 7 would be thrown away if Bicorn was killed. "No. I can not defend." But the horse appeared in attacking position. "What? Why?" And Richard entered his battle phase. "Because there is no limit to what that monster can absorb." If he let his turn end, Wisel would drain the Bicorn away too, and up his attackpoints to 7200. "And.. this duel can not end with only one loss." He extended his hand and sent his synchro monster forwards. "I am sorry, Mac. But I do not want you to get hurt. I attack!"

"So you figured it out?" Lincoln was shocked. "Ever since my friends first turn. Ever since I could not activate my face-down Greed Grado when his monster destroyed your Scrap Dragon." By the rules of tagteam duels, he should have been allowed to respond to his team-mates victories. "You couldn't? That means.." Now Macbeth started to understand the little things, like why Atomic Scrap Dragon had not sent cards from both players grave back to the deck. "This was never a team duel, he set up a royal duel. Only one can win this." And then the Bicorns horns clashed against Wisels metal frame. They did not even dent it. "Grr. You..planned this, you tricked us!" And macbeth could only watch helplessly, as the Emperor counterattacked, decapitating the horse in one fell swoop. "No! This was not a part of the plan. I did not expect.. I can not lose." Yet all the cards in Lincolns deck were sent into his grave. While Richard lost his lifepoints, Lincoln was unable to continue the duel as soon as his turn started. "Richard Marshall!"

Lincolns LP: 0 Richards LP: 0

"Richard, why did you..do this?" Macbeth tried to run over to him, but he was repelled by an invisible energy field. "Argh. You were.. I always thought you were the best duelist of us. If anyone should have lost to the royal duel, it should have been me!" He pounded the field, but did not get it to budge. "Mac. It will be fine." Richard sighed, unknowing what would happen next. "But I.. I do not know what to do. Kein is gone, Gaunt is gone. Now you.. it's not fair!" The ace of hearts cried out. "Macbeth. You became Ace for a reason, we trusted you. You can trust yourself too, you will be..." The ace of clubs tried to calm him.

"Enough of this sentimentality."

However the talk was interrupted, as the Machine Emperor sent out lines of energy into the heart of Richard. "Always putting others ahead of you, Richard? That is why you are not the strongest, that is why I survive while you meet your end!" Lincoln shouted at the agonizing Richard. "No! Don't!" And the tendrils tore out what seemed to be ghostly energy, sucking it straight into the core of Wisel. "Let him go! Give his soul back!" Macbeth yelled as loud as he could, as Richards body fell down. "Soul? You think we are like those gods?" Lincoln could only chuckle at his emotional state. "What I drained from him was his lifeforce, that is all we require. The body is left behind.. to die." He let the energy fade between the two aces. "No, you lie!" Mac went to check his friends pulse, but felt none. he was not breathing anymore either. "With no mind to tell the body what to do, it goes inactive." Lincoln explained coldly. "You.." But Mac could not get near him, not all of the barrier had been removed. "It seems our duel has finally startled the perimeter enough." From down below came sounds or marching, troops had entered the parking lot. "We will settle this another time." The masked man then jumped down a story and disappeared from Macbeths sight.

"!" It was around this time that the Ace known as Kein awakened from his coma. _"Where?" _He lied in a bed, it looked like he was in a hospital. "When.." The last thing he remembered, was something he'd rather not remember. "Ugh." His head started to throb. He ripped off the wires attached to him, and gave his surroundings a look Wherever this was, it was not just him that had been placed here. He saw several people lying in beds next to him, some he recognized as guests of the gardens. _"Then I guess. It really did happen."_ He stared at his own hand. _"They chose me.."_ He clenched it. _"And Lincoln.."_

"Schiver! You' re awake!" A familiar and usually painful voice reached his ears. "Ashworth?" He saw Nate enter the room. "I knew it was worth my time checking up on you!" The should-be-Ace was followed by Urizen and Ansoni. "Sir?" He did not expect to see him here. "It's good to see you Kein, but take it easy. You were just possessed, and recovery might take a while." It surprised Ansoni that the host of a god was recovering this quickly to begin with. "Did you..stop it?" Kein did not have memories of that. "Yes. And we sealed it too. That one at least." He glanced at Urizen. "That one?" Kein sensed that there was bad news too. "Another god forced sir Gaunt into a duel. And.. he lost." Ansoni said with a solemn tone. "No. Gaunt was.." Kein could not believe it, the commander had been taken? "Damn it, this is all my fault!" He slammed the wall. "I thought it was Lincoln's fault? He betrayed you after all." Nate replied. "No. I let myself get fooled, left my spirit open for those things to enter. He may have let it happen, but so did I.."

"That is nice, but we did not come here for you or your guilt." Urizen spoke up. "That guy was not the only one that went and stabbed us in the back. And we are here to find out more about him." He moved over to another bed. "Oh yeah. It turns out that Yale kid was a psychic duelist, maybe. But either way he did something to a guy at the tower which let the god walk straight on into his mind." Nathan explained as well as he could. "That Yale kid? The one whose computer we confiscated?" All he recalled about him was that Lincoln had defeated him in a duel. "Yes. And since psychics are known to influence the mind and make what is just an image, more than an image. We came to ask another like him if he knows about it." In the corner of the room was Psyche's bed. "But of course, he is still unconscious." The man lied there, his expression did not make it look like he was sleeping peacefully. "He was a vessel for another god, that takes a lot out of one." Ansoni walked over there as well. "Perhaps, Uru did not chose this man at random.."

"What do you mean?" Urizen asked, and then Ansoni started cheking the personal belongings basket. "Hey. can we do that?" Nathan did not think that was a nice way to treat an unconscious fellow "He may have something on him which can link us to other psychics, like the school. Most of them registered at the same academy." Ansoni finally found a card. "Ah. This will do." It was a membership card of the academy, the Dresden Institute was its name and it even had the phone number printed on it. "If we tell them what happened, I am sure we can arrange a meeting and possibly look into their old records." He put the rest of the stuff back. "You're saying Yale was a member too?" Urizen was not sure if someone would keep a profile like that out there. "It is worth a shot." Nathan was a bit more positive about their chances.

"Wait. I want to come with you." But before they could even leave, Kein got up from his bed. "Are you certain?" Though the Ace did not look like he was in top shape. "As sure as I am I won't be making up for my failures by lying here." He glared at Ash specifically as he said this. "And I am willing to let the past stay in the past under these circumstances." Nathan grinned. "That's good enough for me. Guess we're cool." Kein shook his head, that guy would never change. "Sir, a call for you." Their pilot suddenly entered the room and handed Ansoni a phone. "Yes?" He answered it. "I see." He turned to the others for a second. "It seems Richard and Macbeth found, not Yale, but Lincoln." Keins eyes widened upon the mention of that name. "WHAT?" Ansoni continued to listen and nod. "Not good huh?" Urizen saw and a grave expression fall over his face. "Lincoln managed to get away, and Yale broke through the perimeter as well." He turned the phone off. "But that is not all. It would seem that Lincoln engaged both Macbeth and Richard. And Richard.. he did not make it out alive."

(To be Continued in Mark 041: ESPecially)

**New Cards used by Richard Marshall**  
>Monster Reborn<br>Unicorn Beacon

-  
>Battle Instinct<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Smashing Ground<p> 


	41. 041: ESPecially

**Mark 041: ESPecially**

"There is nothing we can do for him." A doctor said as he stood over Richard, lying in a bed and hooked up to all kind of machines. "His mind has gone blank, it is not giving out signals to the rest of its body. This is a state of vegetation like we have never seen before. Our equipment can keep him alive, but they can not stop the decay of his braincells." His life had been sucked away literally, by the Meklord Wisel. "How long does he have?" Kein was with the doctor as he gave his report. "At this rate, his body will be beyond saving in under 24 hours. After that there will be too much damage to his system for it to be healed." Kein looked down at Richard, now he looked so peaceful. "I see... Give him the best treatment we can spare." The doctor nodded. Kein then turned around and left the room._ "_Is he?" Outside in the hall was Macbeth, waiting for any shred of good news. Ï am sorry, he will not live to see tomorrow." Kein shook his head. "I..I knew it." But the Ace of Hearts never had any hope to begin with. "It should have been me." He cursed. "Trust me.. After what I did, I feel the same way, but we can do nothing for him here." Kein clenched his own hand as well. "We have a lead, and we are going to pursue it. And we will show no mercy to those responsible.."

The lead of course was the Dresden Institute, a special school isolated somewhere in the eastern forestlands. "And you are sure they will welcome us with open arms?" Urizen, Ansoni, Nathan and Ramirez flew over there using a private jet hired by the End Syndicate. "We called the number and explained the situation. My father pulled some strings as well. So yes we are welcome there."Ansoni answered to Urizen who was rather apprehensive about psychics in general. "Well if they are indeed psychic, then they should have seen us coming, right?" Nate chuckled. "I am saying, why should we trust a faction of which one member went out of his way to invite the gods to people's minds." As far as anyone knew, they sent Yale to start this mess in the first place. "Hell, they may even be Lincolns allies." The former ace spoke of friends in high places often enough. "We will see when we get there. I myself do not think they are responsible, because that Psyche fellow was in the middle of the chaos. If he were involved, he would not have been harvested.

The jet landed close by the forest at a private airport, and they took a jeep down the road. After an hour of flying and driving, the group reached their destination. "Well now, how could one miss a fancy place like this." The car stopped in front of an iron gate. On the other side of the walls was a large fairly modern looking university building. "Guess they haven't been here for long." Just then the gates rolled open and they could move on towards the building entrance. There a man was waiting for them. "Greetings, greetings!" Unlike Psyche, he wore an outfit one would expect from a principal to wear. And had an inviting smile on his face. "Pardon the obligatory humor, but we have been expecting you." He chuckled at his own joke and extended a hand. "Master Lionel at your service." Ansoni accepted it. "Ansoni Helion, pleasure to meet you. These are my friends, Urizen Artani, Nathan Ashworth and Ramirez." Nate waved his hand, the other two just smiled vaguely. "Ah yes. Well then, I will not waste what precious time is left. Follow me.."

Master Lionel glared at the door behind him, and it opened up. "Oh wow, is that telekinesis?" Nathan gasped. "Ehr.. No. We just have automatic doors.." He showed the four inside. "I have spoken to your father, Ansoni. He shared me some details, you will have to share the rest along the way to the archives." He seemed to already know where they wanted to go at least. "We are just looking for a certain individual, and he may have been a part of this college once." Ansoni explained to him. "Ah yes that is certainly possible. Us psychics have a certain feel for each other you see." Lionel began his own explanation as he escorted them through various hallways. "There are few latent or active psychics we have not yet discovered, and if this 'YQ' person is one of them, he may have been enrolled here in the past." To their left and right were several classrooms where students were either given lectures or engaged in physical training. "Guess Psyche was not the standard." Urizen thought as he saw none of them wearing Psyche's gaudy getup.

"Wait, you teach dueling here too?" Nathan caught eye of a training area for games and tricks, where they even had dueldisk equipment. "Oh, one of the special courses here teaches in visualization techniques. Using energy from the mind to make mere illusion reality. The virtual style of that game is perfect for that kind of training, though few have mastered it." This sounded important too, if it truly was a special course. "Then Yale could have learned that trick here?" Though hollowing out minds was a course one could probably not take here. "Actually, I want to see this." Ashworth said as he stopped moving. "I will catch up with you guys later!" And he entered the room. "Can he do that?" Ansoni quickly asked. "It could be educational for him, so why not. A duelist is still a duelist." Lionel did not seem to mind. "Heya!" Thus Nate was free to storm into the area. ""It's him!" And immediately he was approached by several students. "Oh? You predicted I would come here?" They did not look surprised. "No.."

"...but we know who you are. Nathan, the northern champion right?" One girl said excitedly. "Oh? Ohh! Yeah you guessed right. I suppose duelists would know about me?" His duel against Kein had been all over the tube at least. "Yeah, we would. It's just inspiring to see a duelist win so many times, while he can say he did it on his own." One grey and curly haired kid shook his hand. "Hi. I am Siren, the student council representative of the dueling program." Nate nodded. "Sounds good. The more duelists the merrier. So... how does it work anyway?" He gazed around, seeing all kinds of tools. "I mean, besides making things real, what else can you do? Read minds, predict opponents moves?" He had so many questions. "Well, this training is vary varied, and duels are a way for us to unlock our potential. Say.." Siren got a mischievous smile on his face. "Maybe I can demonstrate?" He picked up his dueldisk. "Oh? A duel against a psychic? Well I'd rather just watch. My last duel did not go so great." He recalled being inside a whale's stomach, a not so fun memory. "But something tells me I should not pass this chance up. And as they say, that is in the past." He took one of the disks lying on the floor. "Okay, you are on Siren!" The two drew their cards. "Duel!"

Nathans LP: 8000 Sirens LP: 8000

"I hope you will go easy on me. We are trained as psychics first and duelists second." Siren placed a monster facedown and ended his turn. "In fact only one of us has ever made it to a tournament, and we have not see him in a while." The turn passed to Nathan. "Oh I think I know the guy. Well do not worry, nothing is at stake here." He started off by special summoning a monster from his hand. "Watch this, when you control a monster and I do not, I can call out Junk Forward!" He called a level 3 jet powered android(900/1500). "And then I normal summon a tuner monster: Drill Synchron!" A level 3 drill tank(800/300) appeared as well. "Oh, you are going to synchro summon?" He had the right materials now. "You bet! I call out Drill Warrior!" The two were united as one, forming a drill wielding fighter(2400/2000). "His drill runs through your facedown!" Drill Warrior destroyed Sirens defending Doctor Cranium(100/100). "Impressive, a first turn synchro." When Cranium died, he could take out a Psychic monster from his deck, at a small cost.

Sirens LP: 7200

"Psychic monsters?" Now Nate knew Sirens theme. "A bit on the nose, I confess." He placed Serene Psychic Witch in his hand. "That's okay. I like Psychics. Anyway let me show you my monsters effect." Ash discarded Junk Synchron from his hand, and suddenly Drill Warrior vanished. "Huh, where did he go?" One other student flinched. "That is his effect, numbskull." Another groaned. "Aye, when I discard a card, I can banish Drill Warrior for 1 turn. When it returns I can retake a monster from the cemetery." He ended his turn. "Ah. One of your famous six warriors. But I am afraid I have to hold back a while longer." Siren placed a monster down again. "I don't mind." Then in Nate's turn, Drill Warrior reappeared and let his master retake Drill Synchron from the cemetery. "I resummon my tuner. And use its effect as well." Nate entered the battle phase. "Once a turn, Drill Synchron can make a warrior do piercing damage and I can draw a card when I inflict that damage!" Drill Warrior let its drills rotate and tore it through Sirens second shield monster, the Psychic Witch(1400/1200). "Feel like I should be quoting something right now..but I forgot. Oh well." He drew a card and let Drill Synchron unleashed a direct attack on the opponent. "Hope this is not too rough yet."

Sirens LP: 5200

"I am fine. I have not done anything yet." He activated the effect of his witch. "When she dies, I can banish a psychic in my deck. And when my turn begins, I can summon her." He banished a level 2 tuner monster and during his standby phase a little girl(500/300) with a wand appeared. "Esper Girl! When she is summoned from the other dimension, I can banish the card on top of my deck." The girl removed a card and held it face-down. "Then I normal summon the Psi-beast." A psychic dog(700/500) took solid form. "It can banish a psychic in my deck and mimic its level!" The beast removed a level 4 Silent Psychic Wizard, so its own level was doubled. "And then I activate Emergency Teleport!" He played a spell that called a level 3 or lower psychic from the deck. "Hushed Psychic Cleric." A blind priestlike psychic was the third monster. "He will discard one card from my hand to banish another dead psychic." Siren discarded a Space Time Police monster and removed it from play afterwards. "Oh? I think I can see where this is going."

Nate knew psychics had synchro monsters as well. "No need to reject your prediction then!" Siren combined the level 4 beast with the level 3 Cleric and the level 2 Esper Tuner. "Synchro monster: Overmind Archfiend!" These were the three materials needed to bring out the white armored winged demon(3300/3000). "Once a turn Overmind can banish a psychic in the cemetery." Siren removed the Serene Psychic Witch. "And that is just for starters. Because when the Hushed Cleric is removed from the field, the monster he banished is released from the other dimension!" From a rift in time space came the Spacetime Police officer(2500/1500) himself. "When he hits the field, he can hold a monster prisoner by banishing him!" The Officer swung his baton around, creating a bubble that sent Drill Synchron off into space. "And since Esper Girl left, I add the banished card back to my hand." He took the set card. "Now I will test my powers of visualization on you, though I will be gentle." The two psychics struck, bombarding Ashworth and Drill Warrior with invisible energy, with visible force. "Guh." The second blow sent him staggering, nearly knocking him down. "You went too far Siren!" One girl shrieked. "Lionel will not like this." Another complained.

Nathans LP: 4600

"Oh..ehr sorry Nate, I do not know my own power." Siren laughed nerovusly. "Its okay. After what I have gone through, an attack like that feels refreshing really." Nate drew a card. "Or rather, you probably already know what I went through. Can you read minds?" He summoned a Turbo Synchron(100/500) to the field. "That's a different course." He replied. "Oh. Not your talent huh. How about brainwashing?" He inquired, but Siren shook his head again. "That's a forbidden art actually." The students were not allowed to do much outside their classes anyway. "It is? Well then I guess I am breaking a rule here." He activated the spell Mind Control, taking control of Spacetime Police. "Touché" The officer went over to Ash's side. "Synchro summon." Since it was a level 5 card, he could tune it together with the Turbo tuner to form Turbo Warrior(2500/1500), at the same time Drill Synchron was relased from the police's prison and set on the field in face-down position. "I attack Overmind!" And Turbo Warriors effect halved the attackpower of Overmind(1650/3000), before it went in for the kill. "Past Image!" However the fist of Turbo Warrior phased through the archfiend. "A monster attacking a psychic is banished for a whole turn!" Turbo Warrior became invisible. "You got me there.." Nate smiled.

"Can I ask you a question by the way?" Siren said as Nate placed a trap of his own down. "Shoot." He was done with his turn. "You said you had worse? How, I wonder." He shuddered to think what Nate could have seen. "Oh strange story, It was actually some god or something, really weird stuff. Me and my friends came here to look for a psychic who may have worked here." However as he said that, the expression on Sirens face suddenly changed. "God?" His blue eyes became even paler, if that were possible. "Ehr yes?" Nathan did not have a good feeling about the way he said that. "Then you are here..for her brother.."

The others were at the archives. "Here.." Ansoni then took out a picture, which showed a profile of Yale. "Ah this is the lad? I have to admit I can not place him in my mind, but then I have only been acting principal of this institute for the last four years." Lionel explained as he started browsing through old records. "Don't you have anything on computers?" Urizen sighed, it would take a while at this rate. "These date back to the creation of this establishment, we can find everything in these." He continued and Ansoni assisted. "I have a question." When suddenly Ramirez spoke up. "Do you know.. why some people are this way?" It was the first time she spoke since they left, and she basically said what everyone else wanted to say. "That is a difficult puzzle to solve, actually. I do not know where our talents came from, we just discovered them on our own one day. People do not believe in us, so we keep to ourselves for the most part. Visualization, confusing the eyes, mixing or hollowing out spirits. These are all things we can do, but should not. I can not imagine a past student of mine doing the things you say he did. Although.."

"There were those two children from before my time.."

(To be Continued in Mark 042: Screams without Sound)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Junk Forward<br>Drill Synchron  
>Drill Warrior<p>

**Cards used by Siren**  
>Doctor Cranium<br>Serene Psychic Witch  
>Esper Girl<br>Psi-Beast  
>Hushed Psychic Cleric<br>Overmind Archfiend  
>Space-Time Police<p>

-  
>Emergency Teleport<p>

-  
>Past image<p> 


	42. 042: Screams without Sound

**Mark 042: Screams without Sound**

Nathans LP: 4600 Sirens LP: 5200

"Brother?" Siren spoke as if he knew more than he let on. "Siren, what are you talking about?" More than the other duelist students at least. "He is one of them, one that comes for him." The class rep summoned a new Psychic, the Silent Wizard(1900/0). "You know Yale?" Nathan did not know if that as good or bad news. "I can not tell you." When the wizard was normal summoned, he could banish Hushed Psychic Cleric in his cemetery. At the same time, Overmind(3300/3000) banished the Spacetime Police. "I can not let you know anything!" Then he struck, Overmind sent a mental burst at Turbo Warrior(2500/1500) as it returned to the field once Past Image no longer affected it. "Don't know what came over you, but I am not going down just yet!" Ashworth flipped his trap. "Barrier Wave, I sacrifice a synchro monster to switch all your monsters positions." Turbo Warrior disappeared again, and the two psychics went to defense. "And you take damage equal to the attacking monsters defense!" That meant 3000 points of damage.

Sirens LP: 2200

"Calm down guy, I wont force you to tell me if you do not want too." Nate said as Siren placed two trap cards before ending his turn. "She will not want that, I can not let you." The look in Sirens eyes had changed, the tone of his voice too. "This seems awfully familiar." The duelist sighed as he drew a card. "Please don't tell me you are possessed or anything." He asked as he flipped his set Drill Synchron(800/300) back face-up. He also summoned the Dash Warrior(600/1200) to the field. "You can not know." He just repeated what he said last turn. "Well in that case, guess I have to beat you." He sent Dash Warrior forwards, powering it up with its own effect and giving it(1800/1200) piercing power with Drill Synchrons effect. "I pierce your wizard!" He could do little about Overminds massive defense, so he had to run through the Silent one. "Since I caused damage, drill synchron lets me draw a card!" However when the Wizard died, the monster he banished would be special summoned. The Hushed Psychic Cleric(0/2100) re-appeared.

Sirens LP: 400

"So close, too close." Siren droned on and on. "Okay, this is getting bizarre. Can anyone tell me if this is..normal?" Nate turned to his fellow students. "Oh no.." Yet they all had the same vacant expression now. "She can not let you know." It was like a disease of the mind. "I really must have said something wrong." He sighed and ended his turn. "Trap cards: Psychic Trigger and Bright Future." Siren then played two traps. the first banished two psychics in his grave to let him draw two cards. The second let him unbanish those same two psychics to give him another card to draw. "Uh oh." Then the Psychic Cleric discarded a card from Sirens hand again, and banished a Mental Seeker in his graveyard. And Overmind uses his power to banish the Esper Girl. "We can not let anyone know." Overmind than fired another kinetic burst, and sent Dash Warrior crashing into the wall. "Wait, anyone?" And Nate was now concerned for his friends, especially when he saw the zoned out students shuffling out of the hall. "Hey, where are you going!"

Nathans LP: 1900

"That child? One of your students turned bad?" Urizen heard what Lionel said and was interested. "I never saw her myself, and records are vague." Lionel stopped searching through the files. "There was a family, a rich family, that wished for their children to receive tutelage here. They had much potential, a son and daughter. However.." He took a deep breath, he had to tell them this. "The two lacked selfrestraint. All I know is that for one reason or the other, it did not work out for the two here. Their parents had hoped for them to master their skills, but it appeared we could not help them." He shook his head, he was glad he had not been there at the time. "What was the name of this family?" Ansoni felt this story could fit Yale's profile. "The file should be in here, there may even be photographs." He rummaged through. "It's warm." But Ramirez interrupted the discussion with a warning. "What?" They felt it too now, a rise in temperature. "What is going on?" Urizen opened the door. "Fire?" And saw flames outside. "The place is on fire!"

"What have you done?" Nathan asked as he saw the flames too now, the student duelists had gone off to light the whole building up. "She want's this, she wants all the past here to be purged." Siren explained with eerie monotone before he placed another two trap cards down. "Nuts to this, we gotta get out of.." Nathan wanted to call of the duel. "No. You will finish this." But Overmind casted a barrier around the two to seal them inside. "Gah, come on!" He could not get through. "Fine, if that is how I have to duel.. again." He drew a card and summoned Tuningware(100/300), using its effect to raise its level to 2. "Qucikdraw Synchron!" Then by discarding a card from his hand, he could special summon the level 5 cowboy tuner. "Quickdraw can be used as a substitute for any 'Synchron' fusion." Quickdraw loaded his gun with a red bullet. "It becomes Nitro Synchron, and I tune the two!" He synchro summoned the explosive Nitro Warrior(2800/1800) from the extra deck. Drawing 1 more card since Tuningware was used as a synchro material.

"Brain Hazard." However a trap took care of that. "A banished psychic returns." The trap opened time-space and let out the Police officer(2500/1500). "Dang." And since it was special summoned this way, it could imprison Nitro Warrior in another dimension. "I set two cards." He was so close to ending the duel, and yet so far. "Draw." And soon even further. "Overmind." The synchro monster banished the Silent Wizard this time. And now the dimension was filled enough. "Psychic Soul." Siren revealed his other trap. "A psychic is sacrificed, and his levels will restore life." The Archfiend burst open, releasing restorative energy, 300 lifepoints for each of his 9 level stars. "And when it abandons the field, all those it banished are freed." Three monster zones were open, so Siren could unbanish the Silent Wizard(1900/0), the Serene Witch(1400/1200) and the Esper Girl(500/300). The latter used her effect to remove the top card of Sirens deck from play. "Oh this is so not good." He knew what was coming. "You will burn with me."

Sirens LP: 3100

"What's the big idea?" Urizen grabbed one of the students that had set fire to the place. "It is not his doing." But Lionel intervened. "This kid was conditioned to do this, a deep suggestion implanted in his mind." He snapped his fingers in front of the kids eyes. The student did not even blink. "We have to get everyone out of here!" Ansoni shouted as he noticed structures started to crumble. "I have already sent out orders to all teachers to evacuate the children, even the ones that have been affected with this mind-seed." Lionel caught eye of the dueldisk around the boy's arm. "He's from the dueling course. The source must be there!"

"Future Glow." Siren activated a permanent spell. "I banish a psychic to empower all others." He intended to remove Overmind, which would add 1800 attackpoints to all Psychics on the field. "I do not think so!" But Ash activated Imperial Iron Wall. "From now on, no cards can be banished!" This was a good counter to his playstyle. "PsychoKinesis." Or at least it would have been, if Siren did not just activate a spell card which destroyed the Iron Wall at the cost of 1000 LP. _"At least I prevented that Future Glow boost." _Siren continued, using the Cleric to discard and banish another card. "Secondary Overmind Archfiend!" Then he the level 2 Esper Girl with the level 3 Cleric and level 4 Wizard, forming a second Archfiend(3300/3000). The Cleric and Girl had their effects triggered when they left the field. "Mental Seeker." Clerics first target was revived, a level 2 cybernetic tuner kid(800/600). And he also added Esper Girls banished card to his hand. "When Mental seeker returns from another dimension, one of three cards on top of your deck is removed." Siren checked the top of Nate's deck. Of the three cards (Doppel Warrior, Synchro Deflector and Reinforcement of the Army), the third was removed and the rest returned to the deck. "Great.."

Sirens LP: 2100

"Psychic Nightmare." And he performed another synchro summon, Mental Seeker and the level 4 Witch were materials for another winged psychic demon(2400/1800). "She sees everything, I see everything." This one could select a random card in a players hand and guess what it was. "She sees your monster." Nate had only one card, a Junk Defender. Because he guessed correctly, the Nightmare(3400/1800) gained attackpoints until Sirens next turn. "She sees your fate. You shall die." And at last he entered the battle phase, sending his three Psychics out. "I know I am going to die." Spacetime Police destroyed his defending Drill Synchron. "But I prefer to do it in a nice bed, when I am old and tired!" Overmind's attack he blocked by special summoning Junk Defender(800/2100) from his hand. When he faced direct attacks, he could let that monster take the hit for him. "So whoever this she is, she will have to wait!" And finally he played his trap card Spirit Force, which negated the damage he would have taken from the Nightmare's attack.

"She sees all, all the time, all the space." In his second main phase he let the new Archpsychic banish the old one from the cemetery. "You can not fight it, we can not.." Sirens voice started to crack even more as he placed a trap card down. "That is nice for her. But I think I have a shot." Spirit Force had a second effect as well, the trap sent a warrior tuner monster back to his hand. "Especially with this monster." He took back Junk Synchron. "Nate!" Just then Ansoni and company arrived at the scene. "You have to get out of there, the place is falling apart!" The champion shouted at him over the roaring flames. "Do you think I don't know that? I am kinda stuck here!" Lionel gasped. "A psychic duel?" He closed his eyes and seemed to focus on Siren. "Yes. Yes I see it." He pointed at the kid. "The source of the mental contamination lies within him. Your friend must have awoken it with a few wrong trigger words." Basically he believed Siren had been a sleeper agent all along. "But it takes tremendous skill to do so.." The principal knew no students of his that could pull this off. "Suppose that simplifies matters. If I knock him down, the minds of others should be cured as well. So let's end this." Nathan summoned the Junk Synchron(1300/500).

"He revives Tuningware." The tuning support monster(300/100) was brought back "Now I play Machine Duplication." With a spell he tripled the number of Tuningwares(100/300) "They can use their effects." He raised their level to 2. "I synchro summon Junk Destroyer!" The level 1 and level 2 machines combined with the level 3 synchron to form a level 8 four-armed four-winged fighter(2600/2500). "The number of non-tuner materials used for his summon, that is how much it can destroy!" Junk Destroyer fired three beams of energy, representing the three Tuningwares. "I wipe out your field!" The Archfiend and Police psychic were destroyed, which placed Nitro Warrior back on the field in face-down defense mode. However the Psychic Nightmare evaded the destruction beam. "Time Escaper!" Siren could discard this psychic from his hand, to let it banish a psychic on his field for one turn. "Time will not be denied, time can not lie to her!" And since Overmind number two was killed, Overmind number one(3300/3000) came back in attack mode.

"Well whatever time has in store for me, I will deal with it as it comes." Because three Tuningwares had been used for a synchro summon, he could draw three cards. "Synchro Magnet." And when a synchro summon was done without difficulties, a player could summon the magnet tuner(1000/600) from his hand. "I also summon Boost Warrior." Since he controlled a tuner now, the boosting fighter was special summonable as well. "And I use them as materials for Armory Arm!" He combined the level 3 tuner with the level 1 warrior, and formed the level 4 mechanical gauntlet(1800/1200). "I am ready for the last round." Armory Arm was equipped to Junk Destroyer, which raised its(3600/2500) power. "I attack!" The destroyer launched a blast shaped like a claw at Overmind. "ESP Amplifier!" Siren countered with a quickplay spell, which gave the archfiend 300 attackpoints for all psychics Siren had banished so far. (Archfiend: 3900/2500). "I am afraid you were blind to one thing, Siren." However Nate activated a quickplay spell from his hand as well, Battle Tuned. "!" He could remove a tuner, Synchro Magnet, from his cemetery to boost Destroyer(4600/2500) even more. "No. No you can not!" And despite Sirens cries, Overmind Archfiend was destroyed.

Sirens LP: 0

Because of Armory Arm, Siren lost lifepoints equal to the archfiends attackpoints. "I.. I failed you." He moaned before he fumbled to the ground, the psychic energies faded as well. "Good, now get him!" The structure started to rumble and creak. "No need to tell me twice." Nathan picked up the unconscious classrep and ran out of the training room. A few minutes later and everyone was outside, watching as the building went up in flames. "I can not believe it. All those decades, lost on a whim." Lionel was horrified. "How did we not see this coming?" One teacher sobbed. "I guess the trail has gone cold now." Urizen grumbled. Whoever wanted to cover his tracks did a good job, if not an extreme one. "Not cold." However Ramirez held up a file in her hands. "What, you..found it?" And she had saved it from the pyre as well it seemed. "Yes. And." She opened it, showing off a report about a student named 'Jason Castle'. "Is that him?" Lionel looked at the others for signs of recognition. And Urizen smirked. "Yeah..no doubt about it. Jason is Yale.."

Elsewhere, at a stately home located somewhere in the country, a father was administering some discipline. "Ow! Was that necessary, father?" Jason rubbed his cheek. "Jason you used your powers in public, your error jeopardized everything." Malcean retracted his hand. "Even if they do visit the school with the knowledge of my powers, the seed she left behind should take care of that problem, right?" The son fumed. "Possibly. But we need.. more drastic measures." Just then the phone rang on his desk. "Yes.. The war is coming home."

(To be Continued in Mark 043: The Heir of Divinity)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Quickdraw Synchron<br>Nitro Warrior  
>Junk Destroyer<br>Synchro Magnet

-  
>Machine Duplication<p>

-  
>Barrier Wave<br>Spirit Force

**New Cards used by Siren**  
>Silent Psychic Wizard<br>Mental Seeker  
>Psychic Nightmare<br>Time Escaper

-  
>Future Glow<br>Psychokinesis  
>ESP Amplifier<p>

-  
>Psychic Trigger<br>Bright Future  
>Brain Hazard<br>Psychic Soul


	43. 043: The Heir of Divinity

**Mark 043: The Heir of Divinity**

Local firefighters had put the fire under control, but the damage had already been done. Dresden institute would never be the same after all of this. "We will reimburse you for your losses." Ansoni told Lionel. "No need, we have our own funds. And you have greater concerns." He looked at the file Ramirez had saved from the flames. "The Castle household, a prominent family indeed. It should not be hard to locate them." Even though the picture was six years old, Jason Castle looked too much like Yale Quincy for it to be a coincidence anymore. "There is no file on his sister though, my predecessor must have gotten rid of it." Why he would do that, he did not know. "Who cares about her anyway." Urizen wanted Yale and nobody else. "I will send one of my teachers with you, to assist you. You can use the help if you face psychics on the other team." Hearing this, the now mindcontrol-free Siren rose up. 'Please let me come with them sir, I owe them that much!" He felt guilty about starting the chaos. "Your specialty will not do, Siren. They need someone skilled at telepathy. And we do not know if all mind seeds are gone." Lionel responded matter-of-faculty. "It's okay. We do not blame ya." Nathan smiled. "We will get the ones responsible for this crazyness."

Back at R-Tech headquarters, which no longer faced the threat of collapse thanks to some quick repairs, Sarah had been brought to the medical area and had some blood extracted. "That was not so bad." She rubbed her arm. "For you maybe. But I do not want a needle anywhere near me." Xavier said, shivering just by being here. "We do not need your DNA, so you should be safe." One scientist explained and placed the sample away. "With another signers blood we can make more protective charms, the talismans can thus fool the earthbounds magic into thinking they are dealing with a marked one. This will prevent you and anything you carry from losing power when a blackout occurs as well." It was like you had a little piece of god with you at all times. "Can they have one?" Sarah pointed at Ada and Xavier. "I do not see why not. But be aware that the talisman draws power directly from you, one signer can only empower ten at a time. Either way the first set should be done soon." And either way it was good enough news. "Hear that? Now you can be safe even if I lose you two again somehow." She grinned at the two.

A while later, Ansoni and company had returned to the tower, with a new companion. "Greetings. I am master Alphonse Lewitt. Teacher of thought patterns and mental activity." The man introduced himself to the duelists and the Ace of Spades. "A mindreader huh?" Kein was not sure if he liked that. "Do not worry, I will refrain from entering your minds. I am merely here to help track down and if need be restrain the one you are looking after." His gaze passed over the others, stopping for a moment on Xavier. "It is nice to meet you all." He nodded and then left the room, followed by Kein. "What was he looking at you for?" Ada blinked, while Xavier just shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he saw some hidden potential in me? I mean with a name like mine, I would make an awesome psychic, don't you think?" He laughed. "I don't know. Maybe he saw something in your future." Sarah felt this was more of a bad omen than a good omen. "But his specialty is mindreading, right? Not foresight." He was not too worried. "Anyway let's go hear what they found out."

They entered the command room as well, still in repair. "We found a lead, and we have already made contact." Since the screens were shattered, Ansoni had to resort to a putting printed out images on the wall. "This is where Jason Castle, the one you knew as Yale, used to live." The first was a cover image of a large countryhouse. "Castle estate, owned by the wealthy Lord Malcean Castle. He earned most of what he has from energy resources and land property." Two shots of him and his apparent son were clipped on. "He is Jasons father, and we spoke with him on the way back. He told us that he had no idea his son had been involved in the incident at North capitol. He had not seen him in years." Urizen sneered as he heard that. "Ha. And you believe that?" This started to sound like another dead end. "I can not say. Nevertheless we will send go over there to investigate. There may still be clues. I think it is best for me to come along. If Jason somehow made a deal with the earthbound, they will know about the place as well."

"Does that mean I can come?" Sarah raised her hand and pleaded excitedly. "Well, it is dangerous." Ansoni thought it better for her to stay at a distance. "It does not matter where I stay, does it? They will come after me, and I think it is better to take the fight to them." She insisted, and Ansoni gave up. "Very well. But you will stay close with me." She perked right up. "Yay! Wait, can they come too?" She looked at Xavier and Ada. "What? Out of the question!" Kein protested immediately. "We are responsible for them too, we can not okay this Ansoni!" He yelled at the champion. 'Hey, we can fight too! A duelist is what you need, right?" Xavier shouted back. "People, calm down. I am afraid I have to agree with Kein here. You do not need to put your lives on the line." Ansoni said. "That is our own choice, isn't it?" Ada snapped back. "After everything I have seen, I can not just turn my back on it and shrug it off. We can help too!" Kein shook his head. "You need a talisman to even be on our level. And we can not.." But before he could finish his sentence, Xavier flashed a talisman. "We already have them." They were the ones made from Sarah's blood. "Hmph. I say let them do it. It can not hurt." Urizen said calmly. "Or don't. Just make a decision already."

"Okay. But you two will not leave my sight." Ansoni groaned, he could just not say no. "Feh. It's not on my head." Kein turned away. "I will stay. In case a god arises, or if new information is brought to light, I can mobilize a party better from here." He then directed his finger at Ramirez. "You better stick around too. I have heard about the voices in your head, those may come in handy." Ramirez simply nodded. "That sounds about right." Urizen leaned against the wall. "If you ask me, this is a wild goose chase, I can sit this one out." He had little faith in this mission. "Yeah, that makes sense, I need some rest." Nathan yawned and lied down. "If that is what you wish. Everyone else may come with me.." Ansoni beckoned them and a few troops he could take along. This left the four of them to watch over the city. "Wait, where did Macbeth go anyway?" Nathan did not see him around anywhere. "He is still with Richard, the doctors say he has less then a day to live." Kein said with a pained expression. "Oh... Yeah." This would be an awkward wait.

"Where is this house of his anyway?" Ada inquired as the others reached the rooftop. "Not as far off as the school was. Closer to the south border, we should be there in half an hour if we take the helicopter." And so they were off, headed straight for Castle's stately home. Which turned out to be.. a castle. "Huh, what are the odds." Rather it was an old castle given new purpose as a country house for the Castle family. "Okay. Miss Rain, Ali and Wolfram, stay with me and the guards. I do not expect trouble from this man, but we better be safe." They were soon welcomed inside, brought to the lords office by his butler.

".." Malcean sat in his lofty chair, observing the unusual gathering before him, four duelists, two troopers and a psychic teacher. "We are honored that you would receive us, sir Castle." Alphonse bowed. "As you would be." He replied formally. "But please, sit down. My estate is your estate." His butler showed them to seats as well. 'though do not take that too literally." He glared at Sarah as she edged closer to a suit of armor to her left, which was just begging for her to touch it. "Oh, whoops. Sorry." She drew back and sat down quickly. "Now, I will tell you everything that I know. You have already told me what you know." He coughed and began. "Both my children were born with special talents. However after the less than desirable results with the dresden organization... No offense, sir Lewitt." He added to the teacher. "None taken, milord." He said with a calm tone. ".. an unrest grew within the boy. He felt his skills were not given the attention they deserved, the family was holding him back. One day he just left us.."

"I have not seen my son since some time, four years and two months to be exact. He sent neither word nor letter my way since his departure." He forwarded a file across the table. "But I think I know where he could be headed. For many years he spoke about a place where he could properly train his psychic potential." Ansoni took it. "Wait, this is." It was a flyer, atop the paper was an infinity symbol with eyes in both loops. "The Infinati?" The champion recognized that emblem. "Infinati? You mean that weird cult that worships the 21st century?" Ada and Xavier had heard of them too. "But they are just a bunch of nutcases, they believe in the end of the world and what not." Ada in particular never took them seriously. "Wait. Infinity." Ansoni however recalled Macbeths report of their duel with Lincoln. "Lincoln, he used a monster with that kind of theme. Emperor Wisel Infinity." Now that sounded like a connection. "Who is this Lincoln?" Malcean asked them. "Another man we are after. If this flyer was in your sons possession all those years ago, they could be allies now.."

"Infinati. Hmm. Regardless, I have left his old room in the same state. Perhaps you can find some information hidden within." He gestured at his butler. "Morgan here will escort you there." The butler opened the doors for them. "Oh one more question. Your daughter, she was a student at our school too. What was her name again?" Alphonse asked as he looked Malcean right in the eye. "Callisto. She is currently in her room, resting. The hour is late so I hope there is no need to disturb her." He smiled politely. "No, none at all." He bowed again and went along with the others. "...well?" Ansoni then whispered his curiosity to the teacher so the butler could not overhear them as they walked on. "I sensed no lies, but he is a hard man to read. I can not exclude the possibility of interference." Though he was certain Malcean himself was not a psychic. "We have to be careful around Callisto too." Ansoni added. "From the way Siren spoke, it sounded like she was the one who made him into a sleeper agent. But I do not know if that was her idea or her brothers.."

While they walked off, malcean remained in his office. _"Are you quite certain about this?"_ Here a voice reached out to him mentally._ "Even if they find nothing here, you just gave them knowledge about the Infinati."_ Jason, hidden somewhere in the castle, spoke to his father. _"It will be alright Jason, i am expecting more company soon. Those two parties will take care of themselves." _He only had to think his responses, and nobody would be any wiser. _"And if that fails, we can always let your sister take care of things."_ He smirked._ "I would rather not, she is unstable as it is. We can not control her."_

"If that is all." The Butler showed them the room and left the seven to their devices. "Not a very talkative fellow." Xavier said. "In fact this whole place is kinda quiet, its creepy." They had not seen any other servants since they got here. "Whatever. Let's just search the place." Jasons old room was what you'd expect in a fancy etablishment like this. His bed alone was enough to fit five people. "He was not kidding about leaving it alone." Ada saw portraits on the wall, dusty chairs in every corner and a lightless chandelier. "The closet would be a good place to start." Even his closet was oversized, as Sarah could see when she walked in and out of it. "Suppose it would be wrong to try out some of these clothes." She took a ornamental robe from the rack. "Eh?" When something fell out of the robe's pocket. "What is?" One of the guards picked it up. It turned out to be a pack of cards. "Guess he was a duelist. Makes sense if he learned how to visualize." However ansoni knew it was not much of a clue. "Come on, we have too.."

But the guard seemed to think otherwise. "Soldier?" He did not let it go. "No!" Instead he let out a cry and pushed Ansoni and Xavier aside, stealing a dueldisk from the latter. "Hey, what are you doing!" The other guard shouted. "You found me, now play." He then pushed a button underneath a deck, and suddenly the door slammed shut behind him. "A trap?" Ada could not believe it, but apparently Jason had made some modifications to his room. "I can sense interference, this man is possessed." Alphonse clarified. "Then that card pack must have been a trigger? Is that even possible?" It sounded like Jason had mentally boobytrapped his own possessions. "It seems so. I can not undo this as he is now. One of you will have to weaken his spirit." Ansoni put up his dueldisk. "Then we will have to play along and win. Though it is strange that this home has a connection to the dueling network too." He inserted his deck and activated the disk. The possessed trooper did the same with Xaviers disk, inserting the mind-trap rigged stack.

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Troopers LP: 8000

"You will not leave this room! My turn." The soldier placed three trap cards down. "Your turn." Ansoni in turn drew and activated Pot of Duality. "I pick up three cards from my deck and pick one to add to my hand!" Of the three he drew, he added Core Transport Unit. "Droll & Lock Bird." But his opponent discarded a spellcaster from his hand, whch prevented him from adding any more cards to his hand this turn. "Hmm, that makes my spell useless." Instead he summoned Koa'ki Meiru Wall(1900/1200) and directly attacked the opponent with it. "Begone Knave." However he just responded with a permanent trap that returned damage-inflicting monsters back to their master hand. "So that is why he did not summon a monster." He went to main phase 2 and was about to play a spell. "Anti-Magic Fragrance." But the enemy's second trap sealed spells in his hand. "Then I wil set them first." Ansoni placed two cards down. "Xing Zhen Hu." However the third permanent trap turned out to be one that sealed two cards on the field. "Ggh." Ansoni was out of options, he had to end the turn.

Troopers LP: 6100

"Something bad is coming." And the opponent wasted no time summoning his key card. "Jester Lord." Out came a thin jester(5000/0). "What?" It was the spellcaster that gained 1000 attackpoints for each spell and trap on the field, when no other monsters existed. There were five already. "Mage Power." And to make things worse, he added a sixth card to the field. And Mage Power gave Jester Lord(8000/0) an additional 500 attackpoints for all four traps and spells he controlled. "This is ridiculous!" Ada protested as the jester finished off the champion in one blow. "You trespassed and broke the rules, the children do not like you anymore. So you will be be punished.."

Ansoni's LP: 0

(To be Continued in Mark 044: Who's Laughing Now?)

**New Cards used by Ansoni**  
>Pot of Duality<p>

**Cards used by Possessed Trooper**  
>Droll &amp; Lock Bird<br>Jester Lord

-  
>Mage Power<p>

-  
>Begone Knave<br>Anti-Spell Fragrance  
>Xing Zhen Hu<p> 


	44. 044: Who's Laughing Now?

**Mark 044: Who's Laughing now?**

"Still nothing?" Urizen asked Ramirez, he was still waiting for her to get another helping of divine voices through her head. "No." She shook her head. "Tsk. And no red alerts anywhere in the country right?" he then asked Kein who oversaw all regions with the satellite cameras. "No. It seems they really are content with.. sir Gaunt. But from what he told us, we know they can not absorb his mark without surfacing again." Though what he did not know was how much time they had to get to them, or where they would even arise. "And meanwhile Ansoni is having dinner with that Malcean guy or something. Feh, I hope that trip brings up something. And if not, I hope he will feel like a fool for visiting all those dead ends."

Ansoni's LP: 0

"This can not be.." Ansoni had just lost the duel, in record time. "I never thought.. anyone would use.. that card." He knew about Jester Lord, but it had never seen much play in tournaments. "I.." And just like that he fainted. "Oye!" Xavier rushed over to him. "Now is not the time to pass out!" He shook him, but there was no response. "It is no use. The one that set up this mental trap has gone as far as to extend its influence over others." Alphonse explained. "It's like telling the brain to go to sleep. He wants to do this to us one by one." And it did not look like the Butler cared enough to open the door from the other side.

"Yeah but he has my disk. And I do not suppose you duel?" Ali asked, but Alphonse shook his head. They were already down to just two options. "Like we will play this game." The other guard took out his communicators, but got no response from it. "Damn. This place is like a Panic room, we need to get out." He instead took out his gun. "Open the doors, or else!" Only his possessed comrade could click the button to unlock the door to Jasons room. "No guns in the house, sir!" He instead extended an open hand to him. "Ghua.." And he slumped down just like Ansoni. "Guess we have to follow the rules eh?" It looked like a duel was the only way to get passed him. "I will do it." Ada took over Ansoni's dueldisk. "Are you sure?" Sarah asked, since she was available as well. "Positive. I am a duelist too after all. And who knows how this guy responds to a Signer." She also took a deck out. "Wait. I never split our two decks back up." Xavier said, as he had mixed their back in Battle Garden. "This will do."

Ada's LP: 8000 Troopers LP: 8000

"One for One." The trooper took the first turn again. "Hmph, always want to set the battlefield first I see." Ada watched him play a spell card, one that discarded a card from his hand to special summon a level 1 monster from the deck. "Mystic Piper!" A flute player(0/0) was its choice. "Like the story of Hamelin goes, he lures out children with his song. Luring them to their end." His monster tributed itself, so that his master could pick up 1 card. "A weak one was drawn." He revealed Crystal seer, another level 1 monster. "Ah, when he draws a level 1 monster with that effect, he can draw again." Ada heard about that card, it too saw limited play. "And another is drawn." The Trooper drew again. He then placed the Seer face-down and three traps were set behind her. "So it is a level 1 deck. That alone is not going to scare me." She summoned a Lancer Lindwurm(1800/1200). "He who hesitates, can not win!" The lancer dragon pierced the facedown Crystal Seer(100/100). Inflicting 1700 piercing damage. However the attack triggered her flip effect.

Troopers LP: 6300

When she was flipped, he could take two cards from the top of his deck. "Kinka-byo and Mage Power." Both had to be revealed, and only one could be claimed. "I choose the monster." Mage Power went back to his deck. "And then Begone Knave! Never strike at others!" And at the same time he activated his permanent trap, returning Lindwurm to Ada's hand because it had inflicted battle damage. "Dang. I will set two cards." But she knew what could happen now. "No tricks, Xing Zhen Hu!" So she was not surprised when the second set card of his turned out be the jar that made both her cards inactive. "Oh no!" Xavier and Sarah were less prepared for this. "Oh yeah?" She placed another trap card on the field. "The first two were just bait! You fell for.." Yet this one was swallowed into a jar as well. "Huh?" The third trap was Replica of Xing Zhen Hu. "Oh come on!" This one could chain down one facedown card instead of two like its original counterpart. "Tsk. For a mindslave he has a fine intuition." She ended her turn, hoping he would not draw Jester Lord yet.

"Kinka-byo." But even if he did, he instead chose to summon a spirit monster, a black cat wraith(400/200). "And that one can revive a level 1 monster, when it is normal summoned." The spirit revived The Piper, who started his song again. "Which child is drawn this time?" He said cheerfully as he revealed the next card in his deck, Wonder Wand. "Yes! Not a level 1 monster!' Sarah pumped her fist. "Lucky I guess." Ada smiled as well. All her opponent could do now was to set a card and let Kinka-byo return to his hand, since it was a spirit type. "I draw! And I summon Twinheaded Behemoth!" The two-headed dragon(1500/1200) appeared, but did not attack the defenseless Trooper. "I end my turn. Any attack that can not end the duel is a waste." An attack would leave her own field wide open since Begone Knave was still in effect. "You learned the lesson, child." The trooper summoned the Magical Exemplar(1700/400). "Oh I know that one! It gains spellcounters and can revive spellcasters, right?" Sarah said loudly, wondering what he planned to do with it. "Wonder Wand." One spell was activated and equipped to the Magician, which empowered her(2200/400) and gave her 2 spellcounters. "I sacrifice 2 counters, to revive Mystic Piper!" 2 were more than enough for a level 1 monster.

The piper came back and was immediately sacrificed for its effect. "That story is getting old." This time he drew 2 cards, since the first was a level 1 Jester Confit. "Nonsense." He replied as he activated the second effect of Wonder Wand. "You are never too old for a good story." Exemplar and her Wand were tributed, and he could draw two more cards from his deck. "Jester Confit can be special summoned." He called out a heavier-set jester, the Jester walking on a ball(0/0). "And so can this." He then revealed Jester Lord in his hand, which he gained thanks to Wonder Wand. "Damn." "He also played a field spell, The Secret Village of Spellcasters." He played a field spell, now Ada could not activate her spell cards as long as a spellcaster was on his field. "Magical Dimension." And the final spell played was one that destroyed a spellcaster, to destroy another monster and bring a new spellcaster from the hand. "Mind your words." The trooper wagged his finger as the process was set in motion, Confit disappeared into a coffin and out came Jester Lord(0/0). The Behmoth meanwhile was killed in the act. "Now it is time for bed!" He was about to attack, but came to a realization. Jester Lord(0/0) was not gaining power from the 8 traps and spells on the field.

"You are not the boss of me!" Ada yelled at her, as she revealed her Phantom Dragon(2300/2200). "I can special summon this dragon card when you special summon a monster!" Because now there was another monster in the room, Jester Lord had been rendered powerless. "Alright Ada!" Xavier cheered for her. And those cheers grew louder when Twinheaded Behemoth(1000/1000) revived itself during the endphase. The opponent could only set one more trap and end his turn. "Double attack!" She sent out both her dragons, the Behemoth crushed the Jester while the Phantom dragon hit the enemy directly. "Keep your fairytales and slapstick to yourself." Begone Knave of course returned both those monsters to her hand. But since she had not normal summoned yet this turn, she could resummon Lancer Lindwurm. "And with no spellcasters on your field, I can play Double Cyclone!" She summoned two whirlwinds, one to destroy Xing Zhen Hu, the other to destroy her set card which had been chained down by the Replica of Xing Zhen Hu.

Troopers LP: 3000

"You are doing well. But that does not mean you deserve a treat yet." The trooper drew again. "I think that mindtrap is losing its marbles." Ali grumbled. And after that odd sentence, he resummoned Kinka-Byo, who revived the Piper one more time. "Because you just special summoned." She special summoned the Phantom Dragon from her hand again. "Oh I know." However the opponent activated Lightning Vortex. "What the?" Discarding a card was all he had to do, to smite both her dragons. And then he sacrificed the Piper. "Gah, I can not blame him for reusing such an effective strategy." However he drew a level 4 monster instead of a level 1 monster. "Oh a toy, nobody ever cleans them up." He flipped two more permanent trap cards, Tyrants Temper and Graceful Revival. "A loss and a gain!" Kinka-byo was sacrificed for the former, Jester Lord(7000/0) was resurrected by the latter. "Ah! Tyrants Temper will make his Jester immune to traps." Xavier cried out. "Yes but she should be safe right?" Sarah counted only seven traps and spells. "Your math is off dear."

But the trooper placed Toy Magician on the field, in the magic/trap zone. "What? Aw I forgot you could do that with Toy Magicians." And now there were 8 cards for Jester Lord(8000/0). "Now finish the story!" It bounced towards Ada. "I have read better books, whoever or whatever you are." But even though she could not use her set cards against Jester Lord, she could at least get rid of one. "Super Rejuvenation!" She flipped a quickplay spell, which was useless to her now since she had tributed or discarded no dragons this turn. However it being used up did weaken the Lord(7000/0), allowing her to endure the direct attack. "Huh." The Lord hit her, but it did not hurt her. "I half expected it to be a visualized hologram. Guess there are at least some limits to what the sleeper can do." because it had inflicted damage, Begone Knave sent the Jester back to the troopers hand. "Okay. So that means I have to do 3000 damage in the next turn, or I will lose?" Ada looked at her hand, she did not have much that could help her. "Wait."

Ada's LP: 1000

She started her turn and special summoned a muscular dragon(1000/2400) from her hand. "I can call the Vice Dragon, since I control no monsters and you do." In that case the dragons attackpoints were halved. "Oh, you can do a synchro summon now?" Xavier put Vice Dragon in the deck for exactly that occasion. "Not as such, no." But the only other monster in her hand was Twinheaded Behemoth(1500/1200), which she resummoned. "But I can do something else you never got the chance to do." She revealed her second 'bait' spell. "Dragonic Tactics! I sacrifice two dragons to call a dragon from my deck!" The Behemoth and Vicer were offered for a level 8 dragon. "Oh.. You mean!" From the depths of Xaviers old deck came a shining white entity with piercing blue eyes, the infamous Blue-Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500). "Blue-Eyes, direct attack!" And this normal monster had enough to finish off the troopers lifepoints with one burst. "Now, how..could you. Oh god..Oh god, make it stop. Help me!" He was down but not out. "Now! The control is fading!"

Troopers LP: 0

"Yes, I will free him.." Alphonse focused on the guard and a second later the man froze up. "Did it.." And after that he fell to the floor. "Yep." And with that, that madness was over. "Now what the heck was that all about?" With the behavior the trooper exhibited, they could at least rule out possession by earthbound gods, but this one sounded more like a housesitter gone mad than a sleeper agent who was trying to stop them. "Either way. I wonder what he was supposed to protect." Ada searched through the same robes that the pack of cards came out of. "Apparently, absolutely nothing!" Only to find nothing within. "Maybe he boobytrapped a lot of other stuff too. Or maybe the deck itself was important?" Sarah took it from the guards hand. "Sarah wait!" Xavier yelled, worried about the trap still. ".." The girl went quiet as soon as she grabbed it. "Oh no.." Yet when Xavier reached out to her, she suddenly jumped up. "Jesus! Don't do that!" He gasped, feeling his heart thumping. "Whoops, guess you scare easily."

"Looks like its a one-time thing." Sarah inspected the cards. "Hey, one of these looks different." She showed it to the others, it was a vanilla type card, except instead of a monster it had a picture of a woman on it, a nanny. "Whatever it means, that can wait. Mr. Helion and the guards aren't waking up yet." Alphonse moved for the hidden switch to open the doors. But it appeared someone on the other side had already done it for them. "What?" In the opening now stood a young girl with short red hair in a white gown. "Oh. It isn't brother this time either." She said with an almost disappointed tone as her eyes observed the duelists. "I know he is here, but never here." It did not take them long to realize who this was. "Oh hello you must be Callisto. My name is Alphonse Lewitt, I worked at your old school. Remember?" Alphonse extended a hand. "We're looking for your brother, maybe you can help us?" And the girl tilted her head and gave him a warm smile. "Sure! Callisto feels like a good girl today."

_"Well what now father?"_ Jason resumed his telepathic conversation, as he sensed what had gone in his room from the lower levels of the castle. _"I did not expect that to happen. But it distracted them long enough I hope?"_ The father replied. _"I see no reaction." _He was surrounded by maids and cooks, all slaving away at a dinner without a care in the world. _"Hollowed out all their minds. Still no visitor. It worked on that guy back in the tower, but here it never seems to work. And now 'they' woke up sister dearest. too"_ He sighed, there was no telling now what would happen. _"We can still salvage my image, Jason. But again, time is essential. Two signers in one home, the gods can not resist."_ Malcean chuckled. And around that time, one of the maids just suddenly dropped her plate. "Oho.." She craned her neck and glared at Jason. "Hello again."

(To be Continued in Mark 045: Storming the Castle)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Phantom Dragon<br>Vice Dragon  
>Blue-Eyes White Dragon<p>

-  
>Dragonic Tactics<p>

**New Cards used by Possessed Trooper**  
>Mystic Piper<br>Crystal seer  
>Kinka-byo<br>Magical Exemplar  
>Jester Confit<br>Toy Magician

-  
>One for One<br>Wonder Wand  
>Magical Dimension<br>Secret Village of the Spellcasters  
>Lightning Vortex<p>

-  
>Replica of Xing Zhen Hu<br>Tyrants Temper  
>Graceful Revival<p> 


	45. 045: Storming the Castle

**Mark 045: Storming the Castle**

"Can't even get reception in here." Xavier fiddled with one of the communicators the guards had, but even outside Jasons room he could not get it to work. "Maybe you just don't know how to use it." Ada said, trying to take the thing from him. "I know my technology, Ada. This thing should work." The duelists and the psychic were freed from the room. They had also met the youngest child of Malcean. "So.. Callisto. You said your brother was here?" And she spoke as if the older one as here as well.. "Not all the time. But this time yes." She pointed to to the floor. "He is hiding there? You can sense him?" Alphonse would be impressed if she could, because he had been trained to detect mental patterns that were out of the ordinary. "Not sensing, Callisto has seen him." She walked over to a nearby door. "Callisto will take you there. Brother will not like that, but Callisto does not like him today either." The others huddled around each other. "Hey, can we trust her? She sounds nice to me." Sarah asked. "I do not believe that she is lying, at least there is a greater feeling of honesty coming from her." Alphonse whispered back. "Then what will we do about Ansoni and the others?" Xavier referred to the champion and two guards who were still out cold. "Hmm."

But such questions were put on hold. "Oh my." As lord Malcean himself entered the halls. "What happened here?" He saw the unconscious guests and reacted surprised. "Your son set us up. Somehow." Xavier answered, equally confused. "I see. My apologies, I should have known this could happen. The boy always did like to trick the staff that way." He turned his eyes to the girl. "And Callisto, what are you doing up on this ungodly hour?" He said with a commanding tone. "Callisto saw daddy had visitors. Visitors who want to see brother, so she takes them there." For a second the man looked horrified, but that expression quickly faded. "But Jason is... Dear were you having another wild dream again?" He turned to the others. "I apologize if my daughter has led you astray, she sometimes forgets what is real and what is not." Callisto just smiled. "It never is real, so it always is real. Right?" The others just stared at her and then him. "Oh no, she did not bother us. Your disappearing butler on the other hand.."

"Sir Morgan? He abandoned his post?" Malcean looked around. "That is strange, I know him as a man who does not fail to fulfill his duties. But I have not seen him in a while." He talked with a tone that sounded sincere enough. But somehow it still felt off. "Callisto told you, brother is here. You better come quickly, you do not have all day." The girl spoke up again. "Honey, why would you say that?" Her father inquired, just as the lights went out, one by one. "Oh no.. no, no, no." . It had been dark before, but now almost nobody could see each other. They knew what a sudden powerloss meant. "Because the fallen god always comes now." Callisto said as everyone could feel a slight tremor shake up the walls and floors. "Is this it, the earthbound god?" It was the first time Alphonse experienced this situation. "I am affraid so. We need to get out of here now." Ada yelled. "Right. Lord Malcean, we will explain later, first help us carry them out." The lord nodded. "Very well." They carried Ansoni and the two guards all the way to the front hall.

"There, that should do." Exhausted, they put the three down for a moment. "What is going on, where is.." In here it was a bit lighter thanks to the moonlight shining in through the windows. "Where is Callisto?" In here Malcean could see that his daughter was no longer with them. "She got left behind?" In all the rush and shadows, they had lost track of her it seemed. "Don't worry, we will get her back." Xavier cracked his knuckles. "No, don't go running off again!" Ada tried to stop him, but he was gone already. "You don't even know the layout of this place!" An exasperated Ada shouted as she followed. "Deja vu." Sarah sighed as she knew she too had to go. "Sir Lewitt, take care of them." She said as she tossed one talisman to Alphonse. "Don't know if a knocked out signer protects people as well. I will be back soon!" Then the signer too left the hall. Luckily she was more accustomed with sudden sprints. 'Guys, guys!" So she managed to catch up to them before they got too deep into the castle. "Sorry. I got caught up in the moment again."

By that time Ali had run out of breath anyway. "Just am worried about the girl, is all... But where are we?" He did not recognize this part of the home, it was hard to see if they had even been here before. "Wait. I know." Sarah activated her dueldisk, which gave off a pale neon glow. "Oh right, hologram technology." The pure lights it emanated gave them at least some of their vision back. "This is impossible Ali, like finding a needle in a haystack." They still saw no signs of life. "The best thing we can do now is take the threat head on. But Ansoni is out for now." However they had another marked one with them. "Hey, I can do it too. I mean I did not receive any training, but.." Sarah protested. However she dropped the subject when a realization came to her. "Wait, if all technology is offline.." Ada flinched. She got it now. "Why are the dueldisks tapped in to the network?" Only their devices were left active, and that was for a reason. "Marked one." A shrill yet melodic voice resonated across the darkness. "You will be part of me now.."

Sarahs LP: 8000 ?'s LP: 8000

"Whoa!" Sarahs disk had been activated and forced into duel mode. "There she is!" And out of the dark a housemaid came, only this one was not here to serve treats. "Good eyes." The maid grinned, as she waved her hand around. "Look out!" Bright yellow energy illuminated the whole area, revealing that they had been inside the dining room all this time. "The lines.." They could not see it from the inside, but the entire building had been surrounded by the symbol of the hummingbird. "I am the one who will drink you, marked girl. I am Aslla Piscu." Gods new vessel summoned her cards and placed five in her hand. "This is your last hour, you can decide how this feast of death begins!" Sarah had no way out of this, though she did not look like she would want an escape. "Okay guys. Guess this is it." She drew six cards from her deck. "Gah, we can't help." Ada and Xavier had to take a few steps back. "Time to see if this destiny of mine is really worth anything." She placed two trap cards down and one monster. "Boy, I sure hope so."

Outside the car driver and remaining guards were shocked to see the symbol carve itself into the ground. "Call headquarters, now, now!" They quickly reported back to Kein at R-Tech. "Damn. We knew this could happen." He cursed. "At least the area is not populated otherwise. But everyone inside has to be evacuated now." The troopers agreed and half of them marched towards the manor. "Which one is it?" Urizen wanted to see the satellite view. "It appears to be the hummingbird." Kein showed him the topside view. "Feh. That is not the right one." Even if someone sealed that god, his fathers soul would not be freed.

"So I am guessing you got here the same way your friend got in the tower?" Ada asked the possessed maid, under the assumption that the girls mind had been hollowed out. "So Yale is here after all?" Xavier knew YQ knew that particular trick. "Maybe. Or maybe his sister knows how to do it too." She did not trust the daughter of the family much either. "Silence. I do not wish to hear the drivel of mortals such as you." Aslla drew her card. "None of your words matter." She activated a continuous spell card: Black Whirlwind. "Ah heck, a blackwing theme?" It was a support card for the Blackwing monster family, when one was normal summoned the whirlwind would draw another weaker Blackwing from the deck. "The first wind warns mortals of the cascade. Jin, the Rainshadow." She normal summoned a tiny ninja bird(600/500). And from Black Whirlwind came a blackwing with 0 attack, Hillen the Tengu Wind. "Followed by a blast of Bora the Spear." And when a Blackwing was on the field, the spear wielder(1700/800) could be special summoned from the hand. "This is why people hate blackwings." Ada grumbled, as the battle phase began. "Jin can shatter all defenders." The shadow bird threw throwing stars at the set card.

Sarah's LP: 6000

"Wall of Revealing Light!" However she revealed a permanent trap card. "I pay 2000 lifepoints, so now monsters with 2000 or less attackpoints cant attack me!" She grinned as the stars bounced off of a bright wall. "But you still suffer." Aslla cackled as she still had to reduce her lifepoints. "Ohh." An act that Sarah experienced as a hit to her stamina. "Well I played Blackwings before, I know what I can do." The turn passed back to her. "I activate my other permanent trap, Wattcannon. From now on, every time I summon a thunder-type monster, my opponent loses 600 lifepoints." She demonstrated this power by summoning her Wattlemur(800/100), letting the Cannon fire one shot. "Boltian, shock that Jin for me." The Lemur fried the weaker Blackwing with a bolt of lightning from its tail. "And if Lemur is killed in battle, your next battle phase will be cancelled out." She explained before placing another trap down. _"And Gravity bind will take of the field if both somehow are taken away." _She ended her turn. _"So far so good, knock on wood." _

Aslla Piscu's LP: 7200

"The storm picks up, becoming a hurricane." Aslla used another Blackwing, gale the Whirlwind(1300/400), who could be special summoned just like Bora. "Synchro summon?" However contrary to the duelists expectations, Bora and the tuner were sued as tributes instead of synchro materials. "And then the winds shake the earth itself. Abrolhos the Megaquake!" And owl-like warrior(2600/1800) flew down to the field. Meanwhile from Black Whirlwind came a Blackwing with 1600 attackpoints. "Abrolhos will weaken itself to send all your charms and tricks away." The Megaquake(1600/1800) slammed its double-sided mace down, cracking the dining room floor and sending Sarahs three traps back to her hand. "And it will return your spirit as well." Now it was free to enter the battle phase, and Abrolhos struck WattLemur. _"Boltian did not die?"_ It seemed this Blackwing did not destroy its targets, rather it sent them back to a players hand. "He/she circumvented the effect of the Lemur." Of all the Blackwings to use, this one fit the best.

Sarahs LP: 5200

"Card Destruction." And then suddenly it forced both players to discard their cards with a spell. "Ahh! No wonder she wanted to return all those cards to my hand." Sarah cried out as she had to renew her hand. _"Well, I got some good new cards too."_ And once the god placed a trap down, she was allowed to make her move. "I flip summon my monster, Mike the Batteryman Micro-Cell." A walking button cell battery(100/100) was flipped, and activated its flip effect. "Now I can recharge a battery in my garbage bin so to speak. I revive Aaron!" She special summoned one Batteryman AA(1000/0) from the cemetery. "And I can normal summon Adam from my hand." Another AA battery(2000/0) appeared. The two charged each other up. "Since Abrolhos does not get back the attackpoints it gives up, I will attack it now! Go Adam!" The Batterymen unleashed sparks of energy that electrocuted the Blackwinged one. "Hee, he is wide open Aaron!"Her other delivered a direct jab to the possessed maid. "Woo! I am in the lead." She felt pretty good.

Aslla Piscu's LP: 4700

But then so did the maid. "A sudden gust." She activated an effect from her graveyard. "When I take that much damage, Hillen the Tengu Wind will be reborn. And along with it, a level 3 Blackwinged spirit." The tengu bird warrior(0/2300), which had been 'card destructed' earlier, came back to life and brought back Gale the Whirlwind along with it. "Oh no, I can not allow that." Sarah entered her second main phase. "Since I control three Batteries, I can activate the spell card: Short Circuit!" She aimed to destroy both Blackwings and the hidden trap, by shorting them out. "Black boost." But Aslla was one step ahead. "Two Blackwinged tuners are banished from the field, in exchange for two cards." The god drew twice, and one of the two cards gave off an ominous aura. "She.. got it?" Sarahs mark started to glow, which was not a good sign. "I set two cards and end my turn." However without a field, it could not be summoned yet. "The end, the final turn." Unfortunately that was the other card the maid drew, and activated. "Scarred Lands of Nazca!"

_Scarred Lands of Nazca, Field Spell  
>The activation and effect of this card can not be negated.<br>Face-up 'Earthbound Immortal' monsters you control can not be targeted or destroyed by the effects of your opponents spell and/or trap cards._

The hall cracked even more as red ribbons carved their way through the walls and ceiling. "Yikes. That is a pretty good field spell." It made Ada want to throttle whoever even made it. "But she should be fine, right? That god has nothing to tribute." Xavier said, as Aslla's field was empty. "Is it now?" However suddenly a blue-feathered bird monster(1600/1000) appeared. "Gah, Zephyros the Elite." It was a Blackwing that could be revived by returning a card on the field back to the hand and hurting oneself for 400 lifepoints. "Black Whirlwind returns for the Elite Zephyr. And then an Honorable Emblem will provide for the second sacrifice." Aslla banished a Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor from her graveyard. "And that one allows a player to synchro summon from the grave!" The level 1 tuner and the level 7 Abrolhos were banished together to special summon the level 8 Synchro Blackwing, Silverwind the Ascendant(2800/2000). "Its effect can not be activated. But.." Silverwind and Zephyros were then tributed. "My true self!"

Aslla Piscu's LP: 4300

The maid licked her lips before she disappeared. "Where did.." Then suddenly a large black beak crashed through the ceiling, nearly flattening Sarah. "Gah!" That was a direct attack from the hummingbird god in its full form. "There!" They could see it now through the cracks, a black bird(2500/2500) whose wings spread out over the castle. "Yes. Admired the majety, give your eyes one last feast." Suddenly a quickplay spell card was activated: Swallows Nest. "What?" It let a player to exchange one winged beast for another of the same level in the deck. "Don't tell me.." The Earthbound swapped places, with itself. "She has more than one copy?"

Sarahs LP: 2800

(To be Continued in Mark 046: Wind and a Prayer)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Batteryman MicroCell<p>

-  
>Wall of Revealing Light<br>Wattcannon

**Cards used by Aslla Piscu**  
>Blackwing - Jin the Rainshadow<br>Blackwing - Bora the Spear  
>Blackwing - Gale the Hurricane<br>Blackwing - Abrolhos the Megaquake  
>Blackwing - Hillen the Tengu-Wind<br>Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite  
>Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor<br>Blackwing - Silerwind the Ascendant  
>Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu<p>

-  
>Black Whirlwind<br>Card Destruction_  
>Scarred Lands of Nazca<em>  
>Swallows Nest<p>

-  
>Black Boost<p> 


	46. 046: Wing and a Prayer

**Mark 046: Wing and a Prayer**

"So that is an earthbound god." Alphonse watched in utter terror as the hummingbird spread out its wings over Malceans castle. "Yes it is." Malcean spoke more with respect of it. "Wait, why.." The psychic noticed this, but he also noticed something far more worrying. "My Lord, your arm." He saw the mark of a claw shining on the lords wrist. "Oh this? Never mind that." He shrugged. "But that is the mark they told me..." Alphonse protested, this was a major discovery. "He.. never mind." The psychic suddenly was knocked out by a psychic blow. "Guh..you.." Jason standing behind him was the last thing he saw. _"We should..have known."_

Sarahs LP: 2700 Aslla's LP: 4300

"Let me clear the confusion. Swallows Nest tributes one winged beast to summon another. When an earthbounds true form is destroyed or banished, the souls it absorbs are freed. However.." One Aslla Piscu became another(2500/2500). "When we sacrifice our true forms, we can maintain those souls. The card i sent to the grave is now a useless copy, the card I summoned is my new self." This way she could use 3 copies of the god card in a duel. "And now, how will you react to my true power?" The bird flapped her wings, and that was enough to send Sarahs three Batterymen to their deaths. "Micro, Aaron, Adam!" And the fierce winds knocked her back as well, reducing her lifepoints by 800 three times. "When my form leaves the field due to another effect, like Swallows Nest, all opposing spirits are slain. And their master suffers damage for each loss." And the worst of it all, they were still in the battle phase. "I can not wait to drink you, girl, and all memories that rushed through your head before your end!" The second god attacked.

Sarahs LP: 300

"Dynamic Generator! I can discard three cards from the top of my deck, and gain 1000 lifepoints for each!" Sarah placed her hand on her deck. "But you will need three thunder spirits to survive, is fate that kind to you?" Aslla pierced the floor with its beak. "Sarah!" Half the hall crumbled, Xavier and Ada were forced to stand by the exit and watch helplessly. "Is it fate?" But the blonde still stood, her lifepoints rested at 800. "Or is it divine intervention?" She revealed she had discarded three thunder monsters exactly, gaining 3000 LP before losing 2500. "Incredible!" Xavier gasped. "She literally has Deus Ex Machina on her side?" Ada wondered whether she was just lucky, or if a signer could manipulate the deck that way. Either way she could not complain. "Guys. I think you need to leave now. this place is breaking apart." They still had the talisman with her blood in it, which would keep them safe from gods energy. "Are you sure?" Xavier did not want to leave her behind either. "Yeah, I will be fine. Just go and find Callisto."

Sarahs LP: 800

"Okay." The two headed off through the exit, leaving Sarah in the middle of a smashed dining room. "Brave, facing me alone.." The god ended its turn. "Sorry. I was never any good at being scared. My mom and dad always did the 'terrified' parts for me." She drew her card. "Then it is foolishness instead." Aslla cackled, shattering some more windows. "I guess. I just think fear does not help in a fight, you know? Anyway, say hi to Blitzwing!" She played her trap card Wattkeeper to revive a Wattpheasant(1000/800) from the cemetery. "Then I play Recycling Batteries, to take back two thunder monsters with less than 1500 attackpoints." The girl reclaimed two cards discarded by Dynamic Generator, WattBeryx and WattGiraffe. "I summon my Wattberyx, Znap!" Her normal summon was a red fish tuner(300/0). "Synchro summon! WattHydra!" The level 4 pheasant and level 3 fish became a level 7 monster with seven crocodile heads(1500/1500). "Meet Crocoshock! He can attack you directly!" The heads fired seven bolts into the sky, which zapped the hummingbird. "How do you like a teaste of your own medicine?" And since she did damage, the hydra's effect was available. "I can banish one card in my deck and add it to my hand two turns later!"

Aslla's LP: 2800

She selected her spell card: Inferno Reckless Summon. "Oh, and I play this spell too." The Swords of Revealing Light rained down, pinning the gods wings down. "For three turns you can not attack me." She smiled and ended her turn. "You believe you can win a fight this way, child?" The god summoned another Blackwing, Mistral the Silver Shield(100/1800). And thanks to her continuous spell Black Whirlwind, a Blackwing with 0 attack was added to her unseen hands. "Hiding and sneaking in hits. These seem like the tactics of a coward to me." It also placed a trap card down, before ending its turn. "You will not free what few souls I have devoured this way; souls that curse you for your weakness." That comment did make Sarah flinch, since she had overlooked the fact that there could still be people in this house for the god to absorb. "Yes. Would you like to know what happens to a soul, once it returns to god?" It cackled again, as its opponent drew a card. "Maybe that will make you know fear, appreciate fear!"

"It wont do me any good to worry about them now!" She shook her head and summoned her Wattgiraffe(1200/100). "Go, Pop!" It was another direct attacker. "When she does damage, you can not play any spells or traps in this turn anymore!" The giraffe converted its body to lightning. "When the enemy avoids the cold mistral winds, the searing edges of Ghibli will punish her." Yet when a direct attack was made, Blackwing, Ghibli(0/1600) could be special summoned from a players hand. "That will not stop a direct effect attack!" Giraffe unleashed its lightning. "But it will allow me this trick." Before it hit, a trap called Black Return was activated. "The enemy's monster is returned, when a Blackwinged one is called with an effect. The exiled monster will replenish my life with its attacking power." Since Ghibli was summoned, WattHydra was sent back to the extra deck. And Aslla gained 1500 lifepoints, before it lost 1200 to the Giraffe's strike. "Rats." Sarah placed two cards down again. _"She does have a point too.."_

Aslla's LP: 3100

"One soul once said it nicely. The more you struggle, the sweeter you taste." The god activated Cards for Black Feathers, banishing one Blackwing in its hand to draw two new cards. "Every soul has its own flavor, but many share parts of their taste. I imagine you girl, will taste the sweetest of all marked ones. As innocence and naivety is a rare trait in your kind." It placed one trap card down and one monster card face-up. "Battlestorm." A fourwinged birdwarrior(1700/1000) with golden talons flew down into the hall. "This spirit gains attacking power from other feathered spirits and can shatter these swords" Battlestorm(2100/1000) could destroy a spell or trap when three winged beast monsters were on the field. "Uh oh." The Swords of Revealing Light broke down, Aslla could extend its wings again. "Thunder of Ruler!" But she did not wait for the enemy to make its move. "I take away your next battle phase!" Now she was given one more turn. "You keep buying time, are you denying the finity of your existence is?" It ended its turn.

"Yeah I know. You are immortal, I am not. You want me to become part of you. But if you ask me, that sounds kinda boring." Sarah drew a card. "What?" The god fumed at her. "Living longer sounds nice, you get to do more. But if you never die, there is no rush to anything. I did not not do the things I did because I could, but because I wanted too. If I had as much time as you did, I would probably just get lazy." She added Inferno Reckless Summon to her hand as well. "You do not get a say in what us gods do, you are but a foolish little girl! That the seventh had marked you was just a fluke, you can not defeat us!" The bird god sounded amused yet angered at the same time. "Guess it does not matter. Either way, I will free those souls now." She activated her trap card Limit Reverse. "I revive a monster with 1000 attackpoints or less!" Her Wattpheasant(1000/800) came back. "That spirit? You intend to banish me?" Iff Wattpheasant finished a direct attack, she could remove any monster from the field for one turn. "Yes and no. If I just wanted to do the first part, I could have done that two turns ago. But.." And since a monster was summoned, she could activate Inferno Reckless Summon. "I also need to do enough damage to you, to defeat you before your godcard comes back!"

Inferno Reckless Summon allowed her to triple the number of Wattpheasants on the field. With the trio of Blitzwings and Pop the Giraffe, 4200 battle damage could be inflicted. "Then you were not as weak as I thought" Aslla also was forced to summon copies of a card she controlled, and she called out a second Battlestorm(2200/1000). "Yet, Child, you have ventured to close to the sun!" And then it flipped her trap, Icarus Attack. "I tribute my true form to destroy two cards!" The effect did not matter as much as the cost, tributing the Earthbound God Aslla Piscu also triggered its ability. "All your monsters will be destroyed, and you will suffer more damage than you can endure!" The god blew up, and sent out five bursts of wind. "No, something is wrong." However it counted only four monsters before. "Extra Veiler. When you special summoned that second Battlestorm, I could special summon this monster from my hand." A Matador(600/200) showed up to intercept the wind with its red cape. "During this turn all effect damage is reflected!" The winds shot back towards the god, five monsters of Sarah were destroyed, so 4000 damage was sent its way. "No, you.. you fooled me!" The god was not destroyed, but its host lost its lifepoints. "I had no choice.."

Aslla Piscu's LP: 0

The great bird disappeared from the night sky. However the lights of its symbol still illuminated the site. "Huh, thought they would disappear by now. Guess I really have to seal it" Sarah saw that the floor had been so smashed up that she would not be able to reach the forward exit. "Huh?" However a more immediate concern was a ringing cellphone, which she answered. "Mom?" And she did not expect to be called by this person so soon. "Of course I am okay, why wouldn't I be? ... Where am I you ask?" She looked around, as pieces of the ceiling fell down. "Oh, just a big fancy place. I had a duel with a god and i beat him up good!" She said with much enthusiasm. ".. But I _am_ telling the truth, that is really what happened! Look!" She snapped a picture with her phone of the mess the duel had made. "Mom?" But after it was submitted, an awkward pause followed. "No, I did not do this! Honest! A very big bird did it." She tried to explain, but after that sentence the call was ended. _".. Hm, maybe it's better if she does not know."_

"Maybe she went back to her room?" Ada and Xavier were still stumbling their way through the castle, trying to locate the girl. "And how would we find that room?" Ada could barely see anything. "Oh, I figured that big room over there would fit the description." Xavier pointed at one of the few spots in the castle which was not as dark. Light from Aslla's lines shone through the curtains, giving them all a clear image of a bedroom. "It can't be Malceans since it a bed for one." He walked over to it. "That makes sense." She followed. "But it does not look like she is here." They entered an empty room. "I hope she isn't still out looking for her brother. She wanted to help us and all. And now maybe she is.." Considering that all other signs of life had left the halls, they had to assume the worst. "But maybe they are freed again?" Ada pointed at a nearby window. "Seems Sarah won her duel, that god bird is gone." They saw nothing but clear skies. "Ah The threat is gone?" However it was still eerily quiet, and the energy lines had not faded yet. "Wait a second."

Ada pulled back more curtains, she wanted to get a better view of the outside. "This is." However she instead got to see more of the inside, of Callisto's room and what she was keeping inside. "Well someone had fun with her dolls." Tables, racks and nighstands were littered with torn up dolls of all kinds, some patched back up, others stitched together. But that was not the part that caught their attention. "These are cards?" Strewn across the floor lied playing cards, spells, traps, synchros, effect and normal monsters, she had them all. "Geez. You'd have to give up ten arms to amass this kind of collection." Xavier had exhausted all his credit to just get his hands on three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. "No. It's not that alone." Ada inspected the cards up close. "I will say, she even has Stardust Dragon." Xavier seemed blissfully unaware of the sixth type of cards which layed there. "No, Ali. Look!" She said with a sudden panic in her voice, revealing a monster card that was not a monster card at all. "What the?" It had no stats, no types or flavor text. Just a picture of a man. "That's the guard who got posessed?" They did not understand, why did this card exist? "Wait. That card back in Yale's room, it was like this one.." She had no clue what this meant.

"Good evening." A sweet sounding voice drew their attention away from their questions. "This time you found it." Malceans daughter stood in the doorway. "Callisto.. we can explain." Xavier was confused yet happy to see her as well. "No, she has to do the explaining." Ada was less apologetic in light of recent discoveries. "No matter what is done, someone finds this place." She raised her hand, and cards started to float off the floor. "I guess that is your psychic power? Moving stuff with your mind?" Xavier almost asked her why she did not just use that power on them, but thought that was better of it. "Callisto wanted to be a good girl for once, but that can not happen if her new friends find this place." She ignored the question anyway and shuffled her cards. "Then it is a duel to get out of here." Xavier activated his dueldisk. "It always is. You will or may even use any cards you see on the floor if you want. But it will not help you." She was done shuffling. "Callisto has seen the end of this duel. Someone will get hurt, someone always gets hurt. And when it always happens, pain loses all meaning.."

"Gah!" Ramirez suddenly cried out. "What is it?" Kein asked as he saw her reach for her head. "You can.." Urizen hoped this what what he had been waiting for. "I can.." She gestured them to be silent. A long pause followed. "Well?" Artani grew impatient all too quickly. "It is.. one voice, screaming to another. I think one is in pain." Kein nodded. "Yes, the hummingbird retreated. But what else?" They needed to hear something new. "The other calms it, speaks of a place." She closed her eyes for a second. "They found the right spot, for the ritual. Urizen.. where was your father born?"

(To be Continued in Mark 047: Callisto)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>WattBeryx<br>WattHydra  
>WattGiraffe<br>Extra Veiler

-  
>Recycling Batteries<br>Swords of Revealing Light

-  
>Thunder of Ruler<br>Limit Reverse

**New Cards used by Aslla Piscu**  
>Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame<br>Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind  
>Battle Storm<p>

-  
>Cards for Black Feathers<p>

-  
>Black Return<br>Icarus Attack


	47. 047: Callisto

**Mark 047: Callisto**

"Are you certain that this is what you heard?" Ramirez had given a location where she said the gods would appear next, Urizen was skeptical because of how vague she usually tended to be. "They spoke of it being their only choice. The place where a marked one is born must be the place where they consume his life." She explained slowly. "I wouldn't even know where Gaunt was born. But then, you people probably have that on record." He looked at The Ace of Spades. "Yes. I already brought it up from the archives. It seems he was born in a small hospital somewhere near the coast. We can get there with the jet in less than an hour." However they only had one jet, one small jet. "We will not be able to bring along a squad of reinforcements." At best there was room for ten inside. "We do not need a squad, they will just get in the way. All we need is these talismans, right?" Urizen had one for himself, also made from Sarahs blood. "Besides, you already sent half your troops to Malcean. And other squadrons are upholding the curfew here."

The doors opened at that time, Macbeth came walking in. "What is the discussion here?" He sounded interested but also exhausted. "We know where Gaunts mark will be claimed. We have to take the jet. Macbeth, can I trust you to oversee the operation at the stately home from here?" Kein looked him in the eyes. "Yeah. I can. I mean, I know I can not do anything for Richard right now." He sighed. "So what is the situation there? I heard a god appeared?" The others nodded. "The hummingbird, we have not heard from inside yet. But our men are on the job." Kein had enough confidence in them to leave them to their job. "Come on. Let's go to meet the other three gods." He took his deck, Ramirez and Urizen reaided theirs too. "You too Ashworth, we need all the help we can muster." Kein pushed the snoozing Nathan out of his chair. "Huh, what? School?" With some hesitation the duelist followed. macbeth was left to monitor progerss from the inside. _"Those lines."_ He saw how Aslla's symbol did not fade. _"That may be the key."_

...

"We do not have to do this. We can still be friends if you just explain what this all means." Callisto had challenged them to a duel, Xavier was reluctant. "Those words are always said, and they never work. This confrontation is unavoidable." She had her deck ready, yet she sounded unresolved as well. "If you did not want us to find this place. Why did you not come with us in the first place?" Ada did not think she made sense either way. "Someone always finds this room, it is a question of when. And once they see, Callisto has to make them forget or be forgotten." Xavier meanwhile had finished his deck too. "I will field this one Ada." He used several cards from the floor like the daughter had suggested. "But if we defeat you, we can leave?" He was as ready as he ever would be. "Callisto will.. would like it that way." She drew five cards. "Callisto will even let you move first. That works half the time." Xavier sighed and drew six cards. Well here goes nothing." He placed one trap and one monster down, and ended his turn.

Callisto's LP: 8000 Xaviers LP: 8000

"Callisto's first turn is this.." The girl placed three trap cards down. "Three of these, and one of this." And she normal summoned a purple cloaked faceless angel(1600/1700). "The Bountiful Artemis?" Ada knew what that card could do, and now also what kind of deck she was using. "Ali. She runs Counter Angels! That thing will let her draw whenever a Counter Trap is activated!" Artemis was the keystone of any counter trap deck. "Gotcha!" He smiled as the Bountiful angel attacked his facedown and shattered it like glass. "You destroyed my White Stone of Legend. When it dies, I can add a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to my hand!" The shining egg cracked open, sending a Blue-Eyes card Xaviers way. "Yes, that is Xaviers first monster. Callisto then plays this." The girl used a continuous trap, Synthetic Seraphim which let her create seraphim tokens every time a counter trap went off. "Ali's turn." She said, as a treacherous field awaited him. _"Man, what I would not give for a Heavy Storm right about now." _

Despite the availability of cards around him, he chose to follow the banlist still_."_Well I summon Dragunity Phalanx." On the field came the tiny blue dragon(500/1100) with gold armor. "I can tribute a Dragunity to special summon Dragunity Arma Mystletainn from my hand." The level 2 tuner was tributed for the level 6 swordwielder(2100/1500). "It equips Phalanx from the graveyard to itself. And when Phalanx is equipped, it can special summon itself." Mystletainn wielded the Phalanx as a shield before placing it down. "I synchro summon!" The two monsters became materials for a level 8 dragon. "Stardust Dragon!" It was the white savior dragon(2500/2000), who descended in a hail of stars. "Stardust was summoned. But, Callisto has to answer to this." The girl flipped a counter trap, Discord Counter. "Sorry." Stardust was destroyed and its two materials re-appeared. Artemis also allowed Callisto to draw a card, while the Synthesizer created one seraphim token(300/300). "What? But Stardust's effect." Yet Ali knew Stardust could negate destructive cards. Howevere he forgot one important rule. "Ali, monster effects can not respond to counter traps! Only other counter traps can!" Ada yelled, it was all about the 3rd spell speed. "Crap. that is true. Guess that's this turn."

_Discord Counter, Counter Trap  
>Activate only when your opponent Synchro Summons a monster. Destroy it and send it to the graveyard.<br>Then special summon the monsters used in the Synchro Summon to your opponent's side of the field in Defense Position.  
>Your opponent cannot special summon any effect monsters until the End Phase of their next turn. <em>

Mystletainn and Phalanx were returned to his field. Due to Discord Counter's second effect they could not be used for another synchro summon. "This is the second turn, now Callisto summons Meltiel." A half-crystal angel(1600/1200) in red armor descended. "The Sage of the Sky. That is bad news. Especially if she plays Sanctuary of the Sky." And to Ada's dismay, Callisto went and did exactly that. "Argh. Now Meltiels full powers are unlocked." The Sanctuary field spell also protected an angel using duelist from battle damage. "They attacked." Meltiel threw the halo of energy around its body towards Mystletainn and destroyed it. "Trap Card, Liberty at Last!" Xavier chained to its death with his trap. "Sorry, Dark Bribe." However Callisto could chain to that too, Xavier could draw once, but that was a bribe he had to accept when the Liberty trap was negated. "Callisto is affraid you also initiated Meltiel's powers. It heals callisto and hurts you." Every time a counter trap was played Meltiel gave 1000 lifepoints to Callisto and destroyed one monster on the field. "My Phalanx!" The tuner was removed from the field, letting Artemis strike the duelist directly. And of course Callisto could draw another card and summon another token(300/300) now.

Callisto's LP: 9000 Xaviers LP: 6400

_"It's like she knows every move I am going to make. Wait.. I think she does." _The girl placed two trap cards down again and ended her turn. "Vanguard of the Dragon!" Ali started his by placing down a shield and spear wielding dragon(1700/1300). "I can discard a card to power it up." He threw away the Blue-Eyes card, and Vanguard(2000/1300) raised its spear. "It attacks Artemis!" The spear was thrown at the angel, yet broken by a forcefield. "Sorry." Callisto said again as she flipped her third counter trap, Negate Attack. "I feared as much." This trap ended the battle phase. It also triggered Meltiel, Synthetic Seraphim and Artemis's abilities. "And now Meltiel has to destroy a monster on the field." The Sage obliterated the dragon vanguard and restored her lifepoints. "However that activated its effect! When it dies, it revives an effectless dragon. Like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" As the Vanguard went under, it released the mighty White Dragon(3000/2500) from its grave. "Did you see this coming too?" He asked her. "Yes."

Callisto's LP: 10000

"How about this?" Ali activated the field spell Dragon Ravine, which replaced the Sanctuary in the Sky. He discarded a card through it and added Dragunity Pilum to his hand. "You don't seem to have a counter for that." Without it Meltiels second effect was gone. "Callisto can not answer to everything, but Callisto knows all the questions. Maybe there is one she does not know off, but so far it is still the same." To the two it sounded a lot clearer now. "Then you are.. a diviner. You can see the future?" It being the extent of her powers. "The future is shown to Callisto, she is told what happens and what she has to do." She started her turn and sacrificed two of three seraphim tokens. "In the third turn Callisto will summon Athena." A greek goddess(2600/800) was tribute summoned. "Athena will sacrifice one angel to revive one angel." Athena tapped Meltiel with her staff, sending it to the cemetery, only to special summon it back to the field. "And you will get hurt, every time an angel is special summoned." The return of Meltiel took 600 of Xaviers lifepoints away.

Xaviers LP: 5800

"Ali. If she is not lying, then.." Ada's concerns grew, as Callisto did not speak like a duelist who expected to lose. "The future is not set in stone, or so they say. Actually I think you once told me that, Ada." Xavier clenched his fist. "Callisto, I will fight the future you see." He discarded Pilum through Dragon Ravine and added a Dragunity Partisan. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack!" The dragon unleashed a stream of white lightning. "Sorry. But Callisto really does not believe Ali can defeat the future." She flipped yet another counter trap. "Shadows Shadow." She banished the last counter trap she used to mimic its effect. "Gah!" Negate Attack was reactivated and the battle phase was terminated once more. "Ali is no the first to try. Please do not hate Callisto for seeing what you can not see." Meltiel healed its master, Artemis let her drew once more, the Seraphims gained one more token(300/300), and Athena used her burning effect a second time. "But the future can not be absolute! Even you telling me this should change things!" He protested.

Callisto's LP: 11000 Xaviers LP: 5200

_Shadow's Shadow, Counter Trap  
>Skip your next battle phase. Select in your graveyard a Counter Trap Card that was succesfully activated two or less turns ago.<br>Banish that Counter Trap Card. This card's effect is the same as that Trap Card's._

"You could have told us about the earthbound god, you could have chosen not to duel us, you can forfeit right now even!" Ada started to get frustrated. "What Callisto can and what she wants are two different things. Callisto wants new friends, but Callisto has family. Brother.. father.. their love comes first. They will never hate Callisto, they are what is real." It was her turn again. "But we are real too!" She shouted at her. "Callisto apologized again, but she thinks you can not understand. Tomorrow is not absolute, no. But Callisto sees all forks in the road." Callisto sacrificed the two other tokens, and brought out a fallen angel. "Darklord Asmodeus is summoned now. Once every turn he shall send an angel to the underworld." Asmodeus(3000/2500) used its effect to discard a Fairy Archer from the deck to the cemetery. "Ribbon of Rebirth shall be equipped." Athena was given a ribbon spell card for around her wrist. "And Athena shall sacrifice Meltiel." The crystal angel was traded in for that Archer(1400/600). Athena burned Xavier with each summon too. "And the Archer shall inflict 400 damage to the enemy, for light spirit on the field." Aside from the Darklord, all her angels were light elemental. So her arrow hit Xavier for a painful 1600 points of damage.

Xavier's LP: 2400

"Owch." Xavier considered himself lucky that his opponent was not a psychic duelist that visualized her attacks. "But then, how many visions have you had of this duel, for things to go so smoothly?" He wondered if it was like a live update into her head, if she saw every outcome by the minute. "Callisto will tell you. Every time she sleeps, she sees the next day. Over and over, Callisto lives a hundred days in each night." Their eyes widened. "A hundred?" That was more visions than even they expected. "Most of the time. Some nights have mercy, sometimes there are a few dozen, or none. Other times there are visions within visions. Callisto can see everything, yet she can not see when she will see. Sometimes Callisto thinks she'll go mad." She snapped her fingers and turned on the lights in her room. "Callisto thought she had an answer once." Now for the first time they had a good look at the girl. "Gack..what did you.." Specifically her eyes, which looked like someone tried to cut them open. "Not even the knife could stop the seeing."

"Ansoni?" Sarah tried to find another way through the castle, and she found other signs of life in what appeared to be the reading room. "You're awake!" The champion leaned against a bookcase, no longer in a state of unconsciousness. "Sarah? What.. what are you oing here? Where is everyone else?" He had only gotten up since a few moments ago, the last thing he remembered was a cackling possessed trooper defeating him. "That is what I would love to know. One of those gods came long and caused a lot of mess. But it should be better now. I did not manage to seal it, but I drove it back. I think." She showed off a whited out card. "This was all it left behind." It was the card which held the Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu during the duel "Ah. And what of Malcean.." Ansoni slowly got up, his head still throbbed. "Ah, he is right here." The mans voice echoed across the books and shadows. "I am so glad the two of you both decided to show up." Lord Malcean stood at the very end of the hall, looking down at them from a balcony.

"Let me guess, you are a villain after all!" Sarah pointed at him. "I should have known. No nice guy ever has the world 'Mal' in his name." This remark merely made the man chuckle. "Malcean is my birthname, that can not be helped. But my father also knew what destiny was in store for me." He unsleeved his arm. "No! You are one too?" They could now see the mark of the claw, glowing on his skin. "Yes, I too was chosen by god. Or rather our family was, the Castillo family was. I suppose I at least lied about my surname." The man rolled back his sleeve. "You. I do not know what game you are playing, bvut it ends now! And you will tell us why you started this! Or what you even started!" Ansoni said with a firm tone. "Oh truly now? How do you intend to bargain with me?" The smirk that framed his mouth after it spoke those words appeared to have tempted fate too much, as suddenly dozens of R-tech guards stormed the area. "Do not move!" They drew and aimed their guns at the Lord. "As I said, Lord, you will tell us everything."

(To be Continued in Mark 048: See no Evil)

**New Cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>The White Stone of Legend<br>Stardust Dragon  
>Vanguard of Dragon<p>

**Cards used by Callisto**  
>Bountiful Artemis<br>Meltiel, Sage of the Sky  
>Athena<br>Darklord Asmodeus  
>Fairy Archer<p>

-  
>Sanctuary in the Sky<br>Ribbon of Rebirth

_-  
>Discord Counter(+)<em>  
>Synthetic Seraphim<br>Dark Bribe  
>Negate Attack<em><br>Shadow's Shadow_

_(+) Based on the trap used by Trudge/Ushio in YGO 5Ds season 1_


	48. 048: See no Evil

**Mark 048: See no Evil**

"Well what would you like to hear?" Malcean smirked as a dozen guns were trained on him. "Should I tell you why I brought you here and where your friends are or should I tell you that there is a reason why our divine friend has not left this place yet." He said, referring to the geoglyph across them. "I told you where to start. My men will find Alphonse and the duelists." Ansoni replied. "Ah yes. What my overall plan is? Well, let's just say I am in the habit of collecting." He glared at Sarah, specifically the card she was holding. "Wha-hey!" And that card just disappeared from her fingers, as it was snatched away by what looked like a mechanical angel. "You met my son, of course." The angel flew towards Jason Castle, who suddenly blurred into sight, standing next to his father. "What the.. where did he come from?" The soldiers were certain he had not been there before. "My children, the offspring of a signer, received their own gifts from god. Jason here can manipulate the senses of people around him, and visualise constructs of light. The perfect infiltrant." He made a polite bow. "Had your tower not been infested with cameras, I could have escaped right away. Though thanks for showing me that my powers work even against you signers. They never worked on my father, but I guess that is because we were related by blood." He scoffed. "And as for my daughter, I fear her talents are less practical." Malcean laughed.

Callisto's LP: 11000 Xavier's LP: 2400

"You.. you tried to blind yourself?" Xavier was sickened by what he saw. "Callisto will.. did blind herself. Yet the visions did not go away, they entered her sleep, replaced her dreams." She said with an inappropriately cheery tone. "There is no difference anymore, it all looks the same. For all callisto knows, this is another vision." She ended her turn. "You say you are real, but a hundred Xavier Ali's have said the same thing before. How can they be certain, how can Ali say he is real. For all Ali knows, he is a figment of a shattered mind." Her scarred and lifeless eyes stared right into his soul. "But..I.." He could not think of a way to respond to this. "Either way, Callisto has seen you lose this duel over and over too. So it does not matter what Ali is, right?" She smiled warmly. "This girl is.." He drew his cards. "Nuts." Ada found the right words to describe the situation. "But you are right Ali. Nothing is set in stone, you can still win this. So go!" He nodded. "Yeah! Since you control two monsters of the same type, I can special summon Alector from my hand." He called the Sovereign of Birds(2400/2000). "Just in case, he uses his effect to seal Athena's effect for one turn." Athena(2600/800) could not burn Ali this turn if an angel monster were to be summoned.

"Then I discard Dragunity Partisan from my hand, to add Dragunity Javelin to it. Which I then normal summon and tune with Alector!" A level 2 tuner, the golden spear dragon(1200/800), and the level 6 birdking, were materials for a level 8 synchro. "BlackWinged Dragon!" Ali called out one other special dragon he had taken from the room, the black feather dragon(2800/1600). "Now! A double attack!" Blue-Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500) and the equally strong Darklord Asmodeus(3000/2500) fired beams of light and dark energy at each other, killing themselves. Meanwhile Blackwinged Dragon slew the defending Fairy Archer(1400/600). "I know what Ribbon of Rebirth does. It resurrects a monster killed in battle." He knew killing Athena now would be a waste of his turn. "Sorry, but you can know more." Suddenly the dying Asmodeus split into two one-winged angels. "Ah. When Asmodeus dies, he creates an Asmo and a Deus token." Asmo(1800/1300) could not be killed in battle, Deus(1200/1200) could not be destroyed by effects.

"Good thing I sealed Athena then." Xavier placed three cards down and ended his turn. "Also, you might like my dragons effect." He grinned as he saw his opponent summon a Harvest, Angel of Wisdom(1800/1000). "Blackwinged Dragon can drain away effect damage!" Athena's effect was triggered, she caused 600 damage every time a fairy was summoned. "Callisto can see the next two steps, she is afraid you can only see one." Athena fired at Xavier, but the blast was absorbed by the dragons wings, and converted into a counter which weakened it(2100/1600) by 700 points. "If Callisto keeps causing pain, your dragon will not be strong enough to survive." Athena used her second power to sacrifice Harvest and bring back Fairy Archer. Another 600 damage was drained away by Blackwinged Dragon(1400/1600). "Ugh. That is true too." There were three light monsters on the field, it, Athena and Artemis(1600/1700), so an arrow from the Archer would do 1200 damage to him. "Once more." The shot was taken in by his synchro(700/1600).

"And then the angels attacked. But then.." A trap was flipped. "Half or Nothing!" Now she had the choice to halve her attackpoints or end her battle phase. "Even though half of Athena is still enough to end the dragon, Callisto shall choose Nothingness." Her battle phase ended. "I guess you saw through my plan then." Xavier sighed. His other trap would have killed her angels if she still decided to attack. "Callisto also chooses to defend." She switched the two tokens and Artemis to defense mode. And placed two trap cards down. "My turn. I activate Pot of Avarice!" He returned 5 monsters in his grave (Alector, Vanguard of Dragon, Blue-Eyes, White Stone of Legend and Dragunity Javelin), to draw 2 cards. "Sorry, Callisto plays Drastic Drop-Off." However she used a counter trap which forced him to give up one of those two cards. "Tsk." He threw away Strongwind Dragon, but kept Dragons Mirror. "And then she special summons The Dark Voltanis." In the same instant the Asmo token was sacrificed and a black armored angel made from dark energy(2800/1400) appeared. "When a counter trap is used, a dark monster can be tributed to bring out Dark Voltanis." The burn damage Athena sent Xaviers way was again drained away by the black dragon(0/1600)

"And one monster on the field shall be destroyed." Voltanis fired its darkness at Blackwinged Dragon. "I will not let that happen! Descending Lost Star!" Ali activated a trap that revived Stardust Dragon(2500/0) in defense mode, and it was rendered defenseless and effectless. "Stardust can tribute itself to negate the destruction of others!" The bright dragon flew into the path of the dark energy, piercing it and its caster at the same time. "Way to go Ali!" Ada cheered. She did not expect him to know that Stardusts effect activated in the grave, so Descending Lost Star could not stop it. "Now, I activate Dragons Mirror!" He played the spell that fused dead dragons. "By banishing five dragons I can special summon Five-Headed Dragon from my.." But before he could remove Strongwind and the four remaining Dragunity monsters in his cemetery, another counter trap was activated. "Sorry, Solemn Warning." She payed 2000 LP to negate the spell. "Ugh. You are good, Callisto." So far the only to cut her life down, was Callisto herself.

Callisto's LP: 9000

"Callisto does not deserve that kind of praise." The girl drew again and let Synthetic Seraphim create another token(300/300). "Either way, you are out of traps. So I will use mine." Xavier flipped Miracle Locus, which powered up Blackwinged Dragon(1700/1600), and allowed it to attack twice, but prevented it from doing battle damage. "..I will use the other effect of my dragon." Its wings glew red, as it threw all four of its feather counters towards Athena. "The damage it absorbed is reflected to you, and your monster is weakened by it!" Athena(0/800) was hit and so was Callisto, she suffered the 2600 attackpoints drained away from her goddess. "Finally." Ada was glad he got a hit in at last. "And then a double attack!" Blackwinged Dragon fired two blasts of sonic energy, one to destroy Fairy Archer and the other got rid of Artemis. "Then during the endphase my monster will return." Stardust Dragon(2500/2000) always returned at the end of a turn in which his effect was used. "Ali is good. Callisto wanted to duel longer to see if he could win after all."

Callisto's LP: 6400

In her turn Athena tributed the Seraphim to revive Fairy Archer. "Oh?" Blackwinged Dragon tried to absorb the effectdamage that followed. "But, she sees no good." Callisto discarded a Herald of the Orange Light and another angel card, to negate and destroy Blackwinged Dragon. "I can still surprise you!" Xavier countered that by sacrificing Stardust again, who gave his life to protect Blackwinged Dragon. Now it (2100/1600) succesfully stopped Athena's effect. "Callisto can keep this up all day, but father is in a hurry. Callisto is afraid we are out of time." But she then summoned a tuner monster, the level 1 Sunny Pixie(300/400). "You are out of time." It was tuned, along with the level 3 Archer and the level 3 Deus token. "What..now?" Because Sunny Pixie was used as a synchro material, Callisto gained a 1000 lifepoints. "I can not be nice anymore." And she called from her extra deck, the sevent level Ancient Sacred Wyvern(7100/2000). "That monster gains attackspoints equal to the difference between our lifepoints? No..way." He could not stop that, his Blackwinged Dragon(1400/1600) was not even at full strength since Athena fired another 600 points of damage its way. "It is over." The Wyvern fired holy flames to consume the dark dragon and defeat his master

Callisto's LP: 7400 Xaviers LP: 0

"I have heard your last words, but she has not. Will you give them to her?" She asked as she slowly raised one hand. "Wh-what?" Ada did not understand what was going to happen. "..Ada.." Xavier had a clue. "I kinda figured I could lose this one. Guess that was what Alphonse saw in me, my impending doom." He said with a bitter smile. "Ali.. Xavier! Don't talk like that!" She said with anger and sadness at the same time. "I knew. But I could not let you duel her either way. You saved me in North City, now we are even." He closed his eyes. "Do what you must Callisto." Ada looked away. _"You idiot." _And a bright flash followed. "That was the constant. Every time, he gives his life to protect Ada's." Once she opened her eyes again, Ada saw a lying Xavier on the floor. "No." She ran over to him. "No, no, no!" She tried to wake him up, but he just did not respond. "You." And in Callisto's hands was a card, a human card. "It was you! It was your trap back in Jasons room! First that trooper, and now Xavier." She took Xaviers cards and tried to activate her disk. "Give him back!" However the disk was taken from her by an unseeable force. "That too is your reaction every time." Callisto only had to flick her wrist to toss the thing aside. "You are being played, Ada. A playing card in the hand of god. All you can do is.. run." Ada was trembling, every fibre in her body told her to listen. "A..a..Aaahhh!" And so she ran as far away as she could.

"This is my belief: The signer is the messenger of god. The true god." Malcean started his big speech, as he turned on all lights in the library. "But god is dead. His existence ended win the great war of thousands of years ago. Ever since then we humanity has faltered, given in to sin and corruption. There was vice in every heart before certainly, but that was not gods design. He gave us too much free reign and look at how we wasted his world. Can you blame the earthbound gods for wanting to reset all of creation?" He paused as if he was waiting for a response. "We have seen the gods. If you call mankind corrupted, then they have been corrupted as well. I do not know whose fault that is, but we have come too far to let them decide our fate!" Ansoni was the one to reply, loudly. "Heh. I expected that kind of answer. And I can agree, the earthbound have been tainted too much to return to true divinity. But I however, have not." Sarah flinched. "What? You want to be a god?" That was what his words sounded like to her. "Is it not our right to try? A dying god chose our families to inherit his majesty, we are the perfect candidates to replace him. This world needs a new creator." He placed his hand on Jasons shoulder. "My children and I have suffered too, we will put an end to all of that."

"We wish to grant one of the earthbounds gods wishes, but we will put them under our control." Jason passed on the card of Aslla Piscu to Malcean. "It is because we will it, that this gods mark has not left the earth." At that point Sarah's and Ansoni's marks began to glow as well. "You are mad, all you are doing is put people through more pain and misery to achieve what you can not have. What about the citizens of Capitol City, the sacrificed innocents at the garden! Your own servants!" The latter were still consumed by the very god he held in his hands. "Bloodshed is necessary, but not preferred. In fact all we need is the blood of the signers and the blessing of the earthbound for the final ritual, the ritual in which I will ascend! !" He pointed at Sarah. "We just need your donation." She took a few steps back. "Say what?" The troopers meanwhile cocked their guns. "He will not make a move." They would shoot at the first sign of trouble. "Please, I do not have to make a move. With the friends I have." He raised his hands to the sky, and the card started to glow as well. "Sir! It's the god, it's.. argh!" Guards on the outer perimeter called in, only to get cut off. "What, what is going on? Aslla Piscu is back?" One trooper looked out the window. "Yes!" He could see the hummingbird in the sky.

"And it is drawing in souls again!" His talisman started to tremble and give off red light. "Stop this! Why are you willingly summoning it!" Ansoni, Sarah and Malcean also formed barriers around themselves. "To get an audience with their kind." And then it got even worse. "Gahhh!" One trooper suddenly fell over and dissolved into orange mist. "Why did he.." Then another fell prey to Aslla Piscu, and another. "Our charms!" The guards realized too late that an unseen force was shattering their talismans one by one. "Come close to us!" Few managed to enter the safety zone in time, the area round the two signers. "Callisto?" All too soon they found out who caused the destruction. "You have met my daughter already." The girl in the white gown stood at the exit. "Hello darling. Are you a good girl today?" He asked his little girl, and she nodded happily. "Callisto can not wait to make real new friends." She snapped her fingers and lifted one of the broken shards. "Oh no. Those are.." Now Ansoni understood where Mlcean would draw his blood samples from. "The DNA is the code." And behind Callisto stood another person, a familiar masked face. "We have all that we need." Lincoln stepped out of the shadows. "Now we can terminate you and move on.."

(To be Continued in Mark 049: Born at First Dawn)

**New Cards used by Xavier Ali**  
>Dragunity Javelin<br>Blackwinged Dragon

-  
>Dragons Mirror<p>

-  
>Descending Lost Star<p>

**Cards used by Callisto**  
>Harvest, Angel of Wisdom<br>Dark Voltanis  
>Herald of Orange Light<br>Sunny Pixie  
>Ancient Sacred Wyvern<p>

-  
>Drastic Drop Off<br>Solemn Warning


	49. 049: Born at First Dawn

**Mark 049: Born at First Dawn**

"Lincoln, so glad to see you could make it." Malcean greeted his ally. "You, how did you get passed the perimeter!" Others not so much. "Let's just say the perimeter suffered the same fate as The Ace of Clubs." He smirked as he answered the guards. "You.." One drew his gun again. "Let me ask you this, you think your psychic powers can stop a bullet?" He had to know as said psychic girl stood right next to Lincoln. "Oh no. Those are far too fast. And you are safe inside a signers barrier anyway." Callisto answered happily. "Good. Then this is payback!" He aimed at the masked man and fired. "Hmph." However the bullet ricocheted off of a silver plate. "What, Why?" A humanoid machine hovered in front of his target, shielding him with its body. "What is that.." And in the middle of his confusion, it released tendrils of light. "Gck." Which stabbed the trooper in the chest and sucked out his energy. The man collapsed to the floor, and the energy was drawn into the core. "That is not.. that thing can get through our protection?" Ansoni was horrified.

"That is enough, you are not here to slaughter them all." Jason yelled at their ally. "My belief is that it is better to leave no enemies alive. But you have a point, no need to slay the chicken before we test the golden egg." He smirked and dismissed his Machine Emperor. "That is not what I." Jason continued to protect, but Malcean placed his hand in front of his son. ". Never mind that. Did you bring the item?" He asked, and the ex-ace nodded. "Indeed. We have held on to this ever since his burial." He opened the suitcase he was carrying with him. "It is a troublesome thing, to secure DNA from a man who has no more relatives." He took out a glass cylinder. "What..is that an.." Within the tube was a severed arm, preserved in water. "Gross!" Sarah could not believe what she saw. "Is that what I think it is?" Ansoni gave Malcean a look of utter disgust. "It is, the arm of Gaunts old friend. Now then.." He walked down the stairs and met them at eye level. "Surrender, you can not escape from this. Just stay and watch the ritual unfold." Ansoni knew they could not retreat anymore, and help would come too late. So he silently ordered his men to stand down. "Excellent. Now all is taken care off." Malcean chuckled. ".." Callisto opted not to say anything about one unresolved matter.

"Hello? HELLO!" A panicked voice shouted over the command room intercoms. "Yes. This is Hearts? Come in?" Macbeth answered the call. "Macbeth?" The girls voice did not calm down much when she heard who she was talking too. "Wait, is that you? The student girl?" Mac did not recall her name. But more importantly he did not think she would the one to report back. "Ada, yes! I am the only one left! Everyone here is knocked out.. or worse!" She said. Right now the girl stood by the helicopter, surrounded by the bodies of the perimeter guards. "Worse? As in, lacking a pulse?" This situation sounded like Richards, that was not good at all. "Yeah. When will those reinforcements get here!" She cried in frustration. "Don't worry, we will soon be there! Hang in there!" He turned to one of the tech agents. "You, keep in contact with her." The Ace went for the exit. "Where will you go sir?" The worker asked. "Kein can not come. So I am going with the reinforcements. But first I need to stop at the medical wing."

Evacuating the area around the hospital where Gaunt was born was a lot easier than it had been at the capitol city. People complained of course, they were told they moved out as a precaution, but they did not get to hear it was all because one girl heard voices. "So. Did you people come up with a better cover story yet?" Urizen asked Kein as the four duelists and an escort walked towards the building. "One that most media has been forced to print." Kein replied as he took a newspaper from a nearby stand. The headlines read 'biochemical/neurological terrorist attack strikes capitol city'. "I meanwhile wish we knew what's was hiding under Lincolns mask so we could put a face next to the headlines. But your old friend Yale will do." Those two were after all the only 'humans' a terrorist attack could be pinned on. "In hindsight, letting a man with a mask become a trusted member of your organization may not have been the best idea." Nathan said under his breath. "I heard that." Kein stopped. "Well, say what you want. First we need to deal with this."

The four stood before the hospital, which held the creative name of 'Cove of Healing'. "Wait. This place.. looks familiar." Urizen felt some buried memories come to light. "This is the place where I was born too." He recognized it now. "I guess that wasn't a coincidence." Nate smirked. "No. But I did not think my father would let nostalgia influence his choices. Mother maybe.." Then again that was so many years ago, he did not know what his father was like then. "So now what? Do we go inside? I have nothing against places like this usually, but now that it is like this." Nathan got chill running down his spine just from looking at the emptied out facility. "I don't know. It would be really bothersome if we came all this way and nothing happened." One guard spoke up and glared at Ramirez. "They will come." She reaffirmed her prediction. "It's not as if they can go anywhere else if they need Gaunts birthplace." Urizen said. he also sincerely doubted the four of them and their entourage could scare off the gods. "And.."

Luckily, or unluckily, they were not kept waiting for long. "They are here!" The ground started to shake, and buildings trembled. "But from where?" Then beams of light shot up into the sky. The entire town was cut off from the beach and other surrounding areas by the divine lines of energy. "These look similar to the ones in capitol city." The light was green, and the shape resembled a lizard. "Ccarayhua. The one who took gaunt." It seemed they had arrived in time, as they were well within the area sealed behind gods light. Though this also meant they were trapped here. "They will go for the highest point." Ramirez said. "Then we have to move fast." They raced up the stairs, and reached the rooftop of the hospital. There they saw flickering flames hover over the roof, red,blue and green flames. "And now they will take form." The red fire took on the form of a young kid, the green flame turned into an old man in a wheelchair, and the blue flame became a man they all knew. "Gaunt!" There now stood his father, nothing more than gods vessel.

"Is this all. Our brother has not been sealed, this is truth." The kid spoke first, but not to them. "It the the fourth signer, he has shown himself. Aslla was wounded by the mark of wing, but healed by the mark of claw. Now he rests with him, it seems that man intends to control us all this way." They spoke to each other, not even acknowledging the presence of the duelists. "Should we even shout at them?" Nathan thought they could at least hear some good information if they kept quiet for now. "Hey!" Urizen did not agree. "Do not ignore us, we came here to stop you!" As he shouted at them, the three all turned their heads to the group. "Oh. It is the offspring of this body." The possessed Gaunt said, his voice even colder and heavier than the human Gaunt could ever have pulled off. "This is an unknown to us. How did these find us in time for the ritual?" The kid said with an annoyed tone. "It is the girl who does not hear." The old man pointed at Ramirez. "What?" She did not hear him say it, but even so she realized they had somehow figured out her role in all of this. "How.. when.." The kid smiled as he saw her confusion. "We have suspected it for quite some time, that a mortal was hearing our words. Sometimes it worked to our advantage, sometimes not."

"But we are here now, to challenge you for the body and soul of Gaunt." Urizen clenched his fist and raised it towards them. "And to seal the lot of you. Just like I did to your brother. Either way you can not overlook what you need." In his other hand he held Chacu Challhua's card. "An interesting proposition, that is what you call it right? You put our brother's essence on the line, while we put on this mans existence." As he spoke the possessed Gaunt's mark started to glow, both the tail sign and the giants sign appeared on his forearm. . "This is the place where this vessel took on his physical shape and attained a will of his own. Here where the soul passed into the mortal realm can it return to the immortals. Yet it took us time to breach the surface here, and it will take more time to finish the ritual." Blue light flowed into the surrounding area. "It has already begun too I see." Kein took this as a sign. "Can't we just take him down?" One of the guards asked as he took out his weapon. "No. You will only harm the body."

"Harming this host you said?" The old man approached them next. "Ah yes, you still see the world through the flesh, it is a point of view I find very interesting." The man held up a hand and slowly moved his fingers. "Possessing these frail old bodies, these vessels worn down over time, I can see why your kind would want to rush matters. Every moment experienced is lost, every instant a part of you dies. I can feel it right now, this body is as close to death as it could possibly be." He then twisted his finger enough to actually break the bone. "Pain, decay, we can no longer remember why we created man with such imperfections. That memory too will return to us once we have found our missing relative." He popped his finger back into position, as if it had never been broken. "But the way history has been recorded, it was the seventh god that cast you out of gods realm and bound you to this world!" Kein protested. "The records of your history. Are those the fairytales you mortals believe in to make yourselves feel better?"

"Once we find him, the creator of creators, his decisions will favor us." The kid laughed. "Every sign is a piece of the creator, this you should know. Once we consume this body and all those like it, we will remember the name of the seventh and we will be freed from our bindings." Nate just sighed as he heard this. "Man, it sounds like you people did not want to learn your lesson. You were trapped in the planet for a reason, do you think the guy will let you go off again?" He wondered if they forgot about the reasons for their imprisonment as well. "All of the past that is reflected within our beings tells us of a great disagreement, one that threatened to undo this world and ours as well. The only way the destruction could be stopped was to remove all connections between the mortal and immortal realms. But now, after thousands of years of having watched the surface suffer without our presence, without His presence, our brother will be forced to see mankind the way we do and accept the sacrifice of your world."

"Sounds to me, like you just could not stand being underneath us for all this time, so now you want to put yourself out of misery by getting rid of us." Urizen scoffed. "We consume the memories of your kind as well, son of Gaunt Artani." The kid started talking again. "Innocent daydreams, guilt infested nightmares, sickening delusions; you would call us corrupted when it is you who did the corruption. You evolved on your own, without our guidance. And we were forced to evolve along with it. But that does not matter now, the mortals that became part of me at the garden are almost completely integrated. First the senses go, then the memories, finally free will and a sense of self are eradicated. Within the next day what you would call a friend or family, will only exist in your mind." it said with a very pronounced smirk. "You.. " That set the son off right there. "I have heard enough, I will crush you now and take back Gaunt!" He took out his deck. "And everyone else as well!" Nate added, though he did not make his move yet.

"Wait." Kein however was the first to activate his dueldisk. "This is my battle." And he inserted his cards. "The hell it is, that is my old man you are talking about!" Urizen shouted and activated his disk too. Or he would have, except he had never gotten a new model after the old one was shorted out back in the palace pool water. "Tsk, you will duel me! I know you can get around this." Chacu had powered on his dueldisk too back during their duel. "We do not have to accept any challenge. However we do wish to see our brother of the seas returned to us." Gaunt tossed a look at the kid and the old man. _"..they are hiding something."_ Ramirez knew they could talk to one and other without the voices of their hosts, but they no longer let her listen in on it. "As you say 'okay', I shall be your opponent." The old man placed himself opposite of Kein. "Him!" Urizen was outraged they ignored him after all. "It is probably better this way, you seem to emotional right now." Kein drew his cards and so did the enemy. "Emotional! Says the guy who is obviously trying to make up for his own mistakes!" Urizen referred of course to Keins emotional outburst which allowed Chacu to possess him in the first place. "Yes but this is your father we are talking about, the connection is deeper for you."

Ccarayhua´s LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000

"Ah, the son of Gaunt. You would use Chacu as an ante, just for a chance at seeing your father again. It is still a bond we do not understand. However you in turn can not begin to understand our reasons." The man placed a stack of cards on his chair. "Why we do what we do, is not for us to clarify." He placed three trap cards down and one monster card. "Either way you are not going to succeed at that this time. My mind is clear, I know what to do." Kein drew his cards. "If I defeat you, Ccarayhua, Gaunts soul will be freed, and the ritual will be stopped entirely." He summoned the Gishki Chain monster(1800/1000), who used his effect to check the top 3 cards of Keins deck for any ritual cards. Kein found a ritual monster and added it to his hand. "The question is not if, mortal, it is when. As always your kind's limits are expressed by the amount of instants left to pass your eyes." Ccarayhua sneered as Kein placed a trap card down as well. "Then let's stop talking shall we? The sooner we end this, the better."

(To be Continued in Mark 050: Ophidophobia)


	50. 050: Ophidophobia

**Mark 050: Ophidophobia**

Ccarayhua's LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000

"I think I know why you would rather face me than Urizen." Kein said as he continued his turn. "Your brother took over my body and mind, read my thoughts and memories. Since you gods seem to be privy to each others experiences, you must know all about how I duel." That was his theory. If it was true or not remained to be seen, since his opponent held his tongue. "Well, I do not think it makes a difference now. Whoever duels you the costs remain the same. I discard Vision Gishki from my hand to add a Gishki ritual monster to my hand." Since he had already gotten a spell through Gishki Chain(1800/1000), he wanted to have a monster next. "I take Evigishki Gustkraken from my deck." Now everything was set for a ritual summon. ".." Except he did not have enough tributes on hand. "I play the spell card Aqua Jet, to add more power to my Chain monster." The Gishki seaserpent gained an aquatic jetpack, which propelled him(2800/1000) towards Ccarayhua's set monster. "I heard about what deck you use, lizard god. Anything you would hide has to have high defense." Gishki's chains tore through a land turtle, the Reptilianne Gardna(02f000). "See our kinds learns from past experiences." Though when that was destroyed, its owner could take a new Reptilianne from his deck.

"You presume your lifespans can let you learn. Yet for all the mysteries you uncover, it will be all be for naught once your last day ends." Ccarayhua added a Reptilianne Medusa to his hand, and then his turn started. "Isn't it much better if all your knowledge were to become part of something that will never die?" He activated the spell Reptilianne Spawn, banishing Gardna in his cemetery to summon two reptile tokens(0/0). "Is he going to summon it?" Urizen remembered him using that card to bring out his true form last time. "He lacks a field spell though." Nathan said, hoping he did not just jinx Kein. "One spawn is sacrificed." Luckily he did not, the token was used to bring out Medusa(2200/800). "One card is severed so she may turn another monster to a powerless state." Ccarayhua discarded a monster and let Medusa use her stare to petrify Gishki Chain(0/1000). "Wait, did he just." However the card that was discarded was the Earthbound Immortal card. "Then he is going for Dump and revival tactics."

"Now two powerless spirits anywhere on the field can be used as a sacrifice for Vaskii!" A four armed naga monster(2600/0) was special summoned; the remaining spawn and the statue-turned seaserpent became its tributes. "Direct strike." Both snake-like females slithered over to Keins side. "Guh." He was bitten by snake hair and swiped at by black claws. "Is that all you got?" he smirked, despite the pain he felt. "You know ancient records also say how you gods punished the mortals when they went out of line. Petrification and poison was your specialty, right? But then I suppose there is no point in doing any of that, since you want to consume all of me." The god said nothing and ended his turn. "Just stop talking already and draw!" Urizen was the one who grew impatient. "I know we are short on time, but I will not rush this. That is exactly how everything went wrong the last time. Anyway, I activate my trap card first!" He revealed the trap, Ceremonial Mirror Meditation. "Since I have a Gishki AquaMirror spell in my hand, I can add two Gishki monsters back to my hand."

Keins LP: 3200

He took back Vision Gishki and Gishki Chain. The latter(1800/1000) was resummoned. "Chains effect activates!" Kein was hoping for it to find another ritual monster or spell in deck, but neither of the top three cards fulfilled those qualifications. _"Tsk. I have to ritual summon this one then._ Vision Gishki can fuel a Gishki ritual summon all by itself." He sacrificed the Vision monster in his hand to activate the AquaMirror ritual spell. "I bring out Evigishki Gustkrake!" A halfsquid/halfman aqua monster(2400/1000) emerged from the blue mirror. "I intended to use his powers against you, reptile god. But as your hand is now empty, it has lost its purpose." Gustkraken could send cards in a players hand back to the deck. "But brute force is still available to me. I activate the Book of Moon to switch Vaskii to face-down defense mode!" It had zero defense, so it was quite helpless in such a position. However.. "Interdimensional Matter Transporter." This spell was chained too with a trap, Ccarayhua removed Vaskii from the field for one turn.

"What?" And to hhis first trap, a second trap was linked. "Zero Force: when my spirit is banished, all other spirits will be rendered powerless." Zero force sent out three rings of energy which weakened Medusa(0/800) but also Gishki Chain(0/1000) and Gustkraken(0/1000) "Damn. He had that set up since the beginning." With that kind of attacking power, he could not even do damage. "I know what you intend to do, but I will still attack!" Zero power monsters could at least kill another zero power monster. "Chain attacks Medusa!" The chains ripped through the snake-haired witch, however only she died in this clash of equals. "Serpent Supression." A continuous trap card saved Chains life. "Your monsters with no power will not die when they battle reptilianne spirits." Keins plan to remove his weaker monsters would not take off now. "Then i activate the Ritual Cage!" A golden birdcage surrounded the Kraken. "I know what Vaskii does, once a turn she can destroy monsters I control. The cage will protect my ritual monster from effects like that."

He placed a card down and ended his turn. Vaskii(2600/0) returned to the field afterwards. "It appears you forgot something." The kid suddenly spoke up. "What is that?" Kein asked him. "You said you could disrupt the ritual by destroying the form that holds Gaunts being. However, you forgot that we do not need to summon our true forms." Urizen cringed when he realized what he meant to say. "You discarded the god on purpose?" The old man forced a smile. "The end of your existence is near." He let Vaskii attack Gishki Chain. "No! I will not be fooled again!" Kein revealed his trap. "Poseidon Waves! I negate an attack and then do 800 damage for each sea monster I control." Waves of water washed over the rooftop, which pushed back the Reptilianne. "I control two!" The water also hit the man in the wheelchair, taking down 1600 lifepoints of his. "You better not." Urizen grumbled from the sidelines. "He can do it." Nate trusted him to not make that mistake again. "You move slowly." The reptile god placed a trap before his turn ended.

Ccarayhua's LP: 6400

"Oh. Is god trying to trashtalk now? I will show you how fast it can get for us mortals.." Kein entered his main phase. "I just have to summon.." Yet he soon found his hand and field could not meet his expectations. Three tokens(0/1000) suddenly appeared on the field. "Ojama Trio?" The enemy had played a trap he usually saw Macbeth use. "Now he controls five.." Ramirez pointed out that Kein no longer had empty monster zones. "Gah. Why would he even run that kind of card?" Urizen cursed at the randomness of it all. Except it was not so random. "Grr. I set a card and end my turn." Kein was unable to get out of this situation either way. "Reptilianne Viper." And now the opponent revealed the point behind the trap, as he summoned the level 2 cobra tuner. "Viper can control one spirit with 0 attackpoints or less." Ritual Cage protected the Kraken, but not the chain wielder. "Come to me, Gishki Chain." The level 4 seaserpent walked over to the old mans side. "And than, the synchro summon.. Reptilianne Hydra!" The two were the materials for the many-headed level 6 Hydra(2100/1500). "Hydra destroys all monsters on the field with 0 attackpoints." This was why, the Ojama tokens were instantly swallowed up by three of the synchro's heads.

Keins LP: 2300

Tokens created by Ojama Trio also took out 300 lifepoints if they were removed from the field. "But Ritual Cage still shields my ritual monster, and it also prevents battle damage to its owner!" Kein yelled, clarifying why he left Evigishki Gustkraken in attack mode to begin with. Neither Vaskii or Hydra would be able to inflict damage if they chose to attack it. "I am aware of that. However, you must also be aware of Hydra's ability." Ccarayhua started drawing cards from his deck. "Feh. I am, Hydra lets you draw for each monster that was destroyed." The god drew three times. "One of these is a spell I use; Advance Draw." Then it chose to sacrifice Reptilianne Vaskii. "A highlevel monster gives its life for two more cards." The enemy drew two more times. "Hmm." Yet he drew nothing that could kill the Gustkraken. "I believe this is what mortals from another part of the surface world have given the word 'impasse'. You should be pleased with yourself." He activated a spell, the Magical Citadel of Endymion. "A field spell?" The rising city towers and houses could only mean one thing. "Viper's Rebirth, one reptile in the cemetery is reborn!" God would be summoned, the giant lizard climbed up along the central spire. "Direct attack." And sent its claws towards Kein. "!"

Gods claw smashed through the roof, breaking it to pieces. "Look out!" The other duelists and the guards had to run to the edges to avoid falling down into the floors below. "Come on!" One guard even had to pull Ramirez aside as she just stared at the monstrosity. "Kein.. where is Kein?" Nate could not see him anywhere. "No. he messed it up, he ruined it all!" Urizen was more angered with his apparent loss than his apparent demise. "I should have dueled him, damn it! I already defeated one of these bastards!" Meanwhile the gods avoided the destruction simply by floating above the building. "That man is always one step away from victory. Anjd yet.." The old man hovered above the smouldering hole. "Chacu's memories tell us he was at least above you in skill. My memories tell me that your father was too. So please, do not presume that we chose to challenge this man because we feared you. In fact." He glared at Urizen. "Your arrogance does not fit a mortal. You speak as if you were one of us." Urizens left eye twitched. However his response was put on hold. "Do not count me out yet." Keins voice broke through the noise. "Oh. You lived?" The Ace of Spades walked out of the smoke, looking banged up but not broken. "Not because you held back, I can tell you that."

Keins LP: 2300

"Defense Draw." He revealed the trap that saved him, a card that negated damage from one attack. "Do not think I will leave myself open, god." He could also draw a card from his deck. "It is just like your kind to cherish every small victory, never seeing the long term visions. However in this battle, against this adversary, any victory will come with a price you mortals can not afford." Ccarayhua ended his turn, and his god card started to melt away. "What is happening?" The earthbound Immortals green blood leaked all over the building. "It's Viper's Rebirth. That spell destroys the reptiles it revives during the endphase." Nathan explained to the guard. "It gets worse." Urizen knew what Ccarayhua's unique power was. "When it dies by the actions of other cards, it takes all cards down with it." Ritual Cage could not save Evigishki if it was destroyed at the same time. The blood washed over the kraken and the Hydra, sending them all to their deaths. Serpent Supression also left the dueling field. "Yet his field spell remains?" Endymions citadel endured this effect. "That card gains spellcounters each time a spell is activated, and can lose one spellcounter to keep itself intact." Two spells had been used this turn it had gained 1 counter it could tribute.

"I recall a special memory about you now, Ace of Spades is it?" This gods turn was over, yet another felt an urge to talk, the one inside Gaunts body. "Yes, Gaunt met you and selected you for a special task. You were one of the few that were told about our kind." Kein did not bother to entertain him with answers and just drew in his draw phase. "Yet it provides an interesting contrast with the memories Chacu gained from you." Yet it continued. "I know what you are trying to do. It will not work." Kein summoned a monster, the Djinn Presider of Rituals(1800/1400). "You thought he believed in you, despite you being the second choice. He thought you appreciated the dangers that were thrusted upon you. Neither of those are true. Do you want to know what his last thoughts were, before my brother claimed him? His thoughts about you, and how you ruined his operation?" Kein cringed and took off his shades. "I am not fighting you, am I? I do not care what you see and what you infer from it!" Without hesitating he let the Djinn attack the enemy directly. "Yes I did not expect that becoming an Ace would lead to situations like these, that he created the very term of ace just so he could find duelists to fight god aside from signers. But I realized the need for all of it!"

Ccaryahua's LP: 4600

"Now, we can continue this duel, or we can keep repeating what we all know already. Yes I failed my task, I let my grudge with Nathan get the better of me." He spared Nate a quick glance. "That is how it works, we sleep in the beds we make, but we are not incapable of dealing with the consequences. Like I will deal with you!" He ended his turn. "No matter how infinite the repercussions?" The old man asked. "You are right when you say you do not care about our bonds. Because the way I see it, that makes us as infinite as you are all by yourself. I will show you that mankind is more than the select few chosen by god."

Meanwhile Ramirez snapped out of her momentary daze. "Thank.. you." She said to the guard that had dragged her aside. "Do not mention it." He replied off-handedly. "Just what were you doing anyway?" He sounded annoyed, as this was no time to stare off into space. "I saw something too." Though she could not hear the tone he was using and responded calmly. "Yeah we all see it." He sighed and went back to aiming his gun at the gods. "Why did we even come here." The gun would not even stop them, that he knew. ".." Ramirez however had meant something different, as when CCrayhua briefly appeared over the building, another picture flashed through her mind. _"That was not here, that was not.. now." _What she saw was a red sky, forests on fire and a city in ruin. It was not a place she thought she had been to before, nor did it look like it took place in this country or in this time of the year. _"But, that was when.. they first appeared?"_ A giant lizard and a titanic man cutting through the red skies. _"Why am I remembering this now?"_

(To be Continued in Mark 051: Im/Mortals Due)

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Vision Gishki<br>Evigishki Gustkrake

-  
>Aqua Jet<br>Book of Moon

-  
>Ceremonial Mirror Meditation<br>Poseidon Waves  
>Defense Draw<p>

**New Cards used by Ccarayhua**  
>Reptilianne Medusa<br>Reptilianne Vaskii

-  
>Magical Citadel of Endymion<br>Vipers Rebirth  
>Advance Draw<p>

-  
>Interdimensional Matter Transporter<br>Zero Force  
>Serpent Supression<br>Ojama Trio


	51. 051: ImMortals Due

**Mark 051: Im/Mortals Due**

At Malceans stately home, another squad of jeeps and vans drove arrived. Macbeth and the reinforcements parked just outside the energy field of Aslla Piscu. "Ada! We are here, can you hear us?" Macbeth stepped out of the car and tried to reach her. "I can hear you just fine." But she was close by enough to eliminate the need for that type of communication. "Good. You managed to stay safe." The Ace of Hearts saw her come out of a van left behind by the first wave of troops. "Check the men!" Meanwhile some medics tended to those less fortunate. "No lifesigns, sir." But the bodies to be as good as dead. "It is as we feared then. This is Lincolns work." The Ace glanced at the ambulance they had taken with them. "In this case, we may have to do something desperate." He sighed. "But we are here now, let fus see what we can do here first." They observed the building in front of them. _"More guests eh?" _They were not aware however, that they too were being observed. Jason could see them from one of the castle towers.

Ccarayhua's LP: 4600 Keins LP: 2300

"You believe that your talisman will allow you to seal our true forms?" The reptile god drew a card and summoned the colorful chameleon monster, Oshaleon(1400/800). "Gaunt has no memories that tell us if those would even work." His brother in Gaunts body said with a chuckle. "The blood holds the blessing of the seventh god, yet that charm you hang around your neck is nothing more than a forgery. It will not fool the divine." Ccarayhua then equipped the Oshaleon with a lizard-like mask. "Reptilianne Rage. This mask strengthens any monster and makes it a member of the lizard family." Oshaleon(2200/800) then shot out its tongue and attached it to the Djinn Presider(1800/1400), pulling it back into his mouth. "And even so. My true form rests in the cemetery. As you saw, you can not release the souls I devoured if it is destroyed by a card of my choosing." Last turn the spell 'Vipers Rebirth' had sent it to the grave, but that apparently did not count as 'destroying it'. "I will find a way, there is an answer to everything."

Keins LP: 1900

"Gishki Abyss!" Kein summoned a monster with a shark for a head(800/500). "Abyss sends one Gishki monster with less than 1000 defense to my hand." Kein took out the Shadow Gishki card, a seaserpent with exactly 1000 defense points. "I can discard it to add a ritual spell to my hand." Kein took another Gishki AquaMirror from his deck. "Also, I can return the first Mirror I used back to my deck to take a Gishki ritual monster from it." Kein took the ritual spell out of the graveyard and added a new ritual monster to his hand. "The level 6 Tetrogre! Since the Djinn of Rituals is in my cemetery, it can be used as a ritual sacrifice too!" He banished the level 4 djinn and the level 2 Abyss shark to ritualitstically summon the deepsea demon Evigishki Tetrogre(2600/2100) through the aquamirror. "It uses its effect to discard one trap card from both our decks!" Kein demonstrated this by discarding Skill Revolution, while the god followed by discarding Snake Whistle. "Then it attacks Oshaleon!" The ogre fired jets of pressurized water from his shoulder-cannons, which sent the chameleon off into the distance. "And because Djinn Presider was one of the sacrifices in this ceremony, I can draw every time Tetrogre destroys a monster." Kein drew once.

Ccarayhua's LP: 4200

"And I know about your monster too. When Oshaleon dies, you can take a weak reptile from your deck." He saw Ccarayhua add a Reptilianne Gardna to his hand "Did you keep the other cards abilities in mind as well?" The god pointed out that while Oshaleon had been slain, the mask of Rage stayed behind. "When Reptilianne Rage's target dies, its killer owns the mask and is weakened." The mask attached itself to the Ogre's face(1800/1200). "... Since I control a water monster, I can activate Contact with the Aquamirror!" The Ace cried out as he played a spell that let him look at the top two cards of an opponents deck. "I can then reshuffle them in any order." The next two cards Ccarayua would draw were the Evil Dragon Ananta and Kagetokage the Shadow Lizard. _"That card?" _The first one was a major threat, it could kill Kein in one blow with its attack boosting effects if it were to be summoned. "I send your top card down by one." He ordered before ending his turn. "So you stall as well." The lizard god was forced to draw Kagetokage first.

"That is all you mortals seem to do, postponing the end that waits every last one of you." He normal summoned the Reptilianne Gorgon(1400/1400). "When a monster of the 4th class is normal summoned, this lizard can be special summoned." A lizard of pure darkness', Kagetokage(1100/1500) emerged from the Gorgons own shadow. "However slow this may be, you will have to face death." He sent both reptiles towards the still stronger Tetrogre. The Gorgon struck first, and though she was defeated, her effect managed to petrify the ritual serpent(0/1200). It was helpless against the Lizards attack. "Do not give up sir!" One soldier shouted as he saw the ace struggle to stand after that attack. "Never even crossed my mind." Kein forced a smile as he was allowed to take his turn. "I know what is coming next however." He placed one monster in face-down defense position. "And I know you can not do enough damage this turn." He ended his turn. "Then you learn fast. But knowledge too is limited by how much you can experience."

Ccarayhua's LP: 3800 Keins LP: 800

Now it was drawn, the serpent dragon. "By banishing all reptiles on the field and in the grave, it can be special summoned." The god explained to anyone still not aware of its effect. "Ananta!" And then Shadowlizard was removed, along with all dead reptiles; Medusa, Viper, Vaskii, Hydra, Oshaleon, Gorgon and even Ccarayhua's earthbound god card. "It will gain power, a separate head, for each banished spirit." Eight cards had been removed, so an eight-headed serpent dragon appeared(4800/4800), each head held 600 attack and defense points. "Witness its power!" The old man shouted as all eight heads fired a blast of acid at the face-down card. "No, you witness the power of my monster!" A young blue-haired witch(1000/1800) met her end, Erial was her name. "When Gishki Erial was flipped just now, one other Gshki monster is added to my hand." He claimed another Shadow Gishki card from his deck. "Hmph. But during the endphase, Ananta will destroy one card on the field." Ccarayhua normal summoned his Gardna(0/2000) and let his own dragon feast on it. "When Gardna dies, another Reptilianne comes to my hand." The heads spat out a different card, the god in the old man took Reptilianne Naga from the deck. "End turn."

"Damn it, with a monster like that, he wont even need his true form." Urizen grumbled, thinking his father would never be freed at this rate. "I know that, Urizen. That is why.." Kein discarded the Shadow Gishki from his hand to add a Gishki ritual spell to his hand. "I have to steal it." But instead of the regular mirror spell, he added a different ritual spell to his hand. "What is this?" At the same time Kein returned the second AquaMirror to his deck to take out a third Evigishki, the Soul Ogre. "If I could, I would summon Soul Ogre the normal way. But.." The Ace played the ritual card, Forbidden Arts of the Gishki. "Now I have to use this, this spell uses my enemy's monsters as the sacrifice!" The level 8 Ananta was just what he needed to satisfy his level 8 Soul Ogre. "Yes!" Nathan cheered him on as one dragon made room for another seaserpent(1400/2800). "Wait. You can not attack during this turn now right?" Until he remembered the drawbacks to that powerful spell. "Yes. And as you can see its attack is halved too."

"Regardless, its defense will do." He had at least summoned Soul Ogre in defense mode. "I set a trap card and end my turn." And if his opponent wanted to use naga as a defense of his own, Kein could always send it back to the deck with Soul Ogre's effect. "Another stand-off." Ccarayhua drew a spell this turn. "You know you want to summon it. It is the only way." Kein goaded him on. "Perhaps. I do tire of this game. That could be this body telling me something. And my deck as well.." He activated a spell card: Different Dimension Reincarnation. "It too wishes for me to use my full potential." By discarding a card like the Naga he could release one monster from the banished zone. "Oh no!" And the guards all shuddered as the enemy brought forth the black lizard(2800/1800) once more. "But even if you survive this round, you will not be able to.." Yet in the middle of his grand appearance and pride-filled speech. "Torrential Tribute!" Kein flipped the card he had set, a trap that destroyed all monsters when a monster was summoned.

"I was waiting for this." The tidal wave swept across the shattered hospital, drowning the Earthbound God and the Evigishki serpent. "You.. you had that card in your hand this entire time?" The god demanded his asnwer and Kein gave it in the form of a rather smug nod. "I could only use this on god after all, I had to destroy it. And now!" He brought up the talisman. "Release the souls you devoured!" It shone for an instant. "Did it work?" Urizen quickly casted a glance at his father, but the man was still standing. "Aheh." And laughing along with the kid possessed by the spider. "No. No he is still." It appeared the god of the giants sign still imhabited that body. "You were wrong!" He yelled at Kein. "It takes more huh?" Kein did not sound as upset, because at the very least he was not going to lose this duel. "You can not fool me. If I take out your lifepoints, you will be forced to release any soul you hold on too. Chacu managed to keep his souls because your brothers were controlling some of them at the time. this is the same situation." Kein drew a card. "But can you find a solution in the time you have left?" The old man recovered from the shock and smirked again. "My brother is almost done consuming the mark of Gaunt, after that there will be no way to seperate them!"

"Then I will find enough power to finish you in a single battle phase!" Kein drew a card; The Preparation of Rites. _"This spell allows me to take back a ritual spell from my graveyard and a level 7 or lower ritual monster from my deck. But.." _He still needed sacrifices and a ritual spell. "Gishki Noellia!" He called out the redhaired hag of the sea(1700/1000) "She can see the top five cards of my deck, and send any ritual spells among them to the grave." He intended to send at least one down there, so he could use the Preparation card. "But if it fails." He did not know if he had another turn after this, he was worried that he would get nothing. "No! Do not hesitate now!" Urizens impatience was reaching its high point. "Prove it, prove that you are a duelist!" Kein listened to his words, and while they came from the wrong emotion, they headed for the right conclusion. "This will prove a lot of things." He took five cards. "And will repay some of the debts I owe!" There were two ritual spells among them, one AquaMirror and the Ritual of Grace.

"I discard these two!" The rest of the cards were shuffled back into his deck, and then he activated the spell. "Preparation of Rites! I add Ritual of Grace to my hand, along with Northwemko from my deck!" And he also used the discarded mirrors effect a third time, taking a second Soul Ogre out of his deck. "I sacrifice the Soul Ogre in my hand!" The level 8 ogre fueled the Ritual of Grace, and allowed Kein to call out her Divine Grace - Northwemko(2700/1200). "I knew you could do it!" Nathan pumped his fist, there was no stopping The Ace now. "God of reptiles, this is the end for you." he entered the battle phase. "You believe you can seal me?" The old man looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "I will find out!" Noellia blasted the enemy with a jet of water. "And I have not done this in too long a while, but I earned this! Sublime Absolution!" He named the attack of Northwemko as she released rays of holy light to extinguish the last few lifepoints of the serpentine foe. "Ugh..Ghuahh!" He started to convulse, and the green lights flickered.

Ccarayhua's LP: 0

"You.. you wastes of time." The old man coughed out before he slumped back into his chair, a card dropping from his hand. "I win." Kein took his time to catch his breath and picked the card up. "And it seems this is the proof you wanted." It was the earthbound God Ccayaryhua, sealed in card form. "In the end my younger let himself be tainted too much by your views of time." Rather than showing outright shock, the kid merely watched the while scene with mild interest. "If the old man was freed, then Gaunt should be.." Nathan looked Gaunts way, the mark of the giant had left his arm ".. released?" However he was not conscious, the body fell to the ground. "What? That is not how it should be!" Urizen flinched. "gah!" But then he reached for his head as a sharp pain hit it from out of nowhere. "Urizen? What is wrong?" The others turned to him, and the god of spiders started grinning again. "He is.. it is in him now!" Ramirez was the first to figure it all out, where Ccapac Apu had gone too after he was forced out of Gaunt.

"Inside..Urizen? No! That was their intent all along!" Kein saw it now, it was not about having him as an opponent, it was about enraging the one they would not duel. "Emotions make you weak, emotions lead to fragility between the mortal and immortal." The kid explained again, as Urizen started to move back and forth. "Can't he fight it?" Nathan asked. However he was answered by Urizen himself. "Who says I want too?" He raised his hand and sent out a wave of energy. "Not again.." The lines of the lizard were taken over by the mark of the giant, which separated everyone from Urizen and the opponent he apparently chose. "You are.. not it." Ramirez was inside the barrier, everyone else outside. "Damn straight I am not some god. They can not keep me under control." Even now he still had his own voice. "No, you are being used!" Keins protests were ignored and the redhead forced his own dueldisk to activate. "But they see now, how strong I am, and they let me see who my true enemies are." He pointed at the girl. "It was all your fault, you set me on the path of dishonor. I wandered the world and you made it all for nothing. Now, I will take my revenge." He took out his deck and shuffled a few cards into it. "I will get even, with the help of my new 'friends'. The only friends I will ever need."

(To be Continued in Mark 052: Fade to Black)

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Abyss<br>Evigishki Tetrogre  
>Gishki Noellia<p>

-  
>Contact with the Aquamirror<br>Forbidden Arts of the Gishki

**New Cards used by Ccarayhua**  
>Kagetokage<br>Evil Dragon Ananta

-  
>Reptilianne Rage<br>D.D. Reincarnation


	52. 052: Fade to Black

**Mark 052: Fade to Black**

"Do not even try to talk me out of this, do not try to tell me I am being used here. I can see clearly now for the first time in a long time." Urizen, now inhabited by the essence of an earthbound god, focused his attentions solely on Ramirez. "I will prove it to erveryone here, that I am better than you, that I am better then everyone! The duel we did not finish that time, we will finish it now!" He drew cards until he had 2 in his hand. "So, accept my challenge, Ramirez, or be crushed along with everyone else that stands in my way!" Suddenly a monster appeared from his dueldisk, the Steelswarm Girastag demon(2600/0). "Urizen, wait, Gaunt is still not.." Kein tried to bring him to his senses by pointing at his still unconscious father who lied not too far away from him. "Like I care about him now! You had your chance and you nearly failed it! You are an enemy too, and I will crush you next, Ace of Spades." Urizen smirked and turned back to the girl. "Here I come. Whether you are ready or not, I shall not hold back! Girastag attacks!"

The demon sent its tail through the ground. "!" Ramirez quickly activated her deck as well. "Oh no." But this attack damaged the rooftop even more, it started to break down completely. "Everyone, move downstairs. This place is not safe anymore!" Kein yelled as he himself grabbed Gaunt and carried him over his shoulder. "And bring the old man too!" Two guards were ordered to take the former vessel of Ccarayhua, and they all ran down the stairs as quickly as they could. "It is just you and me now!" Urizen shouted as his stagbeetle closed in on her. ".." Ramirez was somehow unable to draw cards, but she was allowed to set a card and summon one monster. "Aha, you figured it out!" The demons tail slammed against an Infernity Guardian(1200/1700). The monster could not die since she held no cards in her hand, but the impact itself packed enough physical force to knock her to the edge of the building. "Ggh." She jumped off of it, landing a bit roughly on the rooftop of a neighboring building. "Are you having fun yet?"

Ramirez's LP: 5600 Urizens LP: 1900

Their lifepoints had been set, their fields had been readied, their graves were filled. Everything was exactly like how they had left the duel since their last encounter. "You could not get away." Urizen jumped down to her level as well. "You will finish what we started." He had a trap on his field as well. "Sangan!" Urizen then summoned the three-eyed critter(1000/600). "And Dark Spirit Art - Greed!" he flipped his trap, and sacrificed Sangan to activate it. "Since you like to have an empty hand so much, I will make min greater! You have no spells in your hand, so I can draw two cards now!" As well since Sangan left the field, he was allowed to add a monster with 1500 attackpoints or less to his hand. He added a Battlefader. "Heheh. And you have no idea how eager my deck is to end this." He looked at his hand, a certain card had been drawn. "Gold Sarcophagus: I banish mausoleum of the Emperor from my deck and add it to my hand in 2 turns." He activated the spell and sealed a field spell inside a gold chest. After that he placed a trap down.

"Now it is your turn. Will you keep stalling, I wonder? Or will I see why people mistake you the reaper." He chuckled and let Ramirez draw. "I did not realize.. at the time. That the blackout caused you to lose." Ramirez placed the card face-down. "But I did not want to defeat you, just to stop your progress. I had to see.. " She activated the set card, the spell ZERO MAX. She revived Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400) with it. "You already told me what you want to say!" However at the same time, Urizen revealed his trap card, Infestation Wave. "A test of strength means nothing if it is interrupted! Maybe you did not anticipate that, but I do not care." He recalled Girastag, allowing it to evade the other effect of her spell, which was to destroy all monsters weaker than Doomdragon. Infernity Guardian survived that effect due to its own effect. "Infestation Wave returns a Steelswarm monster that was tribute summoned and destroys another card!" Waves of dark energy crushed the dragon of death. "I had you on the defense, and that is where you will stay!"

Ramirez could not enter the battle phase during a turn in which ZERO MAX was activated, so she had to end it. "Charities like that can all be damned, I do not need to be warned or diverted." Urizen revived the Steelswarm Scout(200/100) who still rested in his graveyard. When he controlled no spells or traps, it could be special summoned after all. "Now then. Let us try this.. again!" And Girastag could be tribute summoned with one tribute less if the other one was a Steelswarm monster. "I summon Girastag and use its effect!" The stag-demon sent its tail to grab Infernity Guardian and throw it deep into the ground. "His effect is meaningless against an effect that only 'sends' monsters to their death!" In return urizen was given back 1000 of his lifepoints. "And now we will almost be even." His demon then fired a blast of darkness directly at Ramirez. "But this will not end until one of us drops. And with the power I have on my side now, I know who that shall be." He placed two cards down and ended his turn again.

Ramirez's LP: 3000 Urizens LP: 2900

"..Archfiend." Ramirez revealed what she drew, this turn she gained a card whose effect could be used now. "You would not dare." Urizen growled as he had to watch her special summon the Infernity Archfiend(1800/1200). "You know, what will happen." She could add another Infernity card to her hand now, and she chose Infernity Mirage. "Sacrifice the Mirage." The indian shaman(0/0) was normal summoned and immediately tributed to revive two other Infernity monsters in her cemetery. She brought out Infernity Necromancer(0/2000) and the Doomdragon. "Even now, you threaten me?" Urizen could not stop these monsters either. The Necromancer ressurected the first Archfiend in her graveyard, while the Doomdragon sent out flames that destroyed Girastag. Half of the Steelswarm monsters attackpoints were deducted from its masters lifepoints as well. "I have to. You are not yourself." And thanks to the other archfiend summoned, she could add an Infernity card to her hand. "Infernity Burst." She took out and activated Infernity Burst, the spell that burned the opponent for each Infernity monster summoned in a turn. "I am no longer that weak, you mean!" But he could negate that spell. "Dark Bribe!" With the counter trap card he had set down before her turn.

Urizens LP: 1600

In return the girl was allowed to draw a card from her deck, which she placed in her trap zone. "Were you meant to gain this power?" Ramirez asked as she entered her battle phase. "The son of a marked one, still closer to what I was hoping to find than any other. And now he is their tool" The archfiends launched a direct attack. However as she expected, he special summoned the Battlefader(0/0) from his hand to negate their attacks and end the battle phase. That is just it, isn't it?" Urizen scowled as he did not even wait for her to declare the end of her turn. "I failed my father, I did not inherit any godlike qualities. He gave me that cheating dueldisk to test me, but nothing ever happened. So if I am not meant to be his gods duelist, I will be theirs!" The sarcophagus opened and he took the Mausoleum out of it. "But enough of your desires and excuses, you are nothing anymore." He played the spell, the Mausoleum could take 1000 LP away to create pseudo-tributes. "And my god will reduce you to nothing!" The Battlefader along with 1000 lifepoints were sacrificed to bring out a highlevel monster in his hand. "Come, earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu!" A black heart appeared in the skies, and it started to draw in all life energy. "This proves it, I am the stronger duelist!"

Urizens LP: 600

"Look!" Kein and company finally reached the ground floor and were just in time to see the immortal take solid form. "Stay with me!" Keins talisman protected them all from its influence, and the city had been evacuated as well. Only lifeforms like plants or insects were drawn into the black giant(3000/2500). "But if that attacks now, she will be.." Nathan had not kept track of the duel, but he saw that she lacked the lifepoints to endure a direct attack. "Here it is, everyone. This is your death and my new pride." Urizen shouted to all below. "This is goodbye!" He entered the battle phase and Ccapac Apu smashed right through this building as well, crushing it with an open palm. "No, I will not let it end this way." Ramirez was forced to jump on to another rooftop again, as the previous building she stood on crumbled into dust. The debris and dust surrounded the duelist and guards. "She survived?" They were surprised to see her escape damage alltogether. "Ah, the Spirit Barrier!" And it had been because of a single trap of hers.

"Feh, I do recall that nuisance." Urizen remembered her using it against Ada to great effect. It was a barrier that prevented damage to the controllers of monsters. "So you bought yourself one turn. But one turn alone!" He placed a trap card and ended his turn. "Ccapac Apu can do damage equal to the monsters he kills! So it only has to kill your dragon to end you! Since you are not marked at all, destroying my owngod will not let it be sealed. And you will be the one to lose!" He let her start her turn. She drew a card and placed it down. "I can still." She tried to activate the effect of Doomdragon. "No you can not. You have no hopes." He flipped his trap card. "Book of eclipse! All monsters are switched to face-down defense position!" Doomdragons flames fizzled out as it went into hiding along with the archfiends and the necromancer. "You Ramirez, are just a lowly mortal. Listening in on the gods without ever repaying them for their words. You go as far as to drag others out of their path. With that offense, it is no wonder that you lost your hearing."

During her endphase her monsters flipped back to a face-up position and she had to draw cards for every monster flipped. However she could not use any of them, as it was his turn now. "But then what will you do. If you win?" She asked while drawing four times. "You do not need to know." Urizen summoned the Evil Hero monster, Infernal Gainer(1600/0). "Infernal Gainer can banish itself to allow another demon to attack two times." The hellish hero disappeared and now both hands of the giant god glowed with an eerie blue light. "But I will not need the second attack, will I?" The first hand went after Doomdragon, catching it and crushing it into a bloody pulp. "And now 3000 damage is dealt to you!" Ccapac Apu fired a blast of darkness at Ramirez. "!" This time she could not evade it. "No!" Nathan and the others saw her get hit dead on, and the infernity duelist was knocked off of the building, falling down to the streets. "I did it!" Urizen meanwhile started laughing maniacally, basking in his viictory. "I beat the reaper! Ahahaha!"

Ramirez's LP: 0

..

Everything had gone dark, all scent and touch left her and all sounds were muted. Yet the last part was nothing new to her, even so this feeling could only mean one thing. _"Dead..I am dead." _She tried to look at her own hand, but not even her body could be seen in this absolute darkness. _"Or was I.. supposed to be dead?" _It was strange, but in this senseless void, her memories became clearer then ever. She recalled the red skies again, but this time she also saw a construct. It was a temple, people were there. _"I must have been here after all. Was this when 'it' happened?" _She tried to think back and placed this event at about two and a half years ago. Just before she lost her hearing. _"Then.." _Yet while that stayed lost, sight and other sensations slowly returned to her. She could make out new buildings, familiar ones. _"Oh. That is right. My life was gone.."_ She felt the cold pavement under her back, and a few broken bones in her body. _"But I can not lose yet." _Despite all that, the girl got up. _"I have not done enough."_

"Impossible! You were crushed, beaten, dead!" Urizen saw her get up as if nothing had happened. "I was. But. I had this card." However next to her a new monster hovered, a totem-shaped demon(0/0). "What is that card?" Kein did not recognize it from anywhere. but then the Infernity family was not registered anyway. "Infernity Zero. When my life drops to nothing, it will be summoned at the cost of my hand." Ramirez had discarded the other three cards in her hand. "It can not die while my hand is devoid of cards, and so neither can I." Even at zero lifepoints, she could continue the game. "I have three more lives. However.." Ramirez grabbed her left hand with her right. "Those are false lives.. I am already dead." She snapped it back into position. "You mean.. the fall killed you?" Nathan did think that drop looked like it was not something she could survive. "I have been dead, I believe, since that day." She said as she looked at Urizen and then at the possessed kid still floating around. "They probably do not remember like I do. They would not think of one mortal, even if she was part of it. Part of those that let them go free." Kein flinched when he heard her say that. "What, let them go free?" The girl nodded. "Yes. I was there. I remember it now, I remember who I was."

_Infernity Zero, 1/0/0/ Dark/Fiend  
>When your opponent activates a card or effect that would inflict damage, you can discard all other cards in your hand to Special Summon this card from your hand. You do not lose the Duel even if your Life Points become 0.<br>If you have no cards in your hand, this card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle. For each time you take damage, place 1 Death-Counter on this card. When there are 3 Death-Counters on this card, banish it._

"Oh I remember those souls." The kid possessed by Uru landed on the streets. "A band of explorers found the temple, archeologists is what I believe you name mortals like those. Yes it was those helpful people that broke the seals put in place, and allowed us to reach the surface." Uru stared at Ramirez. "Yet if you claim to be a part of them, you must have been part of me for some time. All those explorers were my first meal in millennia. Until the signers of that time saved them." He chuckled. "I think, that is true." Ramirez felt that that could explain why her memories of that time were so messed up. "No wonder you can hear them." Kein thought it made sense now, though he had never seen any survivor exhibit such a skill before. "But I was one of them, just an intern working in the field of archeology. All it took was the wrong time and the wrong place, to become this." She then turned her eyes back to Urizen. "You were right, in the end it was my fault. That is why..that is why I will not let you fall like I did. Even if it kills me for good."

(To be Continued in Mark 053: The Impossible Duelist)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani/Ccapac Apu**  
>Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu<br>Evil Hero Infernal Gainer

-  
>Book of Eclipse<p>

-  
>Infestation Wave<p>

**New Cards used by Miss. Ramirez**_  
>Infernity Zero(+)<em>

_(+) based on the monster used by Kiryu/Kallin in YGO 5Ds (the effect being a hybrid of the Tagforce 5 and anime effect)_


	53. 053: The Impossible Duelist

**Mark 053: The Impossible Duelist**

"Just what is the meaning of this, Malcean." Ansoni asked his 'host', as he and Sarah were seated at the breakfast table. "Just because you are my hostages, does not mean you should be treated without civility." Malcean and his two children were present as well. Both now wearing more formal royal clothes "Lincoln is gone for the moment, off to talk to his friends. Unlike him we have no intention of killing you." He smiled pleasantly. "Who even made al of this." Sarah wondered as the meals served to them were quite extensive. "Oh the answer will not please you." Jason smirked as he enjoyed a glass of wine. "Now that I have healed Aslla Piscu, it has given me some of my staff back in return. But only in flesh, as their souls have been less than full for quite some time now." Malcean finally explained. Looking out the window one could still see the hummingbird perched on top of the castle, its wings resting against the walls. "Did you know this, that a marked one could subdue a god? I bet you had only thought about sealing them again."

"They are too dangerous to be left like that, Malcean. Don't you know that? You must have heard about all the carnage they have caused." Ansoni had heard enough and got up. "Calm yourself. Your concerns are exactly why my first order of business, as the new lord of the world, will be to free all souls that were absorbed by my immortal friends. Everyone deserves a chance." Malcean coughed. "But of course I believe humanity will need more than observation before it can return to its peaceful days." He said with an unexpected hint of regret in his voice at the end. "Did something happen to you, personally? What made you turn your back on humanity?" Ansoni could have guessed, as there was one figure absent in this family gathering. "You do not need to know." Jason scowled at him. "No. They can know this. Our friend has noticed. I am sorry sir Helion. It is hard to maintain a front in front of the children." Malcean got up from his chair and walked over to the fireplace. "We lost a precious member of the Castillo line, many years ago."

He grabbed hold of a framed photo, two children and two parents were on it. "Lost to the sins of mortality. Greed drove the lowest of our kind to invade our territory, trash our rooms and plunder our belongings. The only who was at home at the time was her, and they had their way with her as well." He put the picture down again, his hand was shaking. "They took her away from us, and from this world. When I returned I found her, she was already dead." He gave the two signers a look of pure anger. "So you see, Helion, I know how far we have fallen. We need a god, and my family is the only one who can become it. We have waited for generations, for this moment to come. And when all the earthbound are under my control, I can ascend to the immortal realm." He took a deep breath and sat down again. "But what about..her. If you become godlike, can't you just bring her back to life?" Sarah thought that should not be too hard for a divine being. "We will all see her again, that is my hope. But I am affraid the dead will have to stay,... dead."

Elesewhere..

Ramirez's LP: 0 Urizens LP: 600

"Ridiculous. You are already dead, I have won!" Urizen yelled at the girl who still stood with zero lifepoints. "How is this even possible, how can such a monster exist?" Inferntity Zero(0/0) kept her alive as long as it was on the field. "How can any of your monsters exist?" The most infuriating part was that he could not destroy it, not even with his god card. "Just go to hell!" However Ccapac Apu(3000/2500) could make another attack in any turn thanks to Infernal Gainers effects, and the giant god grabbed the Infernity Necromancer(0/2000) with its hand, squeezing it into a bloody pulp. "I guess you really were the Duelist reaper they spoke about. The one that could keep on dueling even after the loss of their lifepoints. But I have had more than enough of your flirtations with death!" He had to kill the Necromancer first, otherwise Ramirez would just let it resurrect DoomDragon, the only monster in her extra deck that could destroy the earthbound god. "I am not that Reaper, I only received these cards after my first fall. These.. are an extension of god." Ramirez explained as she started her turn. "The immortals use cards that mortals have no knowledge of. This must have been a family of spirits used by one of them.."

"Randomizer." And as soon as he turn started, Ramirez summoned a new member of that family, a monster made from revolvers(900/0). "Once a turn, a card is added to an empty hand. If that card is a infernity monster, damage is delivered in accordance with its level." She explained as she drew a card from her deck. "Ggh." She only needed a level 3 or higher monster to get the damage she needed. "..Dwarf." However she only got as far as the second level, she drew a two star Infernity Dwarf. "Ha! Looks like your family does not even want me and my god to lose!" The Randomizer fired a shot, hitting Urizen for only 400 points of damage. "Now that you have a card in your hand you can not get rid of, I can destroy Infernity Zero!" He smirked. "No choice. One Day of Peace." So had to play her facedown spell card. "During this turn and the next, all damage is negated. And both players draw once." The two duelists drew their cards. _"..This." _And Ramirez gained a trap, which would have been more helpful before the Day of Peace.

Urizens LP: 200

"This is set down. And then Necro Defender is banished too." Yet she could remove the Necrotic one in her cemetery and use its effect on Infernity Zero. "Zero can not be destroyed as a result of battle eh?" Urizen grumbled, that must have been one of the cards she discarded to special summon Zero. "No damage this turn, and no means of destroying Zero. You are just a dead duelist trying to lie to the underworld. Not to worry, I shall guide your soul to where it belongs." Urizen activated a spell card, Allure of Darkness. "I draw twice and banish one dark monster in my hand!" He banished a monster called 'Earthbound Linewalker'. "Then I set two cards and strike!" Ccapac grabbed one of the Infernity Archfiends(1800/1200) and the Randomizer with its hands, destroying them both. The effect damage was blocked by her spell of course. "Reflector." However it also got in her way. "My hand is emptied and an Infernity is reborn." Ramirez discarded the Dwarf to bring back the Randomizer. Her trap usually also caused 1000 damage to en enemy, but that too was cancelled out by the peace-forcing spell.

"Your cards know you do not deserve two win." He ended his turn. "Allure of Darkness." Ramirez started hers by flipping her other face-down spell "Oh you have that spell too?" He saw her draw twice and then banish an Infernity Avenger from her hand. "Sacrifice summon." Then the second Archfiend was tributed and Infernity Archer(2000/1000) was brought out. "If my hands are empty, it can attack directly." She set the one card in her hand and let the Archer fire its shot at Urizen. "You think you can win this without destroying my greatest monster? Think again!" But he revealed the trap Magic Cylinder, which redirected the arrow. "All those days ago you asked to duel my original deck. So savor the taste like other losers have done before you!" The blast shot right through the girl. "Gah, are you okay?" Nathan saw it leave a hole through her shoulder, yet no blood came from the wound. "I am fine, I can not die." But the returned damage was reduced to a death-counter, which placed itself on Infernity Zero. "Reload." She tried to use the effect of Randomizer again. "If she draws a monster, it will end the duel." Kein realized even a level 1 monster would do enough damage to urizen at this point. "But.." However she drew a trap card instead. And in that case.. she would take damage.

"Ahah.. ahahahaha!" Urizen started laughing with glee, as she received 500 damage. Zero gained a second death-counter. "Two steps closer to the end. And your monster needs one more for it to meet its fate!" If Infernity Zero gained a third counter, it would destroy itself and Ramirez would be unable to continue. "You and your people unleashed the gods, and everything you have done since has helped them. Even if you did not intend it." After Ramirez placed a trap card, he could start his turn again. "You tried to save the weak, but you brought them closer to god instead." in his turn Evil Hero Infernal Gainer(1600/0) returned to the field. And he too placed a trap card. "But whereas they were controlled, I am in control." The giant raised its fist. "So this is what you should accept it. This union of power is what god wants, what I want. This is the truest form of me!" He attacked. "No!" However she flipped the spell Mystical Space Typhoon. "Trying to destroy my field spell?" The tornado could shatter any spell, like the Mausoleum of the Emperor. "You can not!" He flipped a trap too, Escape from the Dark Dimension, to unbanish the Earthbound Linewalker(1100/1900) he had removed through Allure of Darkness. "Linewalker will keep my god alive, even in the absence of a field spell!"

However she did not target the field, she let the Typhoon destroy her other set card instead. "Wild Tornado?" Urizen recognized the destroyed set card. "If that is sent to the grave while set.." Its second effect was triggered, the Wild Tornado could kill anything on the field. "This is not you Urizen. I have seen your true nature, the one you try to hide!" Sharp winds cut into the giants body. "What nonsense are you.." His attack had been stopped, Urizen could not see his god card. "I may not hear your voice, what tone you use as a front. But I can see. I see the expressions breaking through, I see the ways in which you care." Ccapac Apu dissolved into blue energy particles. "No..' Urizen shook his head, he could not believe this was happening. "Why else would you stay with Ali, Ada and Yale. Why else would you risk all six of your keycards for Ada's sake. Why else would you want your father back above anything else!" She pointed at Gaunts body. "What? Father?" And he saw him move, the man was breathing again. "Sir!" The guards rushed over to him. "Ugh." He was slowly waking up. "No. You are wrong. I am.." His son was shaken to his core, rambling to himself about the loss of god. "Finish it now, Ramirez! While the god is gone!" Kein yelled to her. "Yes."

Ramirez placed a card and entered the battle phase. Infernity Archer took out another arrow. "What have I..what was I.." But he started to do something odd, his hand moved for his deck. "..was I doing? I have to." It almost looked like he was surrendering. Until.. "Revival of the Earthbound!" He used his hand to flip a trap card instead. "This card revives an earthbound Immortal!" His voice changed entirely, and his eyes glowed with a fierce blue color. "It's Ccapac Apu! He has taken over!" Kein warned Ramirez. "You are too late!" The giant(3000/2500) returned to the field. "Yes, I am in full control now, the bond between us has grown deeper than any other. Even if you deplete my lifepoints, you will not destroy me. All you will do is kill Urizen!" Archer could still attack directly, but now she was made to hesitate by gods words. "Then.. you were right." She ended her battle phase instead. "This deck truly wanted to tell me something." The possessed Urizen smirked when he heard those words. "Yes. And now we can put this to rest.."

"Yes." Yet instead of ending her turn, she revealed the card she had set. "Dark Hole." She played the black hole to suck up all monsters on the field. "What? That card!" Infernal gainer, Linewalker and thye Earthbound were dragged into the darkness first. "It was telling me all along. who my enemy was. The Infernities could not end the game, without killing you." And then her Infernities died as well, including Infernity Zero. "But you will lose!" Ccapac protested, as she had nothing that kept her from ignoring her lack of lifepoints. "I was already dead, you said." She already started to feel the pain return, the girl dropped to her knees. "You.. you fluke! You lived twice, you killed me twice! We will not forget this, we will. Graaaaahhh!" And then Urizen fell backwards as well, his mouth opening wide as it shot out a beam of energy that blasted into the sky. "Killing the god card killed the influence he had over Urizen!" Nathan cried out as he saw a white card fall to the ground, just like with Cusillu. "Wait.. Ramirez." The energy barrier of the giant faded as well.

Ramirez's LP: 0

"Are you.. okay?" The girl did not look like she was in good shape. "Of course not." She managed to answer, trying to smile as she said it. "Is he.. better? I can not see him.." She asked and Nate looked back at Urizen. "Why..why did you do this." He was back to normal it seemed, though he did not sound happy. "Why did you kill yourself just to save me? After what I.. you were more important!" He shouted at her. "Would have died.. either way. The fall broke me, the duel kept me alive." She replied, while coughing. "Take it easy, we will get you a medic." Nathan said as he held her hand. "No. It is fine. I knew this was going to happen. I probably deserved.. it." She turned her head, ignoring the agony just so she could look at Urizen again. "You are.. important. More than me. You just do not see it yet. You need to open your eyes." Finally there was a smile on her face. "Ramirez.." He did not know what to say. "Now is a good time." Her words slowed down, she stopped moving. "I can.. I can hear again."

And with those words, Ramirez left the world. "!" Her breathing stopped, her eyes lost their life. "She is.. gone." Nathan could do nothing for her anymore, he could only close her eyelids. "No. No she did not deserve this!" Urizen was furious, with himself. "Why did this have to happen. Why was I such an idiot! I let that thing in my head and then..Gah!" He hit the ground with his fists until it started to bleed. "Urizen." A familiar voice snapped him out of it. "Gaunt?" He saw now that his father had woken up at last. "I do not agree with a sacrifice like that. But we should be grateful for what she has done now, not remember her for what she had done in the past." He said with a firm tone. "Sir, you saw everything?" Kein was surprised to hear him talk about events he was not around for. "I was here, in spirit. But powerless to do anything. That is over now." His eyes turned to the sky, where a possessed kid was still floating around. "Uru, you are the last free Immortal! Now it is time to end this war, for all generations to come!"

(To be Continued in Mark 054: Like a Father Scorned)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani/Ccapac Apu**  
>Earthbound Linewalker<p>

-  
>Escape from the Dark Dimension<br>Revival of the Earthbounds

**New Cards used by Miss. Ramirez**  
>Infernity Randomizer<p>

-  
>Allure of Darkness<br>One Day of Peace  
>Mystical Space Typhoon<p> 


	54. 054: Like a Father Scorned

**Mark 054: Like a Father Scorned**

"Ah.." Callisto, who had been quiet sitting at the table along with the others, suddenly smashed her glass aside. "Sister!" Jason was shocked, though he sounded outraged rather then worried. "What is wrong, are you in pain?" Sarah was more concerned in fact. "No.. no." The girl reached for her eyes. "But it is still cute that you care." She looked at her father, who just sighed. "You had another vision, didn't you my dear?" He was used to 'attacks' like these. "Yes father. Callisto sees something... Callisto will see a death." The girl opened her eyes again, it seemed to be over now. "A death?" Now her brother did sound slightly alarmed. "Not here. But soon, maybe it already happened." She said calmly and sat down again as if nothing had happened. "Then who is it?" Ansoni was afraid to even ask. "There was a soul who heard nothing but gods, now she will never hear again." That sounded familiar. "No. It can't be. Are you talking about..Ramirez?" Sarah and Ansoni knew only one duelist that fit that description.

"Ramirez? I went easy on her and now she winded up dead anyway?" Jason said, wondering why he even bothered with her back then. "Gg. How certain can these visions be." Ansoni got up again. "Settle down Helion, do not make a scene here. My daughter has had these visions ever since the day she was born. Unless we interfere directly, they will always come to pass. And even so, you are too far away to make a difference." Malcean spoke with an almost compassionate tone. "Father is right, that girl will die. That fate is written down in stone, nobody can go against it." Callisto added with a far colder tone. "But how did it.. how will it happen? Is she really.. gone?" Sarah made the question with the hope that the daughter was just talking about another soul harvesting. "God killed her, but god was too wounded to eat her. And she had been living on borrowed time either way. It feels.. what is the word? Oh, right. It feels funny. Callisto did not know there was someone like her out there, and now she is dead."

"Like you? Why do you think that?" Ansoni could not ignore that sentence. "Only in the way of the sense, Ansoni. She could hear one future as intended by the gods, yet had to give up hearing of the present. Like Callisto, she was an error that the dead creator could not fix." She laughed softly. "An error, like psychic powers in general? Since when has the Castillo family had that trait?" The signers noticed that so far Malcean showed no talents while his two children did. "Oh that is right isn't it? You two have not developed any powers." Jason said as he visualized a random morphtronic monster with a mere thought. "It is because of the family tradition. Father had the mark, mother came from a long line of diviners and latent psychics. The men and women choose only the finest in heirs, people whose past is linked with the original signers in some way. Moreso than your lineages, our blood has the highest concentration of god's heritage." He chuckled and took another sip from his glass. "Then, the very origin of ESP, is linked with the gods as well?" Not even the academy was able to tell Ansoni where those abilities came from. "Who knows? But now you know why it has to be us. The ceremony father will initiate today can only be survived by the truly special ones."

...

Back at the coastal town, the duelists were still shaken up by the loss of one of their own. Nathan tended to her body, Urizen was speechless from the experience and only one immortal lingered. "Heh. What is your goal here? To avenge that foolish girl?" Uru still inhabited the body of a young boy, the symbol of the spider shone in the background. "She can not be saved anymore. But those that you have devoured still can!" Gaunt had recovered from his possession as well, and seemed ready to pick up where he left off. "People like that innocent child you are using right now. Since you still hold on to it, it must mean that it was you and not Ccarayhua who stole his being." The kid flashed a nasty grin. "Child huh? There is that bond only a mortal can create again. This body must remind you of your own son from many years ago. Does it not?" Uru said this because he had seen Gaunts memories, he knew what Urizen looked like when he was ten years old. "It will take more than mindgames to make me hesitate, god." Gaunt took a pack of cards from his deck. "Sir, are you.." Kein took this as a sign that he would be the one to challenge Uru. "Hand me a dueldisk, Schiver. You have already done enough for me today, I will not let others fight for me anymore."

The Ace simply nodded and gave his boss his dueldisk. "This is rich. You could not even defeat my younger brother, and now you intend to take me on. You would have more luck coming at me all at once." The kid summoned his own deck. "Maybe we will!" Urizen snapped at him. "No, Urizen. That is just what he wants, his deck works too well against multiple opponents." Gaunt also thought it would give him too many natural two-on-one advantages like boosted lifepoints or doubled hand sizes. "Then again it does not matter, does it? Each one of you here has been a part of us. We know how you think now, we know how you duel. There are no surprises left." He drew six cards, signalling that he would take the first turn. "Same to you, spider god. I have seen Ansoni's report and heard about your duel with the Ranger trio. Your insect deck will not catch me off guard either." Gaunt drew five cards. "Prove that to me. Prove to me that you deserve the mark of god." Uru placed one monster and one trap card and ended his turn.

Gaunts LP: 8000 Uru's LP: 8000

"I do not answer to you, Uru. I answer to the creator who bound you." Gaunt activated two spell cards. "Shiens Dojo and Temple of the Six!" The dojo was a continuous spell, which in turn was a part of the larger temple field spell. Thw two duelists and their observes were surrounded from all sides by a large japanese residence. "Both these spells gain Bushido counters every time a Samurai is summoned!" He demonstrated this by special summoning a level 3 samurai from his hand. "When I control no monsters and my opponent does, Elder of the Six Samurai appears." A masked man(400/0) riding a mechanical carriage appeared. "1 counter is added to both spells. Temple of the Six weakens your monsters by 100 points for each counter it holds." He then normal summoned a samurai as well, a level 2 veteran samurai(400/1800). "Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. This one is a tuner, so you know what is to come!" He tuned the two together to synchro summon a level 5 warrior from his deck. "Shi En of the Legendary Six!"

A warlord in red armor(2500/1400) walked out of the dojo doors. "Once a turn, he can negate a spell or trap effect!" He explained before sending it out to do battle. "Be gone, face down!" Shi Ens sword cleaved through a set insect with ease. "Heh. I wanted tou yo kill that thing, my Danipon spirit." Danipon(600/600) was a spider-like monster that allowed his controller to add another insect to his hand, as long as it had less then 1000 defense points. "I claim the Dark Spider." Uru added a spider with no defense or attackpoints. "Very well. It is your turn." By now both Gaunts spells had three Bushido counters. Though the Temple's effect did not need to influence the Dark Spider(0/0) which was soon normal summoned. "Dark Spider's ability let's me add to its level." The spider increased its level from 1 to 3. "And then the spell Grave Wave Tuning. An insect in my cemetery is banished, to let an insect on my field become a tuner monster." The Spider became a tuner as well. "He is going for synchro summons too?" Nathan gasped.

_Grave Wave Tuning, Normal Spell  
>This card's activation and effect can not be negated. Banish 1 Monster in your Graveyard.<br>Select 1 monster you control that has the same type as the banished monster. It is treated as a Tuner monster while it is face-up on the field._

"Of all cards he had one of the few I can not negate." Gaunt realized, after he read the cards text, why Shi en could not block that spell. "Now, since no monsters rest in my cemetery, and I control monsters as well, Mirror Ladybug can be special summoned." Uru called forth a silver-coated ladybug(0/0), whose wings reflected three stars. "It assumes the level of all other monsters on the field." The bug became a level 3 bug. "And now what you call, Synchro summon!" The two level 3 insects became one level 6 halfwoman/halfspider. "Underground Arachnid, queen of the depths." She(2100/1200) was weakened by the Temple of the Six. "I know why you placed a field before I could. You want me to summon my true self, so you can free what I have claimed. However.." The Arachnid used her effect, webbing up Shi En to take control of him. "You have not shown me that I need to go to such lengths to crush you." Gaunt was wide open. "Direct attack." The spider queen fired a barrage of webs at Gaunt. "Tsk. This is just starting.."

Gaunts LP: 5900

His turn started up again and he drew a card. "By sending the Dojo to the cemetery I can revive a Samurai whose level is equal to or lower than the number of counters it held." There were three, so he was allowed to special summon the level 2 Kagemusha from the cemetery. "Then I shall activate Maxx C." But Uru suddenly discarded an insect from his hand as well. "Every time you special summon during a turn in which I discarded this card, I will draw." Uru already drew once, when the tuner came back. "I will not be deterred from my path!" Gaunt continued his turn and summoned the Legendary Samurai Kageki(200/2000). "When Kageki is normal summoned, a Samurai is special summoned from my hand." After the four armed wind swordsman, the water warrior Shinai(1500/1500) appeared from the Temple of the Six. "I will synchro summon again!" Kagemusha tuned itself with the level 3 Kageki to form a second Shi En Samurai(2500/1400). And by now the Arachnid(1700/1200) was a lot weaker thanks to all seven counters on the Temple card. "Destroy her!" The warlord unsheathed his sword and jumped towards the spider. "You are overlooking someone, signer Gaunt." However the first webbed up Shi En was brought up to take the blow for her. "What?"

Uru's LP: 7200

"Arachnid can sacrifice the monsters she ensnares, letting them die in her place." The second Shi En cut through the first, at the very least the battle damage was not negated. "And you special summoned two more times." The kid added two more cards to his hand. "My turn." He saw gaunt do nothing else and proceeded to draw. "This one shall become my spirit as well." The Underground queen sent her web to take control of the synchro monster, setting it aside and leaving Shinai on his own. "You always do that, don't you? Taking what is not yours." Kein sneered, seeing the spider gods attitude reflected in his playing style. "If I created it in the first place, does it not rightfully belong here?" He retorted before he let his synchro spider kill the water samurai. "Can you really say that if you have left it alone for so long?" Nate spoke to it as well. "A thousand years is a very long time. You have not done anything for us, we had to grow on our own." A nap of three millennium sounded appealing but unacceptable at the same time.

Gaunts LP: 5700

"You are speaking as if you no longer need god. But you do, your kind has been corrupted too much. How many times do you need to be punished this in a lifetime, before you understand? Take away the rain and you flee to the rivers, take away the sun and you create your own. You never learn." Uru cursed as he ended his turn. "And even so. When we return to our realm, we will start all anew. However you have evolved in our absence has no bearing on the new perfect earth we will create. You may not even call that mankind anymore." Gaunt then drew a card, and at last it was the key card he needed. "Enough of your words, spider god. We already know we will never see eye to eye. We are too different." So he activated it, a blue symbol started to glow on the gate of the temple. "Gateway of the six! I can take bushido counters from the field to add any samurai from my deck to my hand!" He removed four of the Temple's seven counters and took Enishi from his deck.

"I summon Enishi, and use his effect!" The green armored swordsman(1700/700) banished two samurais in the grave, absorbing the spirits of Kagemusha and the Elder. "Enishi can return one monster on the field to the hand, and in your case it will be returned to the extra deck." The arachnid was pushed out of the temple, and the Shi En synchro he controlled was sent to the cemetery. "Then since I summoned a samurai, my spells gained counters again." The Temple had four, the Gateway had two. "I remove four more from the Temple to add Kizan to my hand. This samurai can be special summoned when I control another samurai." The holy swordsman was joined by his earthen comrade(1800/500). The two boosted each other with their abilities as well. "Direct atatck!" Enishi(2200/1200) and Kizan(2100/800) ran towards the kid and slashed his body with their swords. "I will not hold back, spider god, no matter what body you are possessing. In the end that child too will be saved, saved from your presence!"

Uru's LP: 3200

Macbeth looked down and aw him, his friend. "I don't think you can hear me Richard. I do not know if you are even still in there. But.." He spoke to him, even as his brain was slowly dying. It would all be over soon. "If you can come back, I have to keep the place tidy and accessible. And I can only think of one way to stop the decay." Richard lied on a stretcher, as another slowly carted him away from the ambulance. "Are you sure you want to do this sir. Should we not test it on someone else first?" The aid sounded hesitant on what they were about to do. "I am sure. He would not want to put any other lives ahead of his. If we have to test this, he would choose himself too." Macbeth put the talisman around his neck. "So do it." He held the mans shoulder as he pushed the stretcher further.. into the orange light of the hummingbird god. "Forgive me Richard, for letting you leave, and if this fails, for letting you stay gone." And Richards body was instantly consumed by Aslaa Piscu. "But at least.. his body is safer inside god."

(To be Continued in Mark 055: Lord of Spiders)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Elder of the Six Samurai<br>Kagemusha of the Six Samurai  
>Legendary Six Samurai Shi - En<p>

-  
>Shiens Dojo<br>Temple of the Six

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Danipon<br>Mirror Ladybug  
>Underground Arachnid<br>Maxx C

_-  
>Grave-Wave Tuning<em>


	55. 055: Lord of Spiders

**Mark 055: Lord of Spiders**

"What did you do that for?" Ada approached Macbeth and his aid. "You sent him into that monsters maws? I thought he was your friend!" Yelling at them for what she had seen them do. "No, Ada. You do not understand. It was the only thing that could save him now. No doctor could stop his brains from deteriorating. His soul is already gone, but his body was not dead yet. This way, it will be preserved in the best way possible." Macbeth explained, although he did not sound too convinced. "And now we also know that we can traverse inside the illuminated area with our talismans, so we can mount an offensive." The sun had risen again, they had waited long enough. "Wait. Back inside?" Ada felt her sense of dread return. "Yes. So we can rescue Ansoni and the others, even your friend Xavier." He smiled. However she did not cheer up in the slightest. "But Ali is.." And at that time they were interrupted by a call from a soldier. "Sir! The enemy is making contact! They sent a messenger!" He shouted. "It's about time.."

They headed for the chosen meeting point. "Hold it. She is who they sent?" But at the edge of the barrier was just a young girl in a simple black dress. "Ah..ahhh! It's her!" And seeing her again made Ada completely lose it. "Do not trust her! Tranq her, or something!" She screamed, yet the soldiers refrained from training their weapons on what simply looked like an innocent child. "You are.. Malceans daughter right? I read about you in the files." Macbeth walked to her, but remained cautious. "Callisto is her name, yes. Oh wait, we had not come to that question yet." She answered quickly and then extended her hand. "Look out!" Ada hid behind another guard. "Do not be worried. Father sent callisto to negotiate,. Because Callisto told him about what she saw. Callisto knows friends of yours will or already have something, something father needs." What she showed in her hand were some playing cards. "Wait. those are.." Cards with images of people on them, two of their guards and Xavier Ali as well. "A soul for a soul."

Back at the site of the duel.

Gaunts LP: 5700 Uru's LP: 3200

"Actually that does bring up a good question." Gaunt said as he ended his turn. "In some old myths even gods can have fathers, mothers and sons. But nothing in ancient record says anything like that about the six of you." The possessed kid narrowed his eyes. "What is your point?" He asked as he drew a card. "I wonder if you even remember the day you were created yourselves, or who your creator was." Upon hearing that question, Uru could only laugh. "Ha. Our existence predates this world itself, even if we wanted to we can not recall events from so long ago. We are and always have been.." He then played a spell card, Earthquake. "Your entire world is but a pebble to us! And we will break it all to free ourselves from our chains!" The spell switched the Legendary Six Samurais Enishi(2200/1200) and Kizan(2100/800) to defense mode. "Guard Penalty." Then he flipped his facedown spell, which let him draw once since he had switched a monsters position. "Mothers, fathers, children, leave those terms to the finite.."

And suddenly both samurais were destroyed. "Now. By sacrificing two defending spirits, Mother spider will be special summoned." A massive bulbous spider(2200/1200) appeared, weakened by the Bushido counters of the Six samurai's Temple field. "And also Beelist Soldier(400/400)." Next a trident wielding bee was summoned. "Dual strike!" The two insects stabbed Gaunt with clawed legs and prongs. "Furthermore, the spell Worm Bait." Since Uru controlled insects and had not summoned a level 3 or 4 insect this turn, he could summon 2 worm bait tokens(0/0) in defense mode. "Bee-List Soldier sacrifices itself and one insect, to let his lord draw two new cards." The bee and one token disappeared, and Uru drew twice. "Now you are back where you belong, beneath me." He placed two cards in the spell/trap zone and let the turn end.

Gaunts LP: 3100

"We will see how long that lasts." Gaunt activated the effect of his continuous spell again, Gateway of the Six held four bushido counters which he could remove to add a Samurai to his hand. "I claim Mizuho from my deck." He normal summoned the fire swordswoman(1600/1000), which added 2 more counters to the Gateway and 1 to the Temple. "I remove two counters from both my spells to take another Mizuho from my deck." The spells were now without Bushido counters. "Then I play Shiens Smoke Signal, a spell that lets me add another level 3 samurai monster to my hand." Gaunt took out another Shinai. "When I control Mizuho, Shinai can be special summoned!" Mizuho was joined by the water warrior(1500/1500). "When I control Shinai, Mizuho can be special summoned." Another fire warrior lady appeared. "And then I sacrificed Shinai to destroy one monster you control!" One fire samurai slashed through Shinai with her sword, unleashing flames that burned Mother spider down to cinders. "And then I destroy your token!" This second Mizuho killed the first, and the token turned to ashes just as easily. "And when Shinai is tributed, I can take a different Samurai monster back from my grave." Gaunt reclaimed the holy swordsman Enishi from his cemetery.

"Impressive. Rather than focusing on one element like last time, you now wield all six at once." Uru admired the loop in action, before Gaunt broke it off to get Enishi back into his hand when this Shinai was tributed. "But you will not touch me with them anymore." He smirked. "Is that what you believe?" The remaining Mizuho went in for a physical attack. "Spiders Egg!" But the god flipped his trap which negated that attack. "Damn." She had to cut open an egg instead, which bursted open and released three spider egg tokens(0/0). "I end my turn." By now Gateway of the Six had four counters the Temple had two, he wasn't in a bad position. "Last time you were using the darkness elemental deck, is that not correct? Like the one your son uses now. You should have stuck to what you have more experience with, even if it but a few years worth." Uru just used his turn to set down a monster and another trap card. He also switched the tokens to defense mode. "That little time is nothing compared to our age-old perception."

"Even the oldest can learn something new. There is no cap to knowledge." Gaunt retorted and summoned Enishi the green armored Swordsman(2200/1200). "Then show me something new!" Uru demanded loudly, as he revealed his trap card. "Curse of Anubis! All monsters on the field are switched to defense position." Mizuho and Enishi took a defensive stance. "Already I have seen all this new deck has to offer." Enishi's effect could not be used on face-down cards, and it would be a waste to use it on tokens. "Even so, can you handle it?" Gaunt sacrificed Enishi so he could use Mizuho's effect once more, flames started to blacken the set card of the spider god. "The answer should be obvious, even to you." Unfortunately that turned out to be what he wanted, it was the Informer Spider(200/1800) that died. "Because you killed this Spider, one monster you call yours, will be become mine!" The dying spider sent out webs to constrict Mizuho. "Not yet!" But this was when Gaunt showed something new. "I activate Asceticism of the Samurai!"

"This spell allows the summon of a samurai with the same attackpoints from my deck." And Gaunt summoned a samurai with 1600 attackpoints, the older version of Mizuho, Hand of the Six Samurai(1600/1000). "That is a start." The kid spoke with a less condescending tone. "She will kill her younger self." The hand stabbed Mizuho in the back with a dagger. "Then I set one card down. And I remove eight counters from my spell." Gateway of the Six went from eight to two Bushido counters, the Temple went down to one. "I add another Kagemusha and another Kageki to my hand." Next turn he could synchro summon his third Shi En card with them. "And now you fall back to the old predictable path." Uru drew a card and the kid bared his teeth as he grinned. "Then I suppose you deserve a reward of similar familiarity." He sacrificed two of the three spider egg tokens. "Sir!" Kein warned Gaunt for the creature that was clearly coming. "No more false fronts. You will die, facing my truest majesty." The kid's body disappeared, melting into the red mist that formed in the skies. A beating red heart exploded and gave shape to the unholy spider god(2900/3000), Earthbound Immortal Uru. Even if the Temple weakened it a little, its presence alone pulverized half the buildings in the area.

"You would remember my power would you not?" Uru spoke from its gigantic form. "Any spirit, regardless of will or memories, joins me." The last egg token was tributed. "Come, Hand of the Six." And the Samurai assassin walked over to the enemy's side. "Direct attack." She tossed her dagger at her former master. "Gaunt!" Urizen yelled, but that was all he could do. "Do not think I will die now that we reached this stage!" But Gaunt flipped the trap he had set, Return of the Six Samurai. "I revive one samurai!" He special summoned the second Shi En synchro monster(2500/1400) from his deck in defense mode. It took the knife intended for Gaunt. "Ah yes, if I prefer control, you prefer sacrifice. So many have to die before you are satisfied." But Uru itself could still finish its direct attack. "Just do what you want and stop talking." Gaunt braced himself. "A quick sacrifice is meaningless, it has to be remembered, has to become an example." A massive blast of webs came for the duelist, he was thrown off the ground by the concrete shattering impact. "In the webs of a spider, none can hope for a painless death." Uru played his accursed field spell, the webs covered all buildings and streets, and every human as well.

Gaunts LP: 200

"Gah." They were glued to the ground so to speak. "You may have escaped becoming part of us again, this turn. However you can only delay the inevitable. Your kind always meets an end." He laughed as Gaunt got to his feet again. Uru regained the power he lost as the Temple of the Six was broken down by the webs, Uru(3000/3000) was back at full strength. Only the gateway remained. "Now. Before your monster returns to you, I reveal my trap, Amnesiac Servant." Uru placed a strange mesmerizing curse on the field. "Any monster that has been on my field will lose their powers permanently." Uru was aware of The hands ability to destroy monsters, much like Mizuho could do, so he nipped that in the bud. "Tsk." Mizuho returned to him. "I summon Kageki, whose effect summons a samurai from my hand, and I choose Kagemusha!" He called forth the level 3 four-armed samurai(1700/2000) and the level 2 tuner Kagemusha(400/1800). "Synchro summon!" And thus the two were materials for the third and final level 5 Shi En samurai(2500/1400). "I also place one card down and end my turn." It looked like he had wasted his chance and was helpless before the spider god.

_Amnesiac Servant, Continuous Trap  
>When the control of a face-up monster changes, that monster has its effect negated.<em>

Yet as soon as the turn switched back to Uru, Gaunt could make his move."This is it, Uru!" He flipped his trap card. "Six Strike - Thunder Blast! I can remove one Bushido counter on the field to destroy one card you control!" One of the gate's nine counters was used up, and a blast of thunder erupted from Shi Ens sword. "No!" The bolt pierced through the spiders body and shot all the way into the skies. "There are no other gods using the bodies you have devoured, all those souls will be freed now!" As he stated, Earthbound Immortal Uru started to dissolve into a fine red powder, and flames of life spread out over the horizon. "You did it!" Kein said excitedly. "Put a call through to the Battle Garden squad, they will have more people to care for now." He ordered to one of the guards, who agreed just as happily. "But, the enemy is not dead yet." Urizen knew it could not be that easy, his lifepoints were still too high for the duel to end. "But where is he, he should not have a body to possess anymore.." Gaunt waited for his opponent to show himself.

"If I can not face you in the flesh, this will have to do." It appeared in voice at first. "Ah!" And Nathan received the shock of his life as the girl that lied behind him suddenly rose up. "No, the dead too?" Urizen cried out in sheer disgust as he saw the body of Ramirez rise up, her broken bones forced to move even after death. "You.." Gaunt was about to turn around, but the girl started to float towards him anyway, her head hanging limply to one side. "What is wrong, signer? Did you forget that even in death, these bodies are our creations? If we can take over a duelist mind that has been hollowed out, we can take over one that has moved on. And it takes long for the remains to be become useless." Uru positioned his new body in the middle of the spiders web, resting on a throne of thin threads. "This girl, I remember her now. She was right there when one fool broke the right stone, the lynchpin to our confinement. It was not her doing directly but we are grateful to her nonetheless. It is natural law that my first meal returns to me." He then placed a monster facedown and ended his turn. "Let us proceed. You are still closer to death than I shall ever be, one more push is all I need to reclaim your mark and unseal both my brothers. This time I shall not take my time and consume you immediately!"

Gaunt drew his card. "You are sickening, not even the dead are free from your vileness." He sent Hand of the Six Samurai to attack. "Do you even know where souls go, mortal?" He replied as his set Howling Insect(1200/1300) was skewered, whose effect let his controller summon a second Howling Insect. "Do you believe in reincarnation? Or an afterlife?" The second was cut down by Shi En, and its demise was followed by the summoning of a Relinquished Spider(300/500). Meanwhile due the Spider web field, both samurais were forced into defense position. "What if I told you that living on inside of us, is the only immortality your kind will ever be able to cherish?" He started his turn and used the effect of his Relinquished Spider, sacrificing it to destroy all defending monsters on the field. "Then I would reject immortality itself!" Gaunt countered by activating the counter trap card, Musakani Magatama, which negated the destruction of his cards if he controlled a samurai. "You fool." Relinquished Spider was crushed. "We may know less than you, but we know what is right and what is wrong. And that is enough.. spider god."

(To be Continued in Mark 056: Thread the Needle)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Hand of the Six Samurai<br>Asceticism of the Six Samurai

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>Shiens Smoke Signal<p>

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>Return of the Six Samurai<br>Six Strike - Thunder Blast  
>Musakani Magatama<p>

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Mother Spider<br>Beelist Soldier  
>Informer Spider<br>Relinquished Spider

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>Worm Bait<p>

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>Curse of Anubis<em><br>Amnesiac Servant_


	56. 056: Thread the Needle

**Mark 056: Thread the Needle**

Gaunts LP: 200 Uru's LP: 3100

"You are a fool, signer! I have never seen a human that yearns for oblivion that greatly!" Uru in Ramirez's dead body shouted as he continued his turn. "Spyder Spider, rid us of his warriors!" He summoned a half mechanical spider(1500/1000), who scuttled across the webs towards its webbed up prey. "When it terminates a defending monster, a level four or lower insect will join it from the grave." Spyder Spider fed on Hand of the Six Samurai(1600/1000), killing it to bring Relinquished Spider(300/500) back to life. "Let us attempt this once more." And Uru sacrificed the sacrificial spider to destroy all of Gaunts defending monsters. The insects death released venom across the threads that melted down the Samurai Shi En(2500/1400) to even less than bones. "You live in our world. Even if you were blessed by our oldest brother, your life and death are not up to you to choose!" The 'undead' girl said and placed a trap card down on the field. "This is what it all comes down to, isn't it? You gods can not seem to understand Free will. Or if you do, you will not accept it" Gaunt replied. "It seems somewhere along the way, you have abandoned harmony. I know it will not do anything to remind you of the days before your corruption, but even you know they existed."

Twice Gaunt removed four counters from gateway of the Six Samurai to add more samurai monsters to his hand, once to get Enishi from his graveyard, who(1700/700) was normal summoned. And after that again to add Grandmaster of the Six Samurai from his deck to his hand. "You have no idea of those times, not even your kinds most preserved records can do them justice." The god scoffed. "As I said, I know it will not do much good. That is why.." Because he controlled a samurai now he could special summon the Grandmaster of the Six Samurai(2100/800), the older incarnation of Kizan. "I will have to beat you down with force. I use the effect of Enishi!" Enishi banished the second Kagemusha and first Kageki from the cemetery, so that it could push Spyder Spider back into Uru's hands. "If he attacks now, he will win?" Nathan saw that the god had less lifepoints than Gaunt had attackpoints. "I attack you, Uru!" The Grandmaster slashed the god first, and then Enishi(2200/1200), powered up by his second ability, drew his weapon.

Uru's LP: 1000

"Get him!" Urizen yelled as the samurai closed in. "Lair Wire." However Uru revealed the trap he had laid in his web. "One insect is banished from the cemetery, and another spirit falls." In the middle of his charge, he ran through suddenly appearing razor sharp wires, which minced him to bloody pieces. "...I set a card." Gaunt was out of options for this turn after that. _"He could have used that effect any time during the duel, why did he wait until after I sent the spyder back to your hand?"_ Kein thought to himself, as he knew Uru could have avoided damage in that scenario. _"Of course.. he wanted the spyder to return." _And sure enough the spyder spider came back to the webs, and immediately crawled towards the Grand Master to finish him off. "I discard Shiens Squire from my hand!" But its death was postponed when Gaunt discarded the squire monster from his hand. "Feh." Then the Spyder was switched to defense by Uru's own field spell. "One card is set." Meanwhile Grandmaster was not yet able to return to attack mode.

"I draw!" Gaunt had to draw a monster to break out of his predicament. _"This is.."_ However he gained a spell. "I activate Six Samurai united" It was a drawing spell, a useless one for now. "But your spider can not go back to attack mode either yet." He was safe from the spyder for this turn. "So it is." Uru used his turn to place one monster facedown. "Mystical Space Typhoon." He also played a spell to get rid of the annoying Gateway. "Your move." Gaunt entered the draw phase again. "They are at a stalemate?" Nathan wondered who would break it first. "... I summon Mizuho!" And it looked like it would be Gaunt, as the fiery swordswoman(1600/1000) rejoined the field of battle. "I sacrifice Grandmaster, to destroy your spiderweb!" He was not taking any chances, that field had to go. "Then she attacks the Spyder!" And he killed the monster he could see for what it was. Her fiery sword cut sent flames down all web threads and scorched the insect completely. Everyone else was freed from their bindings. "Thank you for that.." Yet the enemy was unphased. "...I tribute Six samurai united, it gained one counter from the summoning of Mizuho so I can draw one card!" Gaunt used the effect of his spell, even though it could have held more than 1 counter.

"Gaunt, what are you.." Urizen thought he was making a big mistake. "I need every card I can get." He drew a trap card this time and placed it down. "Get all the traps in the world, they still will not save you." Uru flipped the monster he had set. "A Pinch Hopper!" It was the grasshopper(1000/1200). Its demise would let his master call any insect from his hand. "And then, Earthbound Revival." The god revealed a spell card as well. "One card is discarded and god along with a field spell from the grave, is added to my hand!" Uru regained the Spiderweb and then covered the city with it once more. And of course he took Earthbound Immortal Uru back as well.. "It attacks!" The hopper flew towards the stronger Mizuho, and she was forced to defend herself. Or at least she would be, if he did not activate a trap at the last moment. "Backs to the Wall!" The card cut his life in half, which almost amused the god. But then he realized what this card did. "I pay all but 100 of my lifepoints to revive as many samurais as I can!" He brought back from the cemetery, Mizuho(1600/1000), Shinai(1500/1000), Enishi(2200/1200) and Shi En(2500/1200). "Then Enishi banishes the two other Shi Ens to return Pinch Hopper to your hand again!" And the god was once again with an empty field. "NO!"

Gaunts LP: 100

"No, you can not do this! Not you, not again!" It hit the god, it realized it could not win the duel anymore. "Even if you had traps left, Mizuho can destroy them. Even if you had spells left, Shi En can negate them. Even if you have monsters to summon, Enishi can return them to your hand." Gaunt had the field pretty much locked down, one direct attack was all he needed to end this. "You think this is the end?" Uru had lost all of his composure, the body he was in was already spasming and twitching. "We can never end! We are eternal! Sealing us is just another delay of the inevitable!" He refused to end his turn, but he had little choice. "As long as you immortals and us mortals can not see eye to eye, this is the best option available to us. After all, the creator gave us this mark for a reason." He extended his hand, the sign started to glow. "Finish this, Shi En!" And he sent the synchro samurai, whose blade cut across the body of Ramirez. No damage was done, but all the vile energy within was forced out.

Uru's LP: 0

"I heard what you immortals had to say, you believe the marks were created for your benefit, so you could restore your brother and let him remake the world. But I believe differently." Gaunt held out his hand, the energy that swirled around started to lose its intense red hue and attained a warmer orange color. "The creator feared that it could not keep you bound to the world. And that is why, in his absence, he saw to it that mankind could fight against you if the day of your return would ever come." The energy spread across the entire web, evaporating the threads and freeing the town from the spiders bindings. "I do not know why the creator made us, I do not even know if you immortals have told the truth about the beginning of this world. But letting anyone undo his work is the greatest sin I can imagine. Even if the unmakers are the ones who helped build it." In his hand was the Earthbound Immortal Uru card. "If you heard me, please think about this for as long as you remain sealed." It was over at last, the gods were gone.

"Welcome back sir." With the threats gone, they could give Gaunt a proper greeting, and Kein was the first. "It is good to be back, Schiver. I can not express how grateful I am for your services. Without you and everyone else here, they would have completed the ritual." And he could not even begin to say what would happen in that scenario. "It was mostly thanks to Ramirez, sir. She heard them speak about this location." Kein said with a sigh. "Yes. The place where I was born.. my family always did love the sea. But being back here, now, is not worth it. It was not worth.. her." Gaunt looked behind him and saw the body of the girl. "I regret, that my first words against her were of suspicion and mistrust. In her way she was trying to help us, trying to make up for a past she was not even aware of and trying to prevent a future she did not want to hear anymore." He shook his head. "I will see to it, that once this is over, she will receive a hero's grave. I do not know if she has relatives or not, but the world deserves to know her." He then noticed the dueldisk around her arm, the unregistered black model. "Although, I do not know if any part of her past explains how she ended up with that device. And now that may forever be a mystery to us.."

Gaunt then finally turned to his son. "It was my fault." He said, as he was unable to look away. "You fell for their mindgames, Urizen, prouder men have done so before you." Gaunt sounded surprisingly lenient about the whole matter. "I was there too." Kein added, speaking about his experience with Chacu Challhua. "But you did not force someone to kill themselves just so you could be free again." Urizen clenched his fist. "I did not even let her use the charms, she did not even get to seal it." Unlike the sealed cards of Ccarayhua, Uru and Chacu Challhua, Ccapac Apu had escaped his fate and retreated into the earth. "We will deal with them as they come, then. Besides I am guilty of that error too." Nathan meanwhile referred to his situation with the monkey god. "Look. I can understand your feelings, but now is not the time to wallow in selfpity. You can either continue helping us, or run away from it all. Which path do you think she would want you to take?" His father asked him as he pointed at Ramirez. "... I get it."

"But where do we stand now? I do not know for how long I was gone, but it can not have been too long." His comrades did not look many days older as far as he could tell. "It's been almost two days since the reptile god attacked the city. Since then we have found one lead, but things went south there quickly. The ace of Hearts is overseeing the progress there." Kein explained and he took out a cellphone. With all the commotion here, and the blackouts the immortals caused every time they showed up, it only as of now that he could check in on his side. "Wait. He called me?" And he saw that he had missed a message from Macbeth. "Yes, this is Spades. What has happened?" He called back immediately and made contact with the other Ace. "I see. And then.." Keins change of tone clued everyone in on how dire it was there. "What?" Especially once Kein started screaming. "He can not be serious! He expects us to do what?" A long pause followed and Kein calmed down. "Okay. Well tell them to wait, we need to discuss this."

"What was that all about?" Nathan asked him as he turned off the phone. "It appears that our lead has gotten rather chummy with Ansoni and the other duelists. A bit too chummy. Lord Malcean was apparently hiding his son Jason all along and now they have gotten one of the remaining gods under their control. But that is not the shocking part." He took out the god card of Ccarayhua. "They want the other gods too. The ones we sealed." Gaunt flinched. "They want what? Has he gone mad? What does he want with those?" He could not think of any reason for anyone to want these cards. "That is the thing. It appears he is like you, sir. He is a marked one. And he wants to gather all the marks and gods in one place." Gaunt looked at his arm and saw the sign was faintly glowing still. "Yes. I can feel it. There is still activity in this country. Then he is the fifth signer? He was living in our country for all this time?" Kein shook his head to this assumption. "No. We did a background check on his estate, just now they found out it was a recent rental. Malcean Castle is actually from the southern continent." Why he chose to live here, was anyone's guess. "But we might have to accept his demands, because he has Ansoni, Sarah and some of our men in his care."

"That is right."

A new vice suddenly put everyone on edge. "Whoa, where did he come from?" And now a house maid stood in the middle of all the rubble. "I thought we cleaned this place out?" Nathan said, and this girl did not look like he came from this place here anyway. "No. This is not what it appears to be." gaunt stepped forward. "One of them.." And Urizen figured it out. This was just another body possessed by the earthbound. "You are Aslla piscu, I presume? The one that got binded to a signer." Gaunt adressed the maid. She nodded politely. "This is a pain I can live with, taking orders from one blessed by god. Because he wishes what we wish."

"Hand me my brothers, those were his desires. If you do not follow, your brothers will be lost forever." She cackled and extended a steady hand. "That was quick, he wanted this transaction done with fast." Nathan sighed, they had little choice. "We can not give them to him.. we can not.." Urizen did not want to comply, but he did not want to see anyone else die either. "I see no alternative for now." Gaunt did not expect this so soon, he could not think of a way out. "Here." He and Kein handed the maid the two cards they sealed. 'And the Giant too." But she also demanded Ccapacs's whited out card. "And now I shall visit your friends at the spire, to retrieve The Monkey and The Whale. Call them to tell them to do whatever i say, or the consequences shall be the same." She then disappeared into a wisp of orange ashes, leaving them there without any gods for all of their efforts. "We will not let them get away with this, will we?" Urizen asked his father. "No, no we will not. With all gods in one place, we can end this war right there."

(To be Continued in Mark 057: Blinded by Tomorrow)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Grand Master of the Six Samurai<p>

-  
>Backs to the Wall<p>

**New Cards used by Uru**  
>Mystical Space Typhoon<p>

-  
>Earthbound Revival<p> 


	57. 057: Blinded by Tomorrow

**Mark 057: Blinded by Tomorrow**

"Give me a status report, Macbeth." At the start of the evening Gaunt and his companions arrived at the newest scene of trouble, the castle of the Castle family, and he wasted no time making his presence known. "Lord Malcean sent his daughter out to negotiate with us. He told us he would release his hostages as soon as he received confirmation from his new divine ally that all immortals had been claimed." Macbeth gave the report, and was not too happy about it. "We are waiting for them to live up their end of the bargain though, after the girl went back inside, the doors stayed closed." He sighed, as he half expected that man to just ignore his promise. "I see. But our men have the place surrounded?" Kein posed the next set of questions to the Ace of Hearts. "Indeed. And we have tested the effectiveness of our talismans against the energy field of Aslla Piscu, we can breach the area. However we are worried that moving too soon will force Malceans hands, I do not know how he will react to threats."

"There is something else too sir. We received a call from Sarahs family again. We had to talk them out of coming to this place." He said with a kind of nervous laugh. "What? They found out about this place? How?" Gaunt did not think she could have figured their location out on her own. "Apparently Sarah and Mrs. Rain had spoken to each other over the phone while she was inside, and she tracked the location." He shook his head. "I told them she was in good hands, but I do not think she believed me." He did not like to lie to ladies either. "You did what you had to. But with a leak of that kind, we can assume this place is not going to stay isolated from the general public for long. How is the media coverage going?" He asked Kein who did not look to optimistic. "No news of this particular place yet. They are all distracted by the 'terrorist attack' back at your birth town. We are fortunate that Lord Malcean lives so far from civilization. However even our friend the governor is running out of time. And it also his adopted son who is in danger here." It did not sound or look good either way.

While Gaunt and Kein caught up on the business side of matters, Urizen and Nathan encountered Ada. "We heard about Ali." Nathan said, he and Urizen had been told along the way here. "Do not worry Ada, we will save him. Right Urizen?" He assured her with a smile. "He got turned into a card?" While Urizen was less considerate. Mostly because he had trouble believing such a story, even with everything else that had happened this week. "He did!" The girl protested, trying to hold back tears. "Okay, okay. I believe you! Just do not start that crying!" He shouted as nicely as he could, he was not fit to handle such outbursts. "I mean nobody deserves that. And I will be damned if I see someone else.." He shut himself up, as now he had to think about 'her' again. "Someone else?" Ada blinked and suddenly noticed an absence. "Oh no. Ramirez is.." The Infernity duelist was not with them. "Is she gone? Did they take her soul?" Nathan and Urizen both froze up, as the truth they had to tell her was far worse. "I.."

Back at the dining hall of the stately home. "Wonderful, simply wonderful. All six are here." Malcean could not resist expressing excitement as he held the six earthbound immortal cards in his hand. Given to him by the possessed maid. "Callisto asked before, but she likes the explanation that follows. So Callisto wonders if not even gods are real. Are they father?" Callisto sounded bored rather than enthusiastic. "These are merely the new stone slabs which speak of their imprisonment, dear. All those years ago the gods were bound to the earth, the doors to their prison made from the planets rocks. At least until one expeditious party broke those slabs." He smirked. "Makes it easier to carry around now at least." Jason smiled with him. "Wait.. Wait! What are you saying?" Ansoni and Sarah were still present, and the former did like the latest statement from the Lord. "You know who unsealed the gods?" Malcean stared at him and again found it hard to not just laugh. "Well who did the actual deed is not important. What you want me to tell you is.. who funded that party." His grin widened. "No. It was you!" And Ansoni figured it out.

"Whaaaat?" Sarah let out a cry of astonishment. "You let them go on purpose? Isn't that going too far?" It sounded crazy to her, but he disagreed. "If god must be remade, all of his pieces must be freed. I spent much time, effort and money in arranging that expedition to the Nazca lands. And I planted some shadier fellows to break the slabs they could find. That is all." He spoke as if it was pure logic. "You can not make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Callisto added cheerfully. "Thank you dear. That phrase is very fitting." He then turned to the housemaid. "It is time." She nodded and left the room. "Are you certain this will all work, father? Two of these cards are not sealed." Jason referred to the white Cusillu and Ccapac Apu cards. "They will have to do as I say. Because they get what they want too." He started walking away, taking the cards, talismans and the severed arm canister with him. "Don't you want us to come with you?" His son almost followed. "No, you should stay and deal with our guests. Just in case."

Back outside, it became clear to Gaunt that Malcean was not going to let his hostages go. "We can not afford to wait for him. Lord knows what that man is trying to do with the immortals, but it is not something that can happen." He called for one of the commanders around. "Get your men in gear, we need to be prepared for a raid." The man nodded and started ordering the troopers to move and get ready. "I am not sure about this, no." He told urizen before he could even ask. "But we have to force his hand. Malcean will have to show Ansoni, Sarah or anyone else inside, before he can make more demands. I know Ansoni would be willing to die for the cause, but I will not ask it of him. And I certainly will not ask it of Ms. Rain." His son said nothing, he could agree with that plan. "But we need to proceed with care. From what I read in the reports, the one that called himself YQ has psychic abilities. Along with his sister." The former they based on what happened in the tower, the latter they based on Ada's panicked stories.

"And Lincoln may be around as well." Macbeth returned to the conversation, he had made sure Mrs. Rain was close by, but our of harms way. "What makes you worry about him?" Kein replied. "I have my reasons." But his partner did not want to reveal just yet, what he had done to Lincolns victims. "Oh! That is right!" However Ada chimed in, feeling she had information that had to be shared. "That Malcean guy spoke about a cult, the Infinitors or something like that. He said his son was working with them. Now he was probably lying about Yale.. ehr Jason running away. But I heard Lincoln did use a monster with infinity in its name. So it can not just be a coincidence." She was certain there was a connection there. "The Infinati?" Gaunt corrected her, but he did not expect to hear that name. "Infinati, a group that rejects relligion in favor of technological advancement. Why would they work with actual gods?" To Kein this did not sound like an ideal alliance. "However, with all the rumors floating around about how they control half of the planets hackers, some parts would make more sense." Kein looked up in the sky. "Like why our satellites conveniently malfunctioned when Lincoln was making his getaway." The question was if the Infinati really had that kind of influence.

"We will see about him when we get to that point. Get everyone in position!" The soldiers all locked and loaded their weapons. "We have to be swift and give them no time to prepare. Storm every corner of the home and cover every exit. The sooner we find our companions, the sooner we can end this madness!" Gaunt was about to signal the attack order. "That will not be necessary." When a voice familiar to the duelists there interrupted his speech. "That is him!" The front doors to the castle opened, and Jason Castle came out of the building. "We already knew what you were planning to do, so I thought it was best to kill that reckless idea before it could be acted out.." He took on step to the left to reveal his sister standing behind him. "And sis here will help you see things our way." The girl did not speak, she only held up one of the talismans they had stolen from the first raiding squadron. "How did she.." And Callisto ticked the glass with her finger, which in turn caused all other talismans in the area to tremble and then shatter.

"Gah!" At the same time their guns were dismantled too. "I told you she had weird powers." Ada snapped as she hid behind Nathan. "Did she get all of them?" Kein looked around, and saw not a single intact pendant. "I am affraid so sir. Our backups are at the tower." One soldier said. "So you can see, this has become a no-mortal zone. Only those blessed by god can enter. You only have one such person now." He pointed at Gaunt. "Hello again sir. What an unexpected pleasure to see you are back with us." he said with a clearly sarcastic tone. "I am sorry to disappoint your new friends son, that I did not become one with an immortal." He grumbled. "That is okay. We have your blood already, which is all that is required for the ritual. All five signers will contribute to it, whether they want to or not." So he explained, and gaunt assumed he was talking about the charms made from their blood. However one mystery remained. "Five? How did you get access to the fifth?" He was quite certain that man had been buried.

"Yale!" In the middle of that discussion, Urizen spoke up. "Or whatever your real name is. Answer me this, why did you even approach me back at North City? What was the big plan there!" He had to know, how much of the YQ he had seen since that day was a lie, and to what ends. "Is that not obvious, Artani? To get close to you, and by extension your father. The plan all along was to infiltrate your fathers headquarters. Lincoln could not have done the kind of damage I did by letting Ccarayhua in. Of course than Ramirez went and ruined my exit. I would not even have needed to flee if you had not confiscated my laptop, Kein." He scowled at the Ace. "We did not even find anything incriminating on it." Kein objected. "Of course not. But if you had been given enough time, you could have crossreferenced my fingerprints on it with the general database." They had not even figured that out it seemed. "Then it was all a deception. Your big act of friendship was just to keep me close by. I knew it, i knew it all along." Urizen had said from the very beginning, nobody was that nice unless they had their reasons. "I have to tell you though, Artani, you were not easy to work with." He chuckled. "I will show you what is easy to work with!" Which agitated the son enough to drive him forward.

"Wait. Urizen, do not step there!" But Gaunt gravved him by the shoulder. "If you set foot into the energy field you will be absorbed!" He was just a few inches away from Aslla Piscu's geoglyph. "Listen to your father, heheh." Jason just laughed from the safe distance. "Are we gonna let him just stand there and mock us then? You have the mark, you can protect us!" Urizen knew a Signers powers allowed regular people safe passage through gods marked territories. "I can not take us all." But such protective barriers barely covered ten feet. "Then take us duelists. We will beat him down the old fashioned way." Nathan claimed. "I have sat on the sidelines for long enough now, I can take that kid." Jason heard this and stopped smiling. "What, a duel?" He did not see why they had to go through with that. "Callisto likes the idea." His sister felt differently about. "Sis. This is not the time." Her brother protested. "It is the time, now. Callisto saw this as well. Callisto and her brother will defeat them all in a duel and stop them from reaching daddy. This is gods area, the gods respect the rules of the game. If they lose, they will cease being a threat forever."

"Oh well. When you put it like that." A vision like that was enough to maximize any mans confidence. "Very well. bring it then! Send in your best, the both of us will tear it down!" Jason took out his cards and so did Callisto. "A tagteam? Ugh, you need my help then Ashworth." Kein wanted to take his cards out. "Don't do it man. You are still injured from the last duel, aren't you?" Nathan made him put the cards away. "What makes you say that?" Kein raised an eyebrow. "You have been limping for the last few hours. I have been in a psychic visualization duel before, you do not want to experience that right now." He turned to Gaunt. "And sir, no offense, but since you are the only one that can protect us, It might be better if you did not duel them either. At least not until nobody else can anymore." It pained Gaunt to hear that, but it was the truth. He had to stay alive as long as possible. "That leaves just you, I suppose. So what do you say.." Nate was about to invite Urizen to be his partner. "No!" When Ada screamed and ran forward. "If anyone takes that witch down, it has to be me. It has to be!"

"Oh. It's the one that got away." Jason said with a less than intimidated tone. "I heard the last time you tried to take her on, you ran like the little girl you really are." He also took this time to laugh at her. "Shut up! I know what will happen if we lose, but I.." She responded loudly, but with hesitation. "You know that my sisters predictions are never incorrect. She has seen your defeat, and you still chose to take us on?" He shook his head. "Is it guilt, or is it an even insaner emotion? Knowing you it is probably the latter, such foolishness." She did not answer him either way. But they could see her hands were shaking. "Ada.. you do not have to. I am sure Xavier will not blame you." Nathan had second thoughts too, at least about her being here. "No! Damn it. I refuse to believe it! I will not believe it. Not that he will stay gone! We lost ramirez, you lost Richard, no more! And I also do not believe that this girl can see everything we are going to do! I will show you that we are not puppets!" She activated her dueldisk. It was too late to go back now. "I once told him that you can not give in to fear, so I will not. Every strategy book I ever read tells me not to do this, but for once I am listening to my heart."

(To be Continued in Mark 058: Good Children)


	58. 058: Good Children

**Mark 058: Good Children**

Team Castle's LP: 16000 Team Norths LP: 16000

"I will start!" She drew six cards. "Heh. If you wish to join him that way, be my guest." Jason drew as well. "Brother should still be careful." His sister spoke to him. "I am aware of overconfidence, sis. Even an assured victory is one you have to work for. But I will take the turn after her."He claimed, meaning that Nate would be third and Callisto fourth. "Very well." The duelists all drew their cards hand looked at their hands. "We have to be careful though. This guy can trick our senses. It's how he beat Ramirez." Ada said as she activated the field spell Dragon ravine. "For instance, I want to discard a certain card from my hand now. But he can make me discard the wrong one." The Ravine let her throw away one card to add a Dragunity monster from her deck to her hand. "Please. I will not resort to petty tricks like that." Jason scoffed. "And I will not allow it." Gaunt retorted. "All of us are watching this duel, you can't influence us all at once." The signer still stood behind the two duelists, shielding them from Aslla Piscu's field. "Good. Then I throw away White Stone of Legend!" Ada discarded a level 1 tuner. "And add Dragunity Phalanx to my hand." Because the White Stone had been discarded, she could add a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to her hand.

"Then I play Cards of Consonance, I discard the dragon tuner Phalanx from my hand to draw two new cards!" The spell was succesfully activated too, and she drew twice. "And now Dragunity Dux!" A white winged warrior(1500/1000) flew down to the field. "When he is summoned, he can equip a Dragunity to himself." Dux took the Phalanx out. "And when Phalanx is equipped to a monster, it is special summoned afterwards!" The weapon turned into a dragon(500/1100). "Level 2 Phalanx and level 4 Dux, become the level 6 Vajrayana!" A red knight riding a red dragon(1900/1200) appeared. "Vajrayana can equip a dragunity to himself as well!" The knight claimed the Phalanx and the level 2 tuner special summoned itself a second time. "Now. A level 8 synchro summon!" She tuned the two monsters together. "Stardust Dragon!" And called out the shining blue dragon. "What?" This Jason did not expect to see. "You should not have that card. I know you could not afford a thing like that." He protested. "Thank your sister, she gave this card to Ali and me." Ada managed to smile before. "Not to be kind, but to tell me we can not win even with a card like that."

"I see." Jason was familiar with her kind of logic, but it still bothered him. "Brother will wait. It is to soon to attack." Callisto told him. "True." Jasons turn started and he played the permanent spell Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen. "I special summon a fairy from my hand when i control no monsters." The level 5 Airknight Parshath(950/1400) was summoned at half his power. "Then the tuner monster, Vylon Tetra." The second monster was a level 2 tetrahedon-shaped machine(900/900). "I shall synchro summon too." The two light elementals were combined to form a level 7 gold/silver angel knight(1700/2800). "Vylon Delta. I place it on the field in defense mode, and give it the Vylon Material card." Delta took out a golden blade that strengthened it(2300/2800). "Furthermore, when Tetra is sent to the graveyard, it can be equipped to a monster I control. At a small cost." He paid 500 LP and the tetrahedon attached itself to the synchro angel as well. Though this equipment seemed to give no visible boosts. "That ends my turn."

Team Castle's LP: 15500

"However!" Jason suddenly raised his hand to the sky. "When Delta is in defense mode during my endphase, I can add one equip spell from my deck to my hand." Jason took the spell Vylon Segment. "Now you may move, Nathan." He let his dueldisk shuffle his deck. "Ah. With technology like that, you do not have to worry about shuffling your deck the wrong way, I guess." Nate pointed out as he drew a card. "Trying mindgames already, mister shouldbe Ace?" Jason laughed it off. "No, no. I would not dare. Anyway since you control monsters and I do not.." he special summoned Junk Forward(900/1500) from his hand. "I can do this." Then he normal summoned Junk Synchron(1300/500) "I synchro summon Junk Gardna!" The two level 3 monsters were used as materials for a heavy-armor green knight, the level 6 Junk Gardna(1400/2600). "Once a turn, he can switch the position of a monster." The guarder stomped its foot down, and the rumbling field forced Delta into an attack position. "That one is all yours, Ada."

Nathan placed one trap down and ended his turn. Delta was now ready to be killed by Stardust. "She will not get him." But first Callisto's turn came. "Zeradias, Herald of Heaven." She threw an angel monster from her hand, to add a field spell to her hand. "And the dragons ravine will not last either. Callisto plays Sanctuary in the Sky." The Ravine broke down under the brilliant light rays of the sanctum in the sky. "Figures, she uses angels too." Ada already knew about her deck, but it was new too Urizen and the others. "Then she sets three cards and summons Artemis." And her first turn this time looked a lot like her first turn of the last duel, as she called the counter angel decks keycard again, the Bountiful Artemis(1600/1700). "Sorry. But Callisto knows what is too come, and how to shuffle her deck accordingly." Unlike Jason, she did not use a disk to duel and just let the cards float freely. Though in the field of god, it was not really necessary to duel with machines anyway. "If you are sorry, then why do it?" Urizen grumbled.

"Don't try to talk sense into her. She believes she has to. But I will show her.." Ada started her turn and summoned a new dragon. "Let me see how you like this, The Dodger Dragon!" An insectlike chinese dragon(1900/1200) crawled unto the illuminated field. "This summon can not be stopped, and during a turn in which he appears, no counter traps can be activated!" She explained with pride. "This is the best answer to your deck, and I happened to have one copy of it!" Apparently she had made edits to her deck after the last encounter. "So I attack Artemis, before it can even use its power!" Dodger Dragon scuttled towards the Bountiful One, ready to snap it in half with its pincer tail. "Sorry, but Callisto already knows about that card. She prepared for it too." Unfortunately she could discard an angel from her hand that would stop all that. "Honest! No!" It was Honest, the card that gave a battling light monster the attackpower of those it did battle with. Artemis powered up(3500/1700) and retaliated. "Damn it!" Dodger Dragon was exterminated by holy energy, yet its effect would remain. "You still can not use counter traps!" Stardust released a sonic blast at Vylon Delta, yet that attack failed to do damage as well. "She did not need to." Jason was not phased.

Team Norths LP: 14100

"By sacrificing the equipped Vylon Tetra, my monster stays intact." That had been the purpose of the tetrahedon machine, a lifesaving shield. "We have dueled together before you know. We learned that at the academy." And thanks to Sanctuary in the Sky, he would take no damage any time a fairy monster was injured in battle. "Together, nothing can stop us." He took his turn again. "Now we will begin our assault. I summon the tuner: Vylon Sphere!" A level 1 spheroid machine appeared next. "I tune Delta with the Sphere to summon Vylon Epsilon!" And from the extra deck came the angel Ada had seen him use against Ramirez, the level 8 white knight(2800/1200). "Vylon Sphere has the same ability as Tetra did." He said as he paid 500 lifepoints to let Epsilon equip the sphere machine from the grave. "Additionally, since Vylon Material just now went down along with Delta, its effect is triggered too. I can add any Vylon spell from my deck to my hand." Jason took a continuous spell called Vylon Element, and placed it on the field.

Team Castle's LP: 15000

"And of course." Lastly he equipped Epsilon with the Vylon Segment. "Now he is immune to any targeting effects. Including your Gardna's, Nate."Jason had read the fineprint on that synchro card, Junk Gardna could switch positions even in death. "And Epsilon itself prevents any of its spells from being targeted by opponents card effects. But they themselves still work. For instance, I can send Vylon Sphere to the grave, to equip Epsilon with an equip spell in my graveyard." Epsilon reclaimed Vylon Material and equipped it. "Now Gardna dies." By tributing an equipped card, Epsilon could destroy a monster. "I sacrifice the Material." The angel unleashed holy energy. "Have you forgotten Stardust Dragons effect!" Ada countered however, choosing to tribute the star dragon to negate the destructive power of Epsilon. "May have, but I know who has not." Yet Callisto countered the counter. "Sorry, Divine Punishment." She flipped the counter trap which punished monsters using their effects with death. "Argh!" Stardust died, and so did Junk Gardna. In return, Callisto could draw once due to Artemis's presence, and their field was wide open. "And again I use Vylon Materials effect." He claimed and equipped another Vylon Segment to Epsilon(3400/1200). "Direct attack!" And the synchro fired a halo of golden light at the two duelists. "Trap card, Reanimation Wave!" Luckily Nathan could reduce the damage they would suffer with his trap, halving the halo's force. "It may be untargetable by my effects, but I can still target the damage it causes!"

Team North's LP: 12400

"Oho? That card?" The wave also 'reanimated' a deceased synchro, Junk Gardna(1400/2600) in this case. "Then I shall place a trap and watch how you use that revived monster." Jason feared nothing, as Epsilon was still immune thanks to the Segment spell. "Gee thanks. I also noticed you did not use that visualizing trick on us yet." Nathan said so, as the hit that turn did not feel real. "I see no need to waste my powers on non fatal blows." Jason responded. "Again, thanks." Ash sighed and summoned a new tuner monster. "Fleur Synchron." It was a flower seed monster(400/200), though despite its appearance it was a machine tuner. "I will synchro summon with these two monsters." The level 2 Fleur combined with Junk Gardna, and a level 8 synchro monster came out. "Chevalier de Fleur." It was the female knight of roses(2700/2300). "And now I can activate the effect of Fleur Synchron, when it is used as a synchro material it can special summon a level 2 or lower monster from my hand." He planned to summon a tuner in his hand.

"Sorry." But Callisto said the magic word. "Debunk." And revealed a counter trap that negated effects which activated in the graveyard. "What the.." Fleur Synchron was stopped and banished as well, and Artemis meanwhile let her draw a card. "I am beginning to see why she is so much trouble. But you have to run out of traps some time." He entered the battle phase and let Fleur attack Artemis. 'You forget that I can use traps too, Nate!" Yet Jason was the one to reveal a card, the trap Mirror Force. "Yikes! Then it is a good thing Chevalier de Fleur can negate one trap every turn!" Nathan tried to destroy the mirror barrier. "Sorry, but it can not." Unfortunately Callisto's third counter trap was Chivalry. "Ouch man." It destroyed a monster who used its effect during the battle phase, so Chevalier perished. "Guess that's it." And Nate had no traps to set. "Then Callisto summons Meltiel, Sage of the Sky." The sage angel(1600/1200) joined the bountiful angel. "They attack now." The celestial pair bombarded their opponents with feathers. "Then three traps were set." Callisto had drawn three cards in between turns, and all three turned out to be counters she could set. "Ggh, she really does know how to shuffle." Kein cursed. And just as she ended her turn, the ground rumbled again. "Huh?"

Team North's LP: 9200

There was a change to the background. "Oh no." The until now orange light that surrounded the castle, attained a reddish hue. "He is summoning them?" Above the building appeared the images of the giant spider god, along with his brothers. "The ritual has finally begun eh?" Jason clenched his fist and smiled. "Looks like you were too late, now our family is on the true road to divinity!" However his sister still did not share in his enthusiasm. "This is just the beginning. They can still stop it in time." Jason flinched. "Why did you tell them that?" He shouted at her. "Because panic makes them rush things, Callisto can already see the mistakes they will have to make, when driven by urgency." She ended her turn. "Grr. You have to get out of our way now!" Ada drew and special summoned Vice Dragon from her hand, which she was allowed to do since she controlled no monsters while they did. "I will destroy all your traps at once! A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon lets me return a highlevel dragon to my hand to do just that!"

"Sorry."

However the spell was stopped, Vice Dragon returned to the hand yet its beating wings produced no winds. "Dark Bribe." Callisto flipped the trap which forced Ada to draw instead of destroying her traps. "No! Why can't we touch them! Damn it!" She started to feel it again, the fear in her heart. "Callisto pities you, for you still do not see. This only leads to defeat, she has had to tell you this many times... crush you many times" Callisto drew a card thanks to Artemis. And her team regained all health they lost thanks to Meltiels effect. "Even if this is gods ritual, and daddy is opening the door to a place where miracles happen, only those marked by god can be given miracles. Ada.. is not real enough."

Team Castle's LP: 16000

"What is she saying? That we aren't real?" Nathan heard the words, but did not understand the meaning. "That is what she believes. Because she lived through this day hundreds of times already, she can not tell when something is real." Ada explained before resummoning Vice Dragon(1000/2400) with its special effect, in defense mode this time. "Then she must have seen what happens once the ritual is completed, right?" Gaunt said, making it easy to guess what his next question to her would be. "Callisto told you that many times as well." The girl stated with an impatient tone. "You never believe what she says, so she no longer bothers. They do not need to know." Ada merely sighed. "We do not even want to know. We will stop it!" She placed a trap down and set a monster as well. "You only say that because you fear what will come. Because you do not know what your new god will do to you." Jason followed her turn with his. "Father has no tolerance for sinners. But he can not harm his own family. Either way, we are well protected."

(To be Continued in Mark 059: Wish upon a Star)

**New cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Dragunity Knight Vajrayana<br>Dodger Dragon

-  
>A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Junk Gardna<br>Fleur synchron  
>Chevalier de Fleur<p>

**New cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Vylon Tetra<br>Vylon Delta  
>Vylon Sphere<p>

-  
>Vylon Material<br>Vylon Element

-  
>Mirror Force<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Zeradias, Herald of Heaven<br>Honest

-  
>Divine Punishment<br>Debunk  
>Chivalry<p> 


	59. 059: Wish upon a Star

**Mark 059: Wish upon a Star**

A man stood alone in the highest tower chamber, standing in a seal drawn on the floor with the blood of all five signers. Three talismans and a severed arm lied in the corners of the room, and the fifth signer stood at the center as the catalyst. "Yes. Your brothers are coming. They have seen the light." Malcean gloated as he saw the giant spider through the window, as it towered over his castle. "It is more beautiful then I could ever imagine. Then we.." He held up the framed photo of his family. ".. could ever imagine." With him was the housemaid, who seemed just as excited. "We are becoming one, soon you will be as eternal as we." She sounded blissful, satisfied. "Verily. The blessings of the creator are all pouring down into this place, the door will open soon. And then, the stuff that mankind dreamed off.. it will all be mine."

Team Castle's LP: 16000 Team Norths LP: 9200

"Now then. You have given me a choice of targets this time. Who shall I destroy?" Back at the scene of the duel, Vylon Epsilon(2800/1200) discarded one of its Segments but allowed Jason to destroy one monster Ada controlled. "It does not matter what brother choses here." His sister helped him out on said choice. "Thank you, sis. I pick Vice Dragon." The white angel vanquished the muscular dragon. "Then since Vylon Material was sent to my cemetery, I can claim another Vylon spell from my deck." Jason took out a Vylon Component. "I then summon Vylon Stigma." A golden angel(1600/1000) flew down from the sanctuary. "Now I give Epsilon the Component, as it attacks your set monster!" Epsilon, enhanced with the Components piercing powers, shot through Ada's last monster, a dark shimmering dragon(1000/2000). "Crater Dragon! When it dies, I can summon a monster with no attackpoints!" She called the Stardust Phantom(0/0) in defense mode.. "You think that will defend you?" Yet suddenly Stigma took the Component away from Epsilon. "What, Stigma can re-arrange equipments?" She was shocked, an attack from Stigma now might as well have been a direct attack. "Stigma slays that excuse of a monster!" Stigma's claws ripped the magician in half.

Team Norths LP: 6800

_Crater Dragon, 4/1000/2000 Wind/Dragon/Tuner  
>Flip: Special summon 1 monster with 0 ATK from your deck. That monster's effect(s) is negated.<br>This card cannot be used as a Synchro material monster, except for the Synchro summon of a Dragon-type Synchro monster._

"Liberty for all!" But now she could chain with her set trap. "Two monsters are sent back to the deck." She wanted to choose Vylon Stigma or Vylon Epsilon, but thanks to the Vylon Segment spell that they could toss around between the two, they were practically immune to her traps. "I choose both of your sisters!" Because a monster had been killed in battle, the trap returned Meltiel(1600/1200) and Artemis(1600/1700) to Callisto's deck. "And that is not all. When Stardust Phantom is killed, Stardust Dragon is revived!" She shouted as from the graveyard the dragon of stars(2500/2000) was released. "That thing again? Feh, it is useless as long as it can not chain to counter traps." He was done with his turn. "Possibly. But first I will have another go at you." Nathan drew his cards. "I activate my field spell: Synchronized Realm!" He played a time/space warping field, which banished the sanctum in the sky to another dimension. "That is one card down"

"Next I play Tuning! I discard the top card from my deck and add a 'Synchron' monster to my hand." He discarded the card and took out Quickdraw Syncron. "Then I special summon Quickdraw Synchron!" By discarding a monster from his hand, a Glow-Up Bulb, he could bring out the level 5 cowboy tuner(700/1400). "Next I discard another card from my deck, to revive the monster I just tossed away: Glow-Up Bulb!" This time Nathan threw away a Quillbolt Hedgehog and gained a one-eyed one-leveled seed tuner(0/0). "Now then, since I control a tuner, I can revive the Hedgehog too." From the cemetery came the level 2 Quillbolt(800/800). "Finally my normal summon will be Tuningware." The fourth monster was the level 1 tuning support machine(100/300). "I synchro summon, Road Warrior!" Quickdraw used his effect to assume the name of 'Road Synchron', allowing itself, the Hedgehog and Tuningware to be the materials for the summon of the level 8 Road Warrior(3000/1500). "Thanks to Tuningware I can draw one card." He gained a trap card. "And thanks to Synchronized Realm, you take 500 damage whenever we synchro summon a monster!"

Team Castle's LP: 15500

"Is that all?" The opponents were damaged, but they shrugged it off. "Not by a long shot. I attack Epsilon now!" Road Warrior charged to the synchro. "Sorry, it is all." However Callisto had a trap for attacks too, Negate Attack. "Ah. Should have seen that card coming." He sighed. "But at least with Aertemis gone, you do not get to draw any more cards. And I can still do this." Road Warrior activated its effect, firing a beam with its backshield that released another Tuningware(300/100) from the deck. "Once a turn, Road Warrior can summon a level 2 or lower warrior or machine. And now I tune this Tuningware with Glow-Up Bulb" The two level 1 monsters became a level 2 synchro monster. "Wait, they make synchros at that level?" Jason laughed at the thing that stood before him, a formula 1 racecar robot(200/1500). "Formula Synchron. When this card is synchro summoned, I can draw once." Ashworth drew two more cards, because another Tuningware had been used as a material as well. "I set two cards and end my turn."

Team Castle's LP: 15000

"Venus of Love." Callisto summoned a level 8 angel from her hand, the golden armored Splendid Venus(2800/2400). "Crap, she can use Valhalla too?" because the Hall of the Fallen spell had been activated by Jason, his partner could special summon any angel from her hand as well, as long as she controlled no monsters. "And Artemis of the Hunt." And she also summoned Bountiful Artemis(1600/1700). "Not that one again!" Ada cried out. "Did you draw another one, or just the same one?" She wondered if she shuffled it back to the top of her deck when it was affected by Liberty at Last. "Who knows." Venus meanwhile used her effects on the Synchro monsters on the field. All non-fairy types would lose 500 attack and defense points. (Stardust: 2000/1500, Road Warrior: 2500/1000, Formula Synchron: 0/1000). "Callisto does not know, which one you will destroy." She entered the battle phase and let Artemis attack Formula Synchron. "Well don't you know what is coming. I activate Synchro Deflector. When you attack my synchro monster, yours will die instead!" The goddess of the hunts attack bounced off of a field and hit the goddess of love instead, and all monsters regained their original offense and defense powers. "Yes, she knows how what comes. But not if and when.."

"But in the end, they abandon all hope." She placed one trap card down and ended her turn. Meanwhile the ground started to rumble again. "Uh oh." Above the castle another god took form, the whale Chacu Challhua. "Time is running out?" Ada played the spell card Ancient Rules. It allowed her to summon a normal monster, like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon(3000/2500) she had in her hand all this time. "Callisto is again sorry, she can not let you." Of course that could be countered too, by her trap Chaos Trap Hole. "Gah!" The girl played 2000 of her teams lifepoints to suck the light elemental into a black hole. "If I do not destroy Epsilon.." None of her monsters could kill Jasons strongest angel. "Dragunity Militum!" All she could do was normal summon the female winged assassin(1700/1200), who could not do much either. "Maybe. They were right. Even if we hit them we can not possibly do enough damage in time." As much as she wanted to save Ali, she did not think it was possible. "They are too good, they have too much power.."

Team Castle's LP: 13000

_"You have more..." _

"What?" Ada flinched and looked behind her. "Who said that?" She heard a voice speak to her. "Do not look at me." But neither Urizen nor Gaunt had spoken up. The voice was not like theirs at all anyway, it was less rough. "It can not be... Ali?" She had no idea what was going on. However this turn also made her notice another oddity. "The dueldisks light.." Her extra deck slot was blinking. "It says I can synchro summon, but why?" She looked at Formula Synchron and gasped. "Wait that is a tuner monster?" She asked and Nathan nodded. "I use it because it lets my setup combos. It can be used in my opponents turns as well." Meaning it could be used right now. "Then." Ada searched her extra deck. "We can summon this?" She did not look at all the cards Ali picked up the last night, especially one that was stronger than even Epsilon. "Let's go for it!" Nata saw it and approved. "Then we synchro summon!" He combined his level 2 synchro tuner with her Stardust Dragon, to form a level 10 dragon. "Shooting Star Dragon!"

Team Castle's LP: 12500

"What is this?" Before the sister and brother stood an evolved form of Stardust Dragon(3300/2500). "You gave them that card too? You have a counter for it right?" Jason knew how powerful that monster was, far better to kill it than Blue-Eyes. "Sis?.." However he changed his tone when he realized Callisto was even more shocked then he was. "Callisto..Callisto... did not see this...ever." Her scarred eyes were wide with horror. "You did not?" Ada was pleasantly surprised to hear that. "In that case, I will not hold back! You had this coming for some time!" She sent her two monsters out, Militum cut down Artemis while the Star dragon flew towards Vylon Epsilon. "Ggh." Jason could not save it from destruction as Shooting Star crashed into it. "No. This is a choice they never used, this must still be not real. This is not happening." Callisto just kept on talking to herself. "This is real for me!" Jason snapped. "So be it. I do not know what changed, but it is nothing compared to my strongest monster!" He pointed to a continuous spell which was still on his field. "Vylon Elements effect activates! When a Vylon monster equipped with Vylon spells is destroyed, I can summon Vylon tuner monsters from my deck for each equip spell that went down with it!"

Team Castle's LP: 11800

Jason called a level 4 Vylon Prism (1500/1500) and another level 2 Tetrah(900/900). "And since two vylon equipment spells were sent to the grave, I can add two more vylon spells to my hand." He took out a Vylon Filament and Vylon Matter. _"Two tuners?" _Ada did not know what to expect from that. "I activate the effect of Stardust Phantom in my cemetery." She banished the star magician. "By removing it, it can shield a dragon synchro monster on the field. It can lose defense points once a turn to keep itself alive." She placed two trap cards as well and ended her turn. "I shall show you then." He spread out his hands. "Two tuners and one vylon, that is what it needs." He combined the Prism and Tetrahedon with Vylon Stigma, together they too were worth ten stars. "That is what Vylon Omega needs!" A one-eyed, blackwinged monster(3200/1900) of an angel descended to the field. A golden omega symbol rested around it. "Tetrah's effect is activated, and Prism has such an effect too!" He payed 500 LP twice to attach the two geometrical monsters to Omega after they were sent to the graveyard from the monster zone. "Omega's power is this. Once it can equip a Vylon in my grave to itself." Another Vylon tuner was magnetically drawn towards Omega, Vylon Sphere

Team Castle's LP: 10800

"And it can negate any monsters effect by sacrificing that equipped monster card. However to threaten your monster, I first need to clear some pace" With all his spells and equipped Vylons, Jason was out of spell zones. "The Divine Armory!" So he replaced Nate's field spell with his, an armory that allowed him to play spells in monster zones. "First I equip Omega with Vylon Filament, which stops you from activating traps or spells when it attacks. Then I activate Vylon Matter." He played the vylon equip spell and vylon normal spell "I return 3 equip spells in my cemetery to my deck, to destroy one monster you control!" He returned Component, Segment and Material to his deck. "Now I know Shooting Star Dragon can destroy a destroyer, just like Stardust. So go ahead, do it!" He would be ready. "I will!" And she activated it, Shooting Star blocked Vylon Matters energy. "Then I shall negate it by sacrificing Vylon Filament!" He was about to take the card and send it to his grave. "Gravel Cane!" But Ada played a trap card. "I send a spell I control and a spell you control, back to our hands!" She returned Nate's set card and his Filament to his hand. "You did what?" And Omega failed to negate Shooting Stars effect. "I gotcha, Jason!" She pumped her fist and shouted happily.

"You have got nothing!" However the Tetrahedon took the blow for Omega. "I can sacrifice Vylon Tetrah remember? To protect my Vylon monster?" He smugly explained and then simply re-equipped the Filament to Omega. "I use the effect of Vylon Sphere." Jason sacrificed the sphere tuner, so he could equip the other Vylon Segment in the grave to Epsilon. "However, I am out of destructive methods. And your phantom prevents me from killing Shooting Star. Even if Vylon Prism now makes my Angel stronger than your dragon." He said as he entered the battle phase and the prism powered up his synchro monster(4200/1900). "So your Militum suffers instead!" He struck out at the weaker winged beast, obliterating it with golden magic. "Argh." This time he was not holding back his visualization powers, the quite physical explosion knocked both Ada and Nathan down. "Three cards remain equipped to Omega, three more monster effects can be negated." He ended his turn. "Could you care to repeat that? I did not hear you well." Nathan grinned as he started his turn.

Team North's LP: 3300

"I activate Road Warrior's power!" He attempted to summon another level 2 monster from his deck. "Nate, did you not realize Shooting Star Dragon can not chain to my monster's effect as long as it is equipped with Vylon Segment? Or are you just a fool like everyone says you are?" Of course, Jason negated it by sending Vylon Filament to the grave, and the Omega symbol killed Road Warrior with intense light. "You would know, being a psychic and all." Nathan continued on regardless, and summoned a Rapid Warrior(1200/400). "I can let this monster attack directly!" He tried to power up the rapid one, but that monster was destroyed too after Omega sent Vylon Prism to the graveyard. "Do you just not get it?" An incredulous Jason shouted. "Slow learner. That is what they call me." Nate shrugged and tried to activate the spell card Axe of Foolishness. "No. You will not win here either!" Callisto flipped another counter trap, though this time she did not bother to say she was sorry. "Callisto has not seen it all yet, she is not ready!" It was another Dark Bribe, which shut his spell down and let him draw a card. "I am sorry then, Callisto." Nate apologized in her stead. "But this is the last time this day will be seen by you. Because this_ is _the day."

(To be Continued in Mark 060: Pretender to the Throne)

**New cards used by Ada Wolfram**_  
>Crater Dragon<em>  
>Stardust Phantom<br>Shooting Star Dragon  
>Dragunity Militum<p>

-  
>Gravel Storm<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Glow-Up Bulb<br>Formula Synchron  
>Rapid Warrior<p>

-  
>Tuning<br>Synchronized Realm

**New cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Vylon Stigma<br>Vylon Prism  
>Vylon Omega<p>

-  
>Vylon Filament<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>The Splendid Venus<p>

-  
>Chaos Trap Hole<p> 


	60. 060: Pretender to the Throne

**Mark 060: Pretender to the Throne**

Team Castle's LP: 10800 Team North's LP: 3300

"Maybe I know why this happened, Callisto." Nathan said as he placed two traps down, before he ended his turn. "You and your brother yourself said that this is the field of gods now. So maybe, he granted our wish too just now. He gave us, a tool to defeat you with." He referred to the Shooting Star Dragon(3300/2500), which for unknown reasons Callisto had never seen in her future visions. "No. God is not on your side, he prefers father!" She snapped back at him and drew her card. "Callisto will.. Callisto must erase it!" She special summoned an angel from her hand, but not with the effect of Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen. "Crap, it is Archlord Krystia." A redwingd angel(2800/2300) descended from the halls. "Krystia can be special summoned when a duelist has four exactly angels in her cemetery." Callisto right now had Venus, Artemis, Zeradias and Honest. "And one of those four will be added to her hand." Urizen explained as everyone watched her reclaim Honest. "It will die, Callisto must know how it dies!" Krystia then flew towards Shooting Star Dragon, powered up by a discarded Honest along the way (Krystia: 6100/2300). Shooting Star had an attack negation ability. However Vylon Omega(3200/1900) would just have sealed that effect, had it been used. So the attack went through.

Team North's LP: 500

"Ada!" However the dragon(3300/1700) managed to survive the hit, only its defense points were lowered. "Heh. I banished Stardust Phantom remember?" Ada smiled as she finally stood again after the psychic attack from Jason and Vylon Omega. "It keeps my dragon alive in combat, as long as it has 800 defense points to sacrifice. And this effect is a continuous one, so Omega can not stop that." Not to mention, it was impossible to counter a banished monster. "And now it is my turn, and I can kill your monsters easily!" Ada drew again. "Even if you can, you will not do enough damage in one turn. And Vylon Element will summon another tuner from my deck when Vylon Omega dies." jason already anticipated the summoning of another Vylon monster like Vylon Sigma. "Then I have to end this now. Just like I told Ali, any attack that falls short of fatal damage is not worth it. That is why I am fortunate that Shooting Star can attack multiple times in a turn, if I use its effect. I can draw five cards and let the dragon attack for each tuner I draw!"

"Are you not forgetting something?" Jason pointed at his monster. "I can still negate one monster effect." It still had Vylon Segment to sacrifice. "Ah yes, you saved that card for last huh. And I can not use Shooting Stars ability more than once a turn. So. I have to destroy it, don't I?" She activated the card she had drawn, Stamping Destruction. "You can not be serious!" When a dragon was on the field, she could destroy one spell or trap the opponent controlled and do damage to them as well. "The only one that is not taking this seriously, is you Jason. I destroy Vylon Segment!" Omega's last tool was shattered, and Jason took 500 damage. "You will not win. Even if you draw five tuners, you could not do enough damage!" As stunned as Jason was, his assured survival let him maintain his smug tone. "Oh really?" However Nathan then flipped his trap card, Synchro Strike. "This trap boosts a synchro monster on the field, giving it 500 attackpoints for each material used for its summon!" Shooting Star(4300/2500) powered up, simply because Formula Synchron and Stardust Dragon had been its materials. "You.." He knew the math, if she drew more than three tuners they would lose.. ""Now! I draw the cards!" Ada picked up cards from her deck to activate Shooting Stars third power.

Team Castle's LP: 10300

"I pick up. Dragunity Javelin, Dragunity Partisan, Dragon Mastery, Dragunity Pilum and.. Icarus Attack?" But only three out of five cards were tuners. "Ha, you failed!" Jason. "No way." Ada could not believe it. "Wait. Attack anyway." Urizen stated. "What?" They were surprised to hear him say that. "He can fool our eyes, but not the dueldisk technology. Let the dragon attack as many times as possible!" She understood him now and nodded. "It attacks!" And to everyone's amazement the dragon split up into four mirage forms, each carrying 4300 attackpoints. "No. How did you know?" Jason cried out in desperation, as the Icarus Attack card in Ada's hand transformed back into a fourth tuner monster: Debris Dragon. Jason had tried to make them think it was a trap card. "You were too calm, Jason. You were up to something, and this was it." They never did figure out how many people he could fool at once, apparently it was more than enough. But it did not matter now. "Take it, and let it all be over!" The dragons flew forwards. Two of them dive-bombed into Krystia and Omega, while the other two attacked the Castle siblings directly.

Team Castle's LP: 0

"No. Callisto, why did you let this happen! You said that we would have won!" He shouted at her, but she was not responding. "I will not accept this. I was tricked, I was.." Meanwhile Gaunt slowly walked up to him. "Stay away old man. We still have hostages, we.." And while Jason tried to quicjkly step back into the castle, his legs started to get strangely heavy. "Hey what is.. this?" He fell to his knees, as if gravity increased around him. "You now realize what it is like, kid. To lose in a fight where gods roam." Gaunt stood in front of him. "What are you talking about, why can't I move?" He wanted to move, but not even an inch was given. "You can not resist the rules of the game, you lost and now you have to submit. I have seen these effects on the unmarked before." In all cases, those that resisted defeat would be forced down by gods presence. "But, god is on my fathers side." Jason did not understand why he had to submit. "You forget, my blood is part of the ritual that now fills this field. My sign protected your opponents and now through my sign, the creator acknowledges your defeat." He kneeled down and looked him in the eyes. "Now. Tell me where you left Ansoni and Sarah. They had better still be alive." And now Jason finally realized, he could not get out of this.

"Wh-where?" Sarahs eyes opened, and she found herself in a dining room. "This place? It was not a dream?" She knew this room, and she also recognized the man who rested in the chair next to her. "Oh Ansoni!" He woke up at the same time, though was not as quickly aware of his surroundings as she was. "What, what happened? Sarah?" He could not remember falling asleep in the first place. but neither could she. "Oh?" And they were not alone either. "Sir!" Gaunt, Macbeth and Urizen stood at the entrance, having just arrived. "When did you get here? And where did.." But their hosts were nowhere to be seen. "You can take it easy. We defeated those two kids. And they told us how to find you." Nathan and Ada also entered, the former pretty pleased about his victory. "The children? Oh that is right, they put us to sleep, psychically I guess. They said something about dealing with intruders." Sarah rubbed her head, the experience was not as pleasant as a slumber should have been. "It is good to see you guys again."

"But where.. are you the only ones here?" Kein saw none of the guards that were supposed to escort them, or mister Alphonse from the academy. "I am affraid, we got separated. And without our protection.." Ansoni sighed, he did not want or need to finish that sentence. "Oh. They were not blessed." Urizen understood it just fine, those poor devils were now merely food for the hummingbird. "But, Ali.. Xavier.. is he one of them? His soul was taken from him before the god showed up." Ada held the card which had Ali on it, the prison Callisto had put him in. "She will not talk to me, but there must be a way to save him. Right?" Her hands were trembling again, after all that she still had nothing to show for it. "I can not tell. Where was he last?" Gaunt figured she had to find a body first. "Her bedroom. But if I leave your barrier.." Ada knew she was as dead as Alphonse was right now, if she left the immediate area of Gaunt. "i will help you." Sarah chimed in. "I am a signer too!" She ran up to her and held her hand. "I am sure we can rescue him!"

"If you are going to split up, I insist on coming with you." Macbeth joined them as well. "Because I talked to your mother, and she will kill me if anything happens to you." He again laughed nervously. "She did? Oh mom." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Come on!" Before running off with Ada and Macbeth following her. "Give her some sleep and she gets enough energy to power a city." Urizen shook his head, he felt they were getting distracted too easily. "Right. Enough time is spent on this matter. We need to track down Malcean and stop the ritual before it gets out of hand." Nathan slammed his fists. "The ritual, right!" Ansoni cringed as he remembered that part too. "Yes. He is summoning the immortals one by one." Gaunt stared out the window. By now Cusillu had joined the ranks of his brothers too, two more remained. "He must be up in one of the towers. There are two of them, and two of us who have marks. We should each head for one." Ansoni said and Gaunt nodded. "Then I will come with you, Helion." Urizen said, surprising them both. "If that is what you want."

"Ahhh.. almost there." Malcean could not believe the power he was feeling, every vein and nerve in his body was being saturated with divine magic. "I am close. So close I can envision it. Soon. I will be the vessel for the creator. No.." He clenched a fist, this mere move sent waves of power throughout the chamber. "I will be the creator." He only needed two more gods to show up, and one was already slowly taking form. "Do you always talk to yourself?" However the ones that showed up before that immortal were two mortals. "You must like the sound of your voice." Urizen and Ansoni had entered the upper tower rooms, and came upon the lord as he was in the middle of his ceremony. "You? How did you get passed my children?" He asked them though he did not sound too upset. "Figure it out, lord. Oh that is right, you are not there yet." Urizen noted the various items strategically placed in every corner. "Ansoni, get the ones on the left. We will break down his setup!" He rushed for the right and Ansoni went to the left.

"You will not interrupt the proceedings!" Yet they overlooked the woman who was with him. "The bird god?" And she was not the only one there anymore. "Where did.." Four people entered, appearing from mist and light: Alphonse, the Butler, a cook and one of their own troopers. "It's the souls she absorbed! She can use more than one at a time now?" These four grabbed one talisman each, and the arm from the canister. "What the hell is that doing here?" That was a new sight for Urizen. "That's what he took of the fifth signer." Ansoni explained. "He..duck!" However he ran back to Urizen before he finished expositing and pushed him to the ground. "Hey!" And one moment later a black wing cleaved right through the top of the tower, sweeping away everyone inside except for the two duelists. "Why.. did it do that?" However once the smoke cleared, Malcean appeared to be far from injured. he and the five possessed humans were floating in the sky, underneath the shadow of the hummingbird and its brothers. "The next stage approaches."

"You can not stop this, you will not reach me with any of your physical methods." He extended his hands to the air and looked above. "The gods accept me as one of their own now. The signer at the center of all marks." He sounded as overjoyed as he ever could possibly be. But that was about to change. "Why should they choose you?" Urizen spoke up. "I beg your pardon?" Malcean looked down on him again. "What makes you the one signer above all others." He asked the man, which caused Malceans eye to twitch. "You have missed out on my story son of Gaunt. You should realize that I am the hair of the Castillo line and.." The lord started up a speech, but he was interrupted. "Blah blah blah. I am not talking about the past. I am talking about here and now. You are a signer yes, but so is this guy." He pointed at Ansoni. "What?" Ansoni did not actually expect this kind of attention. "These gods follow the rules of the game, right? So would that not mean, that if another signer proves he can best you in a duel, he will be more worthy?"

"Heh." Malcean actually started to smile. "You have some nerve, boy. Do not presume that your true agenda is not displayed to me." He and the possessed bodies now all stared at the two. "You have no intentions of challenging me for the right to remake the creator, you just desire to seal them all." He opened his hand. "But to reject your challenge would be to admit doubt, and I have no doubts remaining within my body and soul." At the same time Aslla Piscu's true form started to shrink and disappear, converting itself into a cube of energy that rested in Malceans hand. "With the power of the bird god, and soon the others as well, there is no man that can pose a risk to me. So strike at me, if that is what you feel you must do. I will make you submit one by one, or all at once." The cube turned into a stack of cards. "It looks like we are in this together then." Ansoni said, thinking they stood a better chance in a two on one duel. "Like it could go any other way." Urizen knew only with Ansoni could the gods be sealed. "Let's bring him down."

Back outside, the soldiers were still posted around the castle and the light field of the gods that circled the place. Jason and Callisto were kept under close surveillance, while they and Nathan waited for the signers to return. "It appears the target was neutralized." However not too far away from the, another group lied in waiting. "Then we are in the clear?" A dozen figures in white cloaks were hiding one yard away, under the cover of the night and the trees. "Most definitely. The threat level of Target C's probability estimation ability has been reduced to zero, we are in a scenario that that she did not yet experience." One of the shorter hooded characters explained. "Hmph. In other words, nobody knows what will hit them." Another man responded, with a tone that would be familiar to some of them there. It was the masked traitor Lincoln. "You did well, agent Vincent." The tallest person there praised the ex-ace. "And now is the time to deliver the truth to the unbelievers." He raised a sword into the air. "The time of Infinity has come."

(To be Continued in Mark 061: Friends in High Places)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Stamping Destruction<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Synchro Strike<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Archlord Krystia<p> 


	61. 061: Friends in High Places

**Mark 061: Friends in High Places**

"He is not here." Ada, Sarah and Macbeth found the room where Xavier Ali had last been seen. "He was right there!" Yet now the body was nowhere in the bedroom. "Maybe she hid it somewhere?" Sarah started looking around. "Why would she hide.. a body?" Macbeth had to ask. "This place is already eerie enough." He too noticed the patchwork dolls and the people turned into cards. "Not in the closets." Sarah said, finding only hundreds of books and hundreds of dresses inside. "She lied to me. She must have." Ada did not understand why Ali was still not here. "I won, and yet.." She should have gotten him back, she had defeaten the girl! "Wait. That bird.." Sarah pulled aside the curtains. "It's gone now. What could that mean?" She saw that Aslla Piscu was no longer looming over the place. Its brothers were still present though, Ccarayhua had appeared at this point as well. "Maybe, it was sealed? But if the souls it devoured included Xavier.." Macbeth did not understand this either. "She..must know." Ada cursed.

Team Champion: 16000 Malceans LP: 8000

"You are not going to double your lifepoints?" Urizen asked his opponent as he saw the kind of points they received for the upcoming challenge. "There are many advantages a duelist can select from, when he faces two opponents as one." Malcean, still hovering in the air, started drawing cards. "They can do what you suggest, equal their lifeforce with those of the opponents. They can also choose to take a turn more, in between each opponents turn. But.." He went as far as to draw ten cards. "I choose to even out our hands, drawing until I have as many cards as you have combined." Ansoni and Urizen had both drawn five cards, so that was why he gained this many. "An amped up handsize, very well. Make your move, Malcean." And the other rule was that usually, the single player would take the first turn. "That is still Lord Malcean to you." He drew his eleventh card. "Now. If you are to face me, you should stand on more solid ground. Allow me to set the stage for my final ascension. I activate the field spell, Scarred Lands of Nazca!"

He played the same spell that Aslla had used during his duel with Sarah, the lands that made gods immune to most card effects. "Hey." The tower started to rumble and quiver, as if something grinded against it. "Look!" Ansoni saw it now, what was forming. The spell scarred the very sky with lines of the Nazca deities, forming a labyrinth of energy in the shape of the hummingbird. And the Lord stood at the very tip of the birds beak. "The more lifepoints you take from me, the closer you will get to me. But the more I take from you, the closer death stays behind you." Malcean explained before setting two spell or trap cards down. "I activate Black Whirlwind! Every time a Blackwing is normal summoned, another from the deck comes to my hand!" He demonstrated the effect of his permanent spell card, when he summoned Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite(1600/1000). The Whirlwind let him add a Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr from his deck to his hand. "When Zephyr is taken out of the deck like this, it can be special summoned." The orange feathered bird(1100/300) joined the dark winged warrior. "Blackwings is your deck?" Urizen knew very well how threatening that deck type was. "It is a gift from my new friend, the deck of Aslla's choosing. He is after all the axis of this ritual."

"Then can we assume those are tributes for your god?" Urizen started to walk on the path laid out ahead of him, he could only take a few steps. "Then god must already be in your hand." While Malcean did not comment on that remark, Urizen had enough motivation to play a certain spell. "Dragged down into the Grave! Each player discards a card from their hand, at the other players choice! I pick your card, Malcean!" He looked and saw Aslla Piscu hidden among six cards. "I want you to discard that immortal." Malcean did so. "Then I choose from his cards." The Lord meanwhile forced Ansoni to throw away Gaia Plate, the Earth Guardian. "And I will make Urizen discard." Meanwhile Ansoni let Urizen discard a card from his hand which was better off in the graveyard anyway; Stygian Street Patrol. Afterwards each duelist was allowed to draw once to replace their discarded card. "Good. Then I banish the Stygian!" Because if a player removed that monster from the grave, a fiend with 2000 atk or less could be special summoned from the hand.

"I special summon Steelswarm Genome from my hand, it is a monster that counts as two tributes for the swarm!" A viral demon(1000/0) appeared and split off into two forms. "I sacrifice it to summon Steelswarm Caucastag!" The two were tributed for the other stagbeetle demon(2800/0). "Caucastag can destroy all other monsters on the field!" The demon swept its tail around and wiped out both blackwings that flew in the skies. "There go your tributes and your god!" He smirked. "One god yes. But it can take many forms, boy." Unfortunately a new Blackwing took their place, a female bird(1200/1800) flew around now. "When two or more Blackwinged creatures are destroyed in one turn, Brisote the Tailwind comes from my hand." Urizen did not expect that. "Whatever, I set two cards and pass the turn to you Ansoni." He hoped the other champion would be able to take that one down. "We can not attack in our first turns, so I am affraid this will have to do." He summoned the Koa'ki Meiru Guardian(1900/1200), the golem that could negate monster effects. "I set two trap cards as well. And during my endphase, I reveal Koa'ki Meiru Boulder in my hand." He had to show Malcean that monster, or else the Guardian would destroy itself. "Then now comes the real clash between us."

Malcean normal summoned Vayu the Emblem of Honor(800/0). Black Whirlwind at that time gave Malcean an Etesian the Second Sword, which had just 400 attackpoints. "I have what I need. A tuner and a non-tuner." It sounded like he was going for a synchro summon, except.. "I sacrifice them both to special tribute summon Blackwing - Aurora the Northern Lights!" He brought out the Aurora bird(0/0) instead. "That card?" They both knew its effect, it could banish blackwing synchro monsters from the extra deck and steal their identities. "And before you can negate that monster's effects by tributing your Guarding golem, Ansoni, I activate Swallows Nest!" He activated a quickplay spell card from his hand. "Oh! He can exchange a winged beast for another?" Ansoni realized why he really summoned Aurora, it was a level ten monster. "I tribute the Blackwing of the Northern Lights, to special summon Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu from my deck!" And the hummingbird god(2500/2500) was a level ten monster too. "He has another one?" Urizen gasped and protested. "As long as you do not 'destroy' or 'banish' the god, I can summon as many copies as I want." He pointed at the two. "Now, direct attack!" The bird lowered its long beak and cut through the path behind them.

Team Champions LP: 13500

They had to get out of the way to avoid falling down, but their lifepoints were still lowered. "Tsk. But that god will not last long." Urizen drew again. "So do not even think about forgetting that I am here too! I activate the trap card: Nightmare Archfiends!" He had to sacrifice the Koa'ki Meiru Guardian to play this trap. "I give my opponent three nightmare tokens!" Nightmarish demons(2000/2000) now haunted the field in its place. "Now you may wonder why I gave you those. The answer is because they are as kill-able as your god is. Aslla is protected from targeting effects by your field spell, not from indiscriminate effects!" He flipped his other trap, Infestation Ripples. "I pay 500 lifepoints to revive Steelswarm Genome in my cemetery.' The two-tribute lifeform was reborn. "Now I have three sacrifices. That means.." He was about to send the to the grave to tribute summon the Steelswarm Hercules card in his hand. "As amusing as it would be to see to cut your life in half, I am afraid I can not let you endager my gods true form just yet."

Team Champions LP: 13000

"Fake Feather!" Malcean discarded a Blackwing from his hand to trigger a trap. "What?" And suddenly the hummingbird faded into the night sky. "I can copy one trap that was used this duel. And I choose Nightmare Archfiends." He smirked as suddenly three Nightmare fiends appeared on Urizens pathway. "And because Aslla Piscu was removed from the field, his power comes into play! All my opponents monsters will perish, and their controllers will take damage for each destruction!" Meaning that both Swarm demons and tokens would go down. Malceans tokens got to live on. "No!" A great storm erupted, which killed Urizens demon army. The tokens themselves did 800 damage to him each time upon their deaths, and the god caused 800 damage as well for each live it claimed. In total the team lost 6400 lifepoints. "Gah." The two were left with even less to stand on. "You made a grave mistake there, boy. You are dragging your marked friend down into the grave with you." Malcean scoffed as Urizen was forced to end his turn.

Team Champions LP: 6600

"That remains to be seen, Malcean." Ansoni, befroe he even drew a card, activated two of his trap cards. "Core Reinforcements! I revive one Koa'ki Meiru monster from my graveyard!" He brought back the Guardian. "And then Core Blast." A burning oven appeared behind the rock monster. "During my standby phase. Your monsters will be destroyed one by one, until you control as many core monsters as I do." The oven fired two blasts of heat at two of the three roaming Nightmare archfiends. "In this way, Urizen still helped me out." Each kill took down 800 of the lords lifepoints. "Then I sacrifice the Guardian! To tribute summon a monster who only requires one Koa'ki Meiru card as a tribute!" Guardian was disassembled and replaced with a blood red flame-winged devil. "Koa'ki Meiru Valafar! This monster can not be destroyed by trap cards!" The devil eyed the last remaining archfiend token. "Take it down, Valafar!" And it sent the flames of hell after the imp, burning it to cinders. The kill caused another 800 effect damage and 1000 battle damage.

Malceans LP: 4600

"Very well, you have touched me." Malcean clapped. "You are almost halfway" The paths before them stretched out more, filling up more the symbol carved in the air. "But will it be in time?" Then the turn went back to him, after Ansoni discarded the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru in his hand to keep Valafar on the field. "Stop talking and draw!" Another voice intruded in on his speech at that time. "Gaunt?" Urizen and Ansoni looked behind them and saw Gaunt and Kein standing in the tower. It was not all that hard to find the place once they saw the bird god wreck it with its wings. "Urizen, Ansoni. He is trying to buy time!" The former yelled at them. "What? Do you mean that.." Ansoni flinched as he saw that another god had appeared while they were dueling. "Ccarayhua is here? Then the ritual is still going on!" He should have seen it sooner. After all there were still possessed bodies holding the four blood samples of the signers, standing on the wingtips of the symbolized bird. "Did you think I would risk all on a game? No, this challenge is merely another tool to quicken my ascension." Malcean pointed at his new guests. "At the height of my power, I will summon the creator itself!"

"Look. The god disappeared again." Down below, outside the energy field, the soldiers were observing the duel up above. "That is a good thing right?" One of them asked Nate, as he was the duel expert. "I think so. But the field is still not gone. I guess the other immortals are keeping it up." He did not know if progress was made. "Heh. None of you can defeat father now." Jason meanwhile did nothing but gloat, despite him being chained to the van and kept under close guard. "Isn't that right, sis?" He asked his younger sibling, who was less restrained because she had been unresponsive so far. "No..' However her first response of the hour was not one of confidence. "What do you mean, no? You saw what he will become, didn't you?" And Jason started to worry a little too now. "No. Not like this, not challenged. This should not be happening." She shook her head. "Callisto does not want to see this, she has to go back!" And before anyone could even react to her outburst, she rose up, pushed her guards away and shattered her cuffs.

"Hey, I thought their energy was drained?" One guard panicked. "Callisto will not see the end of this." She reached out to one of the dismantled guns on the ground and put it back together with a mere thought. "Wait, what are you doing! What is going on here?" At that time Sarah and company came back out of the castle. "Callisto can not let the wish be fulfilled again, nobody must interrupt daddy. She will make herself stop seeing this." She put the gun to her head. "Wait, whoa! You are going to kill yourself!" Sarah cried out. "No. This can not be real, she has to learn more! This will release Callisto from the nightmare!" She came close to pulling the trigger. "But this _is _real! You will really die if you do that!" They protested. "It is okay, Callisto has killed herself many times now. She will never die, she just wakes up again. And that is better than seeing father die, better than seeing mother die every day in a year!" The girl came so very close to firing the gun. It was only at the last second that she froze up. "Sorry sis." But not because she wanted to..

"What, what did you.." They saw Callisto fall to the ground, she had passed out. "You did this?" And the one that apologized was her brother, who had his hand aimed in his sisters direction. "This has happened before, because she can never tell when something is real or not. That is why, I planted a seed in her mind. Whenever she goes out of control, I can make her sleep." Because she already did not know what would happen next at those times, she could not prepare for it. "Unlike with Sarah and Ansoni, I do not need energy to do so. The seed is already planted, I merely have to will it." He did not sound proud about it, it was something that had to be done. 'And we thank you for that act, Jason Castle." But congratulations came from a most unexpected source. "Who said that?" Everyone turned their attention to the white cloaked men who emerged from the forest. "Good to see you again too Tobias." They were led by a man whose voice filled with Macbeth with hatred. "Lincoln!" The hooded one revealed his face, his masked face. It was a different mask this time, the same one that all the others wore. A featureless white mask that had the symbol of infinity on the center. "Lincoln. It is about time you showed up. Now get rid of these fools." Jason smirked.

(To be Continued in Mark 062: Creator Exterminator)

**New cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Steelswarm Genome<br>Steelswarm Caucastag

-  
>Dragged Down into the Grave<p>

-  
>Infestation Ripples<p>

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Valafar<p>

-  
>Core Reinforcements<br>Core Blast

**Cards used by Malcean Castle/Aslla Piscu**  
>Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr<br>Blackwing - Brisote the Tailwind  
>Blackwing - Aurora the Northern Lights<p>

-  
>Fake Feather<p> 


	62. 062: Creator Exterminator

**Mark 062: Creator Exterminator**

Their new visitors, the infinati, decided to act first and then talk, as some of the masked men unveiled their dueldisks and placed cards in their monster slots. "No. Everyone look out!" And Macbeth could practically predict what they were about to call out. "Remove these interferences, Meklord Army!" They materialized several blue, gold and silver robots that slashed through the vehicles and equipment of the R-tech squadron. "Damn it, if only we still had our weapons!" One soldier cursed. "Do not be a fool, no technology works against us." Lincoln said, as the machine monsters broke off the assault. "Thank you, friend." Jason had escaped in the confusion as well, joining the side of his masked allies. "So there was a lot of truth behind his story, wasn't there?" Ada snapped at him, referring to his fathers supposed cover story. 'You were trying to join these Infinity cultists. It figures, it's best to lie with the truth." Jason nodded and let one the masked men break through his cuffs. "It feels good to be freed from the burden of secrets."

"But yes, your guess is solid. It was me that introduced my father to the Infinati. It was they that helped us after our first failed attempt to control the gods two years ago." Macbeth cringed. "Gah. That was when.." As he remembered Lincoln had not joined the Aces until after that moment. "Yes. That incident inspired our superiors, they trusted me to infiltrate you and set everything in place. Without me, the gods could never properly have returned to the surface world." Lincoln said, acting quite pleased with himself. "By the way, where is Richard now? We noticed his body had not been terminated yet. Did you have something to do with it, Tobias?" The ace of Hearts flinched again, but did not answer. "There is no need to tell us. We already tracked his chemical structure to the zone behind you. What a cruel thing to do, Toby, feeding your friend to a god." He laughed. "Wait, you did what?" Nate gasped. "I.. I had no other choices." Mac protested. "He was going to die either way. At least now I can fight them and get his soul back!"

"I apologize however, for getting you involved like this. I did not expect Callisto's to break down." The brother shook his head. "Actually it is better for you and for us if she did not see what was going to happen next." The tallest of the masked men said. "Huh, why would you say that?" This comment made Jason a bit worried. "Oh come now, young one. Do not tell me that you have not dreamed of this moment. Ever since the termination of your mother, your father has abandoned all ties to what made him human, in the search for god. And now he is about to find out, that it will not go as he calculated." Jason gasped. "Hold it. Are you saying you.. tampered with the ritual?" He took a few steps back, they no longer felt comfortable to be around with. "Your hands are clean Jason, Malcean chose this destiny for himself, this whole family did. It is a pity that you approached us this late, as we can only enlighten your generation now." The man looked at the duel taking place up above. "He thinks he will become god, but the Infinati know better. Gods do not exist."

Malceans LP: 4600 Team Champions LP: 6600

"Try not to die, before the right time, signer. If you die, only the signer of the tail can watch my glorious rise to eternity." The lord started his turn by summoned a new Blackwing, the Blizzard of the Far North(1300/0). Because he had Black Whirlwind on his field, he could add Blackwing Calima the Haze to his hand, as it had only 600 attackpoints. "Blizzard revives a fallen Blackwing." Breeze the Zephyr(1100/300) was revived from the graveyard. "Then by banishing Vayu the Emblem of Honor and the level 5 Brisote the Tailwind, I can secial summon a level 6 synchro Blackwing." Two blackwings were cast out of the graveyard, and their spirits merged to form a Blackwing Armed Wing(2300/1000). "Let us see how you handle the monsters of the mortal class." Breeze flew towards Koa'ki Meiru Valafar(3000/1500). "He is attacking?" The devil was clearly stronger than the Zephyr, so the strike did not make sense to Ansoni. "I activate the effect of Blackwing - Boreas the Sharp!" Until Malcean banished a Blackwing he had discarded two turns ago with Fake Feather. "When a Blackwing does battle now, any monster before them will die instantly!" Breeze gained sharper wings and cut through Valafar as if he was made of paper. "Then Armed Wing and Zephyros will strike directly!"

The two birds flew towards Urizen and Ansoni. "You will not get that close!" But the former stopped the attacks. "Ah, Battle Fader." Urizen summoned the bellclock fiend(0/0) from his hand, which ended the battle phase. "You do not want your paths to fall more behind you?" Malcean placed another trap card down, ending his turn. "You will not goad me into making reckless moves, Malcean." He replied as he activated Allure of Darkness. he removed the Steelswarm Hercules card in his hand from play and drew two new cards. "I set a monster and a trap. And that is all I do." He passed the turn to Ansoni. "Looks like your friend is falling behind." The lord chuckled. "He is the same as me, Malcean, and the same as you." Without a Koa'ki Miru monster on his field, his continuous trap Core Blast could not activate. In his draw phase he also passed a draw from his deck and instead added the Iron Core spell back to his hand. "We were not meant to be gods. When I win, I will indeed seal them all again!" He placed one monster down and one trap as well. "But you could do so much more. You should thank me Ansoni Helion, thank me for showing you what you are." Malcean drew. "Wait, you had a hand in the awakening of the signers?" Gaunt heard the implications and did not like them.

"He means that he was the one who released the gods. Or rather he funded the expedition and bribed some people to break the seals in the temple." Ansoni told Gaunt what Malcean had told him earlier. "What? He unleashed them?" Urizen had not heard this either yet. "It was all too easy. Nobody but our family knew about that temple, nobody could have protected it. Only the castillo family learned enough to realize why the world became what it is today!" He summoned Shura of the Blue Flame(1800/1200). At the same time Bora the Spear with 1700 attackpoints was added to his hand with the help of Black Whirlwind. "But let us not argue about what is right and wrong. We have all arrived here today. All that remains is to go forward!" He entered his battle phase. "We will go forward, Malcean, but this is not the way!" he flipped his trap. "Reckoned Power! This card will destroy all your set cards." He said, and Malcean now he had two traps set. "Hmph. You can only see the past, you only yearn to go back to the past.

"I activate Black Boost!" But one of two traps chained to Reckoned Power. "I banish two Blackwing tuner monsters to draw two cards." Breeze and Blizzard were removed from the field and he drew twice. "Nothing but pain rests in their past, and waits in their future." His other two traps were Blackwing Backlash and Blackwing Boobytrap. _"Tsk, the mine?" _That one was bad for them, as the Boobytrap was activated if someone destroyed it while its controller also controlled Blackwings. The boobytrap went off and caused 1000 damage to the opposing team. And in return Malcean was allowed to draw once. "So here you go, Ansoni. Cherish the pain." Shura lashed out and struck down his set Koa'ki Meiru Boulder(1200/1000), whose destruction allowed the duelist to add another Koa'ki Meiru monster to his hand. "Because that is all that you will find." Shura's effect activated as well, and a Blackwing with 1500 atk or less was summoned from the deck, Gale the Whirlwind(1300/400). This one took down Battlefader.

Team Champions LP: 5600

And then Armed Wing charged the last set card of Urizen, which was revealed to be a level 3 clock-holding demon(1200/600). "Clock Resonator?" This monster could avoid destruction once a turn. But more importantly it was a tuner. "When did he start using synchros again?" And Kein knew Urizen had sworn off synchro monsters when he abandoned his championship post. "When the fate of the world depended on it." Urizen gave his answer. "That is correct, boy." Malcean suddenly discarded a card from his hand, Blackwing - Etesian the Second Sword. "You are doing well fighting for your world, but do you really want to?" Etesians effect came into play whenever a Blackwing failed to kill a monster, a thousand damage would be done to the opponent who controlled the still living monster. "Better to fight for even the rotten than to exterminate them all!" Urizen shrugged off the hit and started his turn. "I do not know, but I also not care, why you gave up on it all. But I would rather die than let someone like you decided my fate!"

Team Champions LP: 4600

"I summon Doomcaliver Knight and use it along with my Resonator to summon a synchro monster!" The level 4 death horseman(1900/1800) and Clock Resonator tuned themselves together to form a bat-like demon(2600/2600) with wings of fire and hair as red as Urizens. "Chaos King Archfiend! My synchro monster will switch the stats of all monsters on the field during a battle phase! And it attacks your synchro monster!" The chaotic demon blasted across the light path, letting its flame wings tear down the Armed Wing(1000/2300). "Take his other two monsters down, Ansoni." He was done with his turn. "I believe I shall!" Ansoni drew a card. "I summon the monster I added to my hand when boulder was destroyed: Koa'ki Meiru Urnight!" The core monster this turn was an armored centaur(2000/1500). "I can show you an iron Core in my hand to let it call forth another Core monster from my deck." Ansoni showed off the Iron Core spell. "My choice falls on Koa'ki Meiru Prototype." A four-legged machine(1800/1800) with the core on its chest came from his deck. "They both kill your remaining Blackwinged monsters!" Urnight threw his sword at Shura the Blue Flame, while Prototype sent out electric wires to constrict Gale the Whirlwind. Both birds who roamed the skies were slain.

Malceans LP: 2400

"I set a trap and end my turn." During his endphase he did not discard the Iron Core which was required to keep Urnight alive, and he let it die. But this activated Prototype's effect, who made a Koa'ki Meiru-token(1800/1800), a copy of itself, whenever a core monster selfdestructed. "So you continue on, on this bridge towards a future of despair." The path of the hummingbird stretched out towards Malcean. "Not that it matters now." However the symbol of the god did more than just that. "Oh, oh no!" Kein could see the light reflected on the ground, the wings spread out and so did its tail feathers. "Yes!n The time has come!" He raised his hands to the sky, as behind him the final god Ccapac Apu was summoned. "All are here, I can open the doors!" The top card of his deck began to shine and he drew it. "I have the key in my hands." Malceans mark began glowed as well, along with Gaunts and Ansoni's signs. Yet the marks then left their bodies one by one. "Hey, where are they.." And they saw their destination, the tail and heart appeared on Malceans chest.

"No. You must stop it, stop the summoning of that god at all costs!" Gaunt ordered. "They will fail!" Malcean started his turn. "I play the spell; Spellbooks Inside the Pot. All duelists will draw three times." He added three cards to his hand, and so did they. _"Why does he need new cards at this point?" _Ansoni dreaded what was to come. "I revive Zephyros the Elite in my graveyard by returning one card I control to my hand." The Lord took back Black Whirlwind and summoned the Elite Zephyr(1600/1000) from the grave. "Then I take 400 damage, however that allows me to activate this trap card!" He revealed the card: Black Feather Beacon. "When I take damage, a Blackwing is summoned from my hand." He called out Blackwing Calima the Haze(600/1800). "I can not let you summon that!" Ansoni quickly revealed his trap card, Automatic Laser. "I reveal the Iron Core in my hand, to destroy that monster!" The core machine fired a laser that destroyed Calima. "Ah but, when you kill my blackfeathered monster, I can bring Kogarashi the Wanderer out!" Another blackwing(2300/1600) was special summoned. "Yeah? Well when you summoned that monster, you triggered my trap too!" Urizen flipped the card, Deep Dark Trap Hole. "A level 5 or higher effect monster is banished!"

_Spellbooks Inside the Pot, Normal Spell_  
><em>Both players draw 3 cards. Skip your next draw phase.<em>

Kogarashi was a level 6 card, so it was drawn into a dark pit. "Oh, but then you forget that I had Bora the Spear in my hand." Malceans grin grew. "Bora?" That blackwing could be special summoned if a player already had a Blackwing on his field. So Malcean called out the spear wielding Blackwing(1700/800). "I have 2 tributes. But that is not yet enough." The Lord placed three of his cards down on the field in the magic/trap zone. "Now it is all finished. Zephyros and Bora, become the offerings for the Creator himself!" Malcean placed the shining card on his field. "Behold your god in his true form, behold the greatest of the immortals!" Two insignificant birds made room for a magnificent black condor(100/100). "When He reveals itself to its incarnate, it will send three of its cards back in time." Malceans three cards were shuffled back into his deck. "When it reveals itself to the mortals, they have to discard the same amount of cards from their hands." All the cards in the hands of his two opponents were thrown away. "And He shall gain a thousand points of offense, for each forced sacrifice from those mortals. And as He, like all of his brothers, can strike directly at the heart of a duelist, you are both through. That is His power, He the great Wiraqocha Rasca!"

...

"Huh? It went away?" Sarah too noticed the disappearance of her wing mark, just after it started giving off light. "He did it.." Jason, in spite of the erratic words of the Infinati, felt his confidence return. "Father is becoming the god of gods, the maker of makers." If one were to stare into the sky, they would see the symbol of a condor, the greatest animal in Nazca's religion. "So he believes." Lincoln spoke with less respect for this event. "Then what is it, what did you do? is it the arm, is there something missing?" Jason panicked again. "No, he has everything. Except.. what he is summoning.. is not the Creator of this world. It is the destroyer, his destroyer."

(To be Continued in Mark 063: The Roof of the World)

**New cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Clock Resonator<br>Chaos King Archfiend

-  
>Deep Dark Trap Hole<p>

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Urnight<br>Koa'ki Meiru Prototype

-  
>Reckoned Power<br>Automatic Laser

**New Cards used by Malcean Castle/Aslla Piscu**  
>Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North<br>Blackwing - Armed Wing  
>Blackwing - Boreas the Sharp<br>Blackwing - Etesian the Second Sword  
>Blackwing - Calima the Haze<br>Blackwing - Kogarashi the Wanderer  
>Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca<p>

_-  
>Spellbooks Inside the Pot(+)<em>

-  
>Blackwing - Boobytrap<br>Black Feather Beacon

_(+) Based on the spell used by Judai/Jaden in the YGO GX Manga_


	63. 063: The Roof of the World

**Mark 063: The Roof of the World**

Malceans LP: 2400 Team Champions LP: 4600

"Yes. Yes!" Malcean basked in the glorious light of his new god, the Earthbound Wiraqocha Rasca. "Y..no!" However his monster(4100/0) did not turn out to be as all powerful as he had expected. "Why..why is His attack that low? He should have gained enough to end my enemies at once!" The god gained a 1000 points for each card Urizen and Ansoni discarded, and they were supposed to discard 6 from their hand. Together they had seven cards in their hands, so numbers were not the problem. "Maybe the all-seeing god avatar should look further than his nose?" Urizen pointed at his field. "Then maybe you would see that I summoned Chaos Hunter, well before you summoned your god." On his path now stood a leather clad vixen(2500/1600). "I can summon Chaos Hunter from my hand, by discarding another card, when you special summon a monster." When Malcean had called out Bora the Spear, Urizen was able to cut his handsize down to one card through the Hunters effect. So only four cards were discarded, instead of six.

"Then you will be spared a quick death, and suffer in His light!" Malcean entered the battle phase anyway, the great condor flew down to the two duelists. "It attacks directly!" It passed over them and their monsters, leaving behind forceful winds in its wake. "Gah. It will take more than that!" They barely survived, but they had little to stand on anymore. And they were still not close enough to their opponent. "It makes no difference. I have already combined all the marks and given life back to the god. And I shall be it's eternal focus point." He placed two trap cards down on the field. "Look above you!" And he directed their attention to the skies above. "There it is, there is our destiny!" The clouds parted and revealed a circle of swirling energy. "Is that the doorway?" They could not see what was on the other side, it was like a second sun. "Once this duel is at an end... I..I.." Malcean paused for a second, reaching for his head. "We will remake this rotten world from there!" The moment passed and he ended his turn. "We have won."

Team Champions LP: 600

"The destroyer?" Jason repeated the word, even if he did not get its meaning. "Did he not summon the seventh god now?" Macbeth demanded Lincoln to clarify himself. "What Lord Malcean summoned, is not the creator of the world. Not in that sense. Yes the condor is the code of another immortal, the strongest immortal. But the immortals are not the creators. They are false lords who have forgotten their own origin and accepted their own lies of grandeur. The mortals existed independently of the immortals." Lincoln explained, and he sounded more sincere about it than anything else he ever said. "Then what are they?" Was Nathans next question, the logical question to make. "Visitors. Beings from another dimension. Or rather refugees from a dying world. The great condor is also the great deliverer of worlds, he who carries what is eternal to the dimension with no limits. We allowed the lords to finish the ritual, so that we can banish all gods back to their world and shatter the door." Now the ex-ace even sounded offended. "Then why did you say, he is my fathers destroyer?" Jason was afraid to ask, but he had too. "Because Wiraqocha did not bless the signers, his essence was forcibly torn apart and spread out across six families." He smirked as he let it sink in. "Six?" That did not take long. "Yes. I fear Wiraqocha is still incomplete, and that will punish the host."

"Draw!" Urizen started his turn. "..." He was close enough to Malcean now to see his expressions and movements. "Not feeling well, Malcean?" And the lord did not look as fit as one would expect gods avatar to be, he was sweating and shaking. "Merely in awe, boy. All the vast knowledge of the creator will flow into me. The more you wait, the more.. argh!" Another shot of agony struck, it felt as if something was stabbing his brain. "This is nothing." He shook his head. "Is it?" Urizen summoned a level 1 tuner monster, the Sinister Sprocket(400/0). "As mighty as your god is, it seems to require the same conditions as its brothers." He tuned the gear demon along with the level 7 Chaos Hunter. "It needs a field spell, does it not? So I use my tuner to destroy the Scarred Lands of Nazca!" And when Sinister Sprocket was used for a synchro summon, a face-up spell or trap card on the field could be destroyed. "No. No,no,no!" However malcean could negate the effect which activated from the grave, with his counter trap card: Debunk.

"What the?" It was the same trap Callisto used, that could not be a coincidence could it? "Tsk. I synchro summon this monster." From his extra deck appeared a familiar dragon, the Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400). "Her card?" Ansoni was surprised to see it. "These bastards took her life. Time to get even." Unfortunately Malceans field spell negated targeting effects, like Doomdragons. Chaos King Archfiend(2600/2600) could do even less, since it was not allowed to attack. "Then I will try to get rid of it! I summon Mormolith!" Ansoni started his turn by calling out a humanfaced rock creature(1000/900). "I can sacrifice one Earth-attribute monster on my field, to destroy all monsters whose defense is lower than the tributed monsters attackpoints." An effect like this did not target. "I sacrifice my Koa'ki Meiru token(1800/1800)." Ansoni removed the copy of his Prototype monster(1800/1800). "Your gods attack is impressive, but its defense is lacking!" And Mormolith shot a hail of rocks at the condor. "You think a puny attack like that will reach me?" Malcean cried out and flipped another counter trap. "Overwhelm! I control a monster that was tribute summoned, so your monsters effect is negated!" The rocks were sent back to Mormolith, and he was crushed by his own effect.

"You can not touch me, I am.." Malcean again stopped himself, as he felt even more pain in his body. "I do not..understand." He could even see his veins now, throbbing and pulsating. "I am their savior, I should not be feeling like this anymore." He slumped down to one knee, standing took too much out of him now. "I am your master! Do not do this to me!" He shouted at the gods around him. They did not speak back. "Is he losing control?" Kein and Gaunt were not sure what to make of this display. "Whatever is happening to him, we can not let that thing stay here. I still have one more way." Ansoni played the last card in his hand, the Iron core Specimen Lab. "What, when did you get that?" Malcean protested as the laboratory took over the field, and the Scarred Lands of Nazca shattered. "When you used Spellbooks of the Pot. I already had Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru in my hand, so I did not need to discard all of my cards back then." He let his turn end. "But without the Core, this field spell can not exist. So it selfdestroys."

"WHAT?" Now Malcean saw why Ansoni did something as unusual as replacing one field spell with another. "Yes. With the field spell gone.." It was because this field spell took care of itself, the Specimen Lab went to the grave and afterwards the mighty Wiraqocha started to crumble like dust. "No. Nooo! You can not leave me!" Malcean, despite his spasms and his pains, rose and pleaded to the condor in the sky. "I waited years for you, you and I were supposed to change the world together! Please, please take me to gods realm!" But his words had no effect, the immortal vanished. Not just the condor, but every other immortal he had summoned disappeared, regressing to their sealed card forms. Only the four bodies possessed by Aslla Piscu remained, and only because his lifepoints had not been depleted yet. "No.." Malcean was on his own again. "Arghhhuah!" But the pain did not abandon him. "I can still, bring it back!" He tried to draw a card, but due to Spellbooks of the Pot he was not allowed to draw. "I can still.."

"Tsk. Guess I have to take you all the way down." Urizen drew his own card. "Doomdragon, attack him directly!' The dragon of Ramirez, flew over the castle, towards the point where Malcean stood. "I will stop you! I will activate the effect of Calima in my graveyard!" Malcean claimed he could use the effect of Blackwing - Calima the Haze, which had been destroyed last turn. "You can not!" Calima could banish itself in order to revive a synchro monster from the graveyard. "You never properly summoned a synchro monster in the first place!" However Armed Wing, his only dead synchro, was only special summoned through Vayu's effect. That did not count as a proper synchro summon. "Face it Malcean, you are done!" Doomdragon pulled back his arm. "Take it, take this monsters pain, take the pain of the girl and every other soul whose life you ruined on that day!" And it swiped at the Lord with its claw, taking his remaining lifepoints out. "You blessed a few, including yourself. But you cursed all the others. No more, Malcean."

Malceans LP: 0

"This was unexpected." Lincoln sighed as he saw the duel come to its conclusion. "But that is why we are here, to cut off all loose ends ourselves in case even the gods fail at that." The masked men activated their dueldisks again. "Who, wait what?" Nathan gasped. "Can't we just settle this in a duel?" He yelled and flailed his arms. "Nope." One of the Infinati cackled. "So die!" Yet before they could materialize their machine monsters. "Callisto!" They saw Jasons sister open her eyes and stood up again. "Sister?" Jason did not expect this, she usually never got up this quickly after he had to shut her off. "Daddy is in pain." She told her brother immediately, but she did not sound sad anymore. "What?" Her words confused everyone, but she was not paying attention to them either. "Callisto knows what to do, though." She just walked towards her home. "Wait. Stop her!" Lincoln ordered his allies. "Wait. No, I can.." And despite Jasons objections, they advanced on her. "Callisto said.. she knows what to do." However with one wave of her hand, she telekinetically pressured their disks and crushed them. "Argh!" While they were still attached to their wrists. "Jason, put her to sleep again." The tallest masked man commanded. "But I.. but she."

"This is your chance, Jason. To inherit the mark and her powers. Think about, they never showed you the love that they showed her. She was the special one, the pitied one." The Infinati member said with a kinder tone. "Hey, stop saying things like that! You can't just ask a brother to do that to a sister!" Sarah shouted at the two of them. "I.." And Jason was still hesitating. "Feh. If that is how it must be." Lincoln took a gun from his coat and aimed it at the girl. "No NO!" And before Jason could stop him, the shot was fired. "Callisto!" A deafening bang was followed by a most heinous silence. "...he.." Yet the girl still walked. "I missed?. Impossible!" Infuriated, the ex-ace unloaded the gun on her. But he failed to hit her with every shot. "How can you do that!" She did not even look at him, she just sidestepped every bullet. "Callisto.. saw them." She stopped walking. "All of them?" Lincoln could not believe that her visions would let her predict the path of every shot so perfectly. "Yes. Many times, Callisto has seen this moment many times.."

Then she glared at Lincoln for a fraction of a second. "!" And an invisible force blasted into him, shattering the mask that hid his features. "Then you saw.. father die?" Jason begged for another answer he feared. "Callisto does not blame you." She said, before she started floating off the ground. "Oh?" The girl pushed herself off the ground with her own psychic energy. "But, sister! If you use your powers that much, you will drain yourself!" Jason cried out after her. "Callisto says goodbye to Jason now, but she said it so many times." And these were also her last words to her brother. "She is sorry you missed the first few times."

With the threat gone, and the duel over, the maze of light in the sky became solid enough for everyone to walk on. "The cards, where are they?" Kein approached the two duelists with a ton of questions. "You're welcome, Kein." Urizen grumbled, as he expected less demanding words. "You did better than I ever could have hoped or asked of you, Urizen." Gaunt did better in that regard. "And you as well Ansoni. Thanks to you two, the war is over." He sounded happier than he had ever been. "Yes. But Kein has a point. We need to find those god cards, before anyone else gets their hands on them." Ansoni would not rest easy until he knew where they had ended up. "What about him?" Urizen pointed at Malcean himself, who lied there, shivering and even bleeding. "That god took a heavy toll on him, I do not know if we can save him." They did not know if they even wanted too, though they almost felt sorry for the man. "I have a more important question. Why is that thing still here?" Kein discovered something shocking, the red portal was still open. "That should not still be there, should it?" Everything else had left, except that gateway and the condors scar in the air. "The cards are..flying here?" And then Urizen became witness to an odd spectacle. Five cards rose upwards towards the gate. "Tsk. No you don't." He reached out to grab one as it floated passed him. "Gah!." However he had to let go as someone grabbed his wrist. "You?" It was Callisto. She just smiled at him and let his arm go, which felt like it was burning. "What did you.. what are you doing?"

She ignored their questions and kneeled before Malcean. "What must be done." She did not look them in the eyes, the girl just lifted her father up. "You are going, there?" And she continued towards the portal. "That is where Father promised to take us." Malcean himself was struggling to say something, but he could only cough up blood. "Do not worry, daddy." She smiled at him as the two neared the red gateway. "She will make you better, she will not let you die like mommy. And than you can make everything better." Her hand touched the portals edges. "Don't do it, you have no idea what is on the other side!" Gaunt warned her, to no avail. "She knows. That is where the real world waits. From that place, time tells this world how to turn." One touch opened the door, the red energy parted and revealed a gaping black abyss. "This is it, this is where the dreams ended. Maybe this is a dream too, maybe Callisto has to do this all over again. But it does not matter, she is happy. She will be blind to tomorrow once more." She said all she had to say, heard and seen enough, Callisto Castle and her father went through the darkness, and the portal closed up behind them..

(To be Continued in Mark 064: Resolutions)

**New cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Chaos Hunter<br>Sinister Sprocket  
>Infernity Doomdragon<p>

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Mormolith<p>

-  
>Iron Core Specimen Lab<p>

**New Cards used by Malcean Castle/Aslla Piscu**  
>Debunk<br>Overwhelm


	64. 064: Resolutions

**Mark 064: Resolutions**

"The Gate! It is sealed!" A dozen masked faces looked up at the sky, as it started to look normal for the first time in days. "But it was not destroyed, merely closed from one side." Callisto had left with her father, they were the only ones that could pass the gate. "But she has taken all of the gods with her, is that not a good thing?" One of the Infinati asked their leader. "It is too soon to tell, the girl has taken the mark of the claw to the other space. The connection between spaces is possibly still intact. Regardless, we can not influence that side any longer. The mark is lost. What remains is this dynamic." He turned to the others present, the duelists and troops. "Tsk. What do you even hope to accomplish here? You missed your chance!" Macbeth shouted at them, worried about how they would retaliate to this setback. "I am sorry, but we can not let you live, Tobias." Lincoln rose up and spoke to him with faked pity. "You have just seen too much." He said with an unmasked expression of annoyance. "Only the infinite deserve to see our true selves." Things looked bad for the ones on Macbeths end. They were out of weapons and these people did not look like they were going to take a duel for an answer. Fortunately their chances were about to be improved upon.

"Master!" One Infinati pointed behind them, above the trees. "They have sent reinforcements!" First came the sounds of spinning blades and engines, then followed the image of a dozen helicopters spreading out across the horizon. "The Cavalry?" Sarah gasped along with many others. "When did you call for those?" Lincoln cursed. "You forgot, didn't you Lincoln?" Macbeth was now the one doing the smiling. "Standard protocol: when we do not enter a code red operation such as this one, and our checkpoint at the military base does not hear from us in 6 hours. They automatically send out additional troops. Of course a code red was granted to a mission like this one." He explained eagerly, while Lincoln could only grit his teeth. "We can still kill them, sir!" He shouted at his leader, as he started to panic. "I have already calculated that we lack even half the time needed to end this efficiently. The girl has crushed our tools of destruction, and we can not use the network to blind them at this range. Not from the natural eye."

"We will have to fix your problem another way, agent." He looked down on his unmasked ally. "No. Not that. I can still.. This is not my fault!" The agent protested, but the master raised his hand from under his robes. "Say no more. We are pulling back. That is by design our only option." Lincolns went pale, and looked down. He did not object anymore. "Wait, do you think you are going anywhere?" Nathan said because he wondered if they could even get away from this. "Thinking implies doubt, Nathan Ashworth. The Infinati hold only knowledge, the truth is on our side." He took out a card from his sleeve and activated it. The symbol of Infinity appeared underneath all the un/masked strangers. "We will meet again." And they all started to sink into the light the symbol gave off. "Teleporting?" Sarah could only describe this display with that word. "Wait. What about me?" Jason suddenly cried out. "Take me with you, I am your ally remember!" He wanted to head into the energy field as well, but he could not enter. "You are of no use to us anymore, Castle." One Infinati cackled. "The mark was not inherited by you, the original bearer did not die. And your talents are insignificant. Next time, you are as dead as the rest." And with those words given, the Infinati were gone. "No.."

"So. That is what happened." Minutes later, Gaunt and company had made their way down to the ground and the two parties shared their stories with one and other. "I can not even pretend to know what has happened to Callisto and Malcean, they could be simply dead, or they could be attaining new powers on the other side. But as long as four of the five marks remain on this planet, the masterplan of the gods can not be implemented. This is what I believe." Gaunt said so, though he did not sound like he put much stock in that theory. "But they said something, those masked guys." Nathan spoke up. "They said that Malcean failed in his ritual to control the seventh god because he only had five of the six marks." This information surprised Gaunt. Though he seemed to accept that idea quickly. "I see. Six marked ones against six immortals; that seems like a logical distribution. But if that other thing you told me was true, that Wiraqocha is not the maker at all. Then the question becomes; who stopped the gods all those years ago?" This whole encounter just raised more questions. Every slate and parchment told them that the seventh god was a benevolent one. But after having seen Wiraqocha Rasca, Gaunt could no longer have faith in that record.

'Sir! We have found two cards within the perimeter!" Two soldiers approached their boss and the aces. "Let me see that." Kein took them over and saw just two whited out cards. "These are. These codes..." He recognized one for what it was, as they had printed codes on every sealed god. "This was Cusillu's card and Ccpac Apu's." They were the two gods which no signer had dueled yet. "What? Callisto did not take all of them with her?" Ansoni could have sworn he all seven gods disappear with the Castles. "Evidently she could only take those that were already defeaten. We only wounded these two." Urizen guessed, as Ramirez and Nathan were not blessed with a mark when they won their matches. "Great. That means we have two gods left, those Infinity cultists and possibly Callisto too." Nate sighed, this was far from over. "We will deal with them as they come. Which will be difficult when it comes to the Infinati organization, as we have little more than rumors to go on." Gaunt shook this head, this would be difficult. "Actually.."

Urizen suddenly turned to their prisoner. "We have him, don't we?" He directed everyone's attention to Jason Castle, who had been sitting silently in his spot since the Infinati left him. "You brought your family into their clan, didn't you? You know more than anyone else here." Urizen, Ansoni and Kein stood around him in a circle now. he looked at each of them. "I get the feeling that, right now, information like that is the only thing keeping me alive." His voice regained some of its former confidence. "But I will not just tell you at the drop of a hat." He spat. "That is fine, we have ways to persuade you." Kein sneered. "I am sure you do. Especially since one of you has family ties to the government. Who could give me immunity, right?" Ansoni did not answer Jason. "If we can even trust him with that. He is a psychic, it would the easiest thing for him to just walk out of whatever secure place we bring him too." Kein had second thoughts about this. "His powers seem less effective against a signers senses, so monitors will have to use the talismans as well. Either way we need to negotiate this later. Just take him into custody." Ansoni ordered and some men took Jason away.

"But now, as for you." Gaunt turned to Nathan, Ada, who had been rather quiet so far, and Sarah. "I will not hold anyone responsible for wanting to go to this place, but I feel I can not condone your further involvement in this operation." He said , not too coldly. "But I'm.." Sarah was about to say something. "I know what you want to say." But Gaunt stopped her. "As you are a signer, we do probably need your assistance. You can keep contact and provide feedback to the talismans, but I see nothing good in asking you to join us on the frontlines." The words he said were not like the ones he gave just a day ago. "Why the change of heart?" Urizen was most unsettled by this shift. "You have seen how many lives were lost here, this new enemy does more than just take the soul away." He shook his head, even with Macbeths idea there was no way of telling whether or not Richard and the other victims of the Meklords could be saved. "Against such a threat, I can not ask any of you to join me. Especially not someone with a family."

"It's about age then? About being responsible for yourself?" Nathan cut him off. "Is that why you have to be above a certain age to be an Ace? Being self-reliant is a requirement for anyone willing to join your cause? Because I have to tell you, I do not want to turn my back on this." Seeing as how he nearly got the position of Ace before, he definitely fit the terms now. "Really? You of all people refuse to go back to the easy life?" Kein was impressed, as he knew Nathan rejected the post because he wanted to avoid effort to begin with. "I can not rest easy this way, trust me. Besides you look like you could need a replacement." With Lincoln certainly gone, and Richards return in question, two parts of the country were Ace-less. "I see no problems with that actually." Ansoni liked the suggestion. "He is old enough to answer for his own mistakes yeah." Kein added with a chuckle. "If you insist. But I can not allow you girls to do the same. Especially you, Ms. Woflram. We need to get you back home." Gaunt told the young girl, who did not even resist. "I know that you miss your friend, but we will do everything in our power to get him back." Macbeth assured her. Though they did not even one clue that could tell them where he ended up, unless his soul had been used for the ritual as well..

"That leaves me, doesn't it Gaunt?" Urizen smirked weakly. "I lack the mark, so you will probably want to keep me safe too." He did not talk like someone who was upset about that. "Urizen. You have done much for us, and nobody would be against it if you borrowed us a hand." Gaunt responded like the father he knew he was, he had no control over his sons actions. "An even if you lack the sign, you carry my blood. Perhaps that is enough. It was you that sealed one of the gods, it is possible that the mark is not needed entirely." He recalled that Urizen faced the Killer Whale, who was not one of the immortals that the otrher world rejected. "..." And while Urizen did not expect an open arm welcome like this, he hesitated still. "And what? Become like you, an Ace? I am afraid I can not forget my pride, Gaunt." He looked at his dueldisk. "I know why you did it, to test the blood of a signer. I do not carry any grudge about that, but the heart is still wounded. Sure, i bested a god in battle twice. But until I have answered to every human I wronged, I can not accept a position that close the the throne." He turned around. "Urizen?" Ansoni shouted after him. "Relax. I am not going anywhere yet. And I will stay in touch after I do leave. But I just need some time for myself, first."

Eventually everyone left the scene, as everything that remained in Castle manor was appropriated by R-Techs forces. Jason was taken to a federal holding facility, where the terms of his contract could be arranged. The other helicopters flew back to the capitol, and as soon as they landed they were greeted with a special bulletin. "Hey isn't that." Not just the large screens in the city, but every public channel broadcasted a message from a well known man. "My father, yes." Ansoni knew him best, it was Sir. Maxwell Helion, the minister of defense. "What is he saying?" nathan was curious about his speech. "He is supposed to calm the nation down. Rioters have trashed a lot of places and a lot of arrests have been made. But he assures everyone that the threat is over." Kein clarified, apparently this speech was planned in advance. "Do you think they will buy it, the virtual attack theory?" That was what Maxwell apparently called the god sightings. "People will believe what they want to believe. We give them an idea more credible and tangible than immortals from another state of existence." The Ace frowned. "I just wish we had taken a picture of that bastards face before he and his buddies left. Then we could put up a image next to that idea."

They returned to the tower, which was still in repair, when another squad neared. "Sir!" A transporter van stopped by and opened up. "What is it?" Gaunt saw their expressions and wondered why they were so rattled. "We found someone on the outskirts of the perimeter. He.." They were about to show their boss who they had found. "Xavier?" But Ada was ahead of them, she spotted Xavier Ali in the back of the vehicle. "It is you!" Happier then she ever felt before, the girl rushed him and embraced him. "I can not believe it! You idiot, yiou had me worried sick! What were you thinking walking out in the middle of nowhere." She greeted him with yells, but the tears revealed that this was not anger speaking. "Eck-savior?" Yet her emotional outburst met with indifference. "Who is that?" And the man before her looked at the girl with confused eyes. "Xa...vaier? Ali? What are you saying. It's you.." The joy left her, replaced with fear. "Don't kid around Ali. It's me..It's me!" She shook him, but he put her hand aside. "I am sorry. But I can not... I..I do not remember you." Her eyes widened. "No. No, what is wrong with him!" She panicked and demanded someone to explain this. "We do not know, this is how we found him. He had no ID on him and he claims to not know his own name." One soldier said.

"No.."

She was dumbstruck, and everyone else did not know what to say about this either. "We did not find anyone else. Not mister Alphonse, or any of Malceans staff." The soldiers did not have much other good news to report either. _"How is this even possible...he came back to life, but with no memories?"_ Urizen too caught himself feeling sorry for the two, but knew he was the last person to give comfort. "..?" And at that time his eyes were drawn to something else anyway. _"Wait. That is." _He saw 'her' again. "You." It was the girl from the garden, and possibly the northern city before that. He could see her better then before, this girl in a red dress, but he was sure it was the same person. "Why.." He could even call out to her, but she gestured at him in the middle of his sentence. "What?" She pointed a finger at his wrist, and a smile flashed underneath her curtain of black hair. "Gah!" He suddenly reeled with pain, which resembled a glass shard cutting into his skin. "Urizen? What is it?" Ansoni noticed his outcry. "Nothing.." He lied. Once he looked up again the girl was gone. He then stared at his arm and saw a faint glowing mark, which he quickly covered up. "I could not be better."

**TO BE CONTINUED IN ACT 3**


	65. 065: Half Past Forever

**ACT 03: REDEFINITION**

**Mark 065: Half Past Forever**

_Two Months Later..._

No terrorist attacks, no blackouts, no mysterious disappearances. The world had become a quieter place, all the victims of the virtual terror had recovered and reintegrated into society. All seemed well. And the dueling scene itself once more was innocent enough to set up tournaments again. Not on a grand scale, just a simple local event to win a special card or two. While this seemed like a perfect opportunity for anyone with a gamers heart, those related had more concerns.

"I am telling you mom. It will all be fine." One such duelist with a worried parent was Sarah Rain, back in the ring so to speak. "Just because that other time went completely off the charts, does not mean it will happen every time." For a long time her mother had not even let her leave the house. It did not matter which story she believed, she did not want her daughter to engage in this dangerous game again. She had to sneak out of the house to even get to the mall where the competition was held, only to receive an angry call between two rounds. "Come on. It's just a five round bracket, I will be home again before dinner." She had been trying to get her mother to agree, that she did not even know if she could get to her stage in time. "Okay. Thank you." But at last she had success. "Yes yes I know. If anything goes wrong, you can let dad try to sue this place too. I love you, bye!" She quickly hung up. "Okay. 30 seconds left. That's doable Sarah!" She bolted to where she was supposed to be. When unexpectedly.. all the lights went out.

Admists the startled cries that followed in the dark, she remained perfectly calm. "Oh that isn't funny." But only because she felt like this was not just a random power outage._ "Come on. Please not today." _And she felt the skin on her arm warm up, something she had not felt in over a month. "Oh!" But then she remembered that her phone still worked in these situations. And she had an emergency number just for situations like these. "Hello?" She called in the midst of the pandemonium and got in touch with a familiar voice. "Yeah it is me. I was just wondering if you guys know anything about a blackout happening... oh.. you do?" And she got an answer which was not that pleasant. "You will be here in ten minutes you say?" The man on the other end claimed that people were already reacting to this. "Well.. I think that will not be enough time." But by now Sarah was no longer the only person standing still in the crowds. A single duelist looked at her with unblinking eyes. "Sorry. I do not think I can get out of this."

She terminated the connection and turned to her guest. "Well. I think I know who you are." She sighed. Either this man was possessed by an earthbound immortal, or just not right in the head. "Did you wait here all this time, just for me to show up?" She asked, but the duelists did not answer. All he did was raise his dueldisk and activate it. "Mother will never let me hear the end of this." She was more annoyed than scared right now. Though she made sure to look around her to see if anyone else was hurt or in danger. This was a three-story mall and they were on the top floor, everyone else rushed down to get out. Though from the inside it was hard to tell if the barrier of gods geoglyph blocked all exits. "No choice." It finally spoke, it sounded almost human but not completely normal either. "Nowhere to go." The duelist drew six cards, it was not even going to wait for her. "Well then. At least I can seal you." She had defeaten one of his kind before, though that time she failed to destroy their true form. "And that will make it one less."

Immortals LP: 8000 Sarah's LP: 8000

"Deal of Dark World." The possessed one played a spell first, forcing both players to discard a card from their hand and draw a new one. "Oh? Dark World?" She discarded a Batteryman D, while he discarded the Unlight of the Dark World, Snoww. "When Snoww is discarded, a Dark World card is added to my hand." He explained as he used the effect of the ice demon mage to add a field spell to his hand. "I get it. Dark World monsters use their powers when they are discarded from the hand." Sarah had dealt with those decks before. "To that end.." The field spell was then played, the Gates of the Dark World. A large door rose from the shadows and opened. "Once a turn, a demon is banished from the cemetery, and a card is discarded in return for another." The duelist used the Gate to banish Snoww and discard a Broww, Huntsman of the Dark World. "When Broww is severed, a new card joins the hand." He was allowed to draw once more. "Two cards are set now, one as a monster and one as a trap or spell." He ended his turn afterwards.

"Hmm. I summon the Thunder King Rai-Oh!" An electrode monster(1900/800) appeared. "I would give it a name, but I like Rai-Oh. So Rai-Oh here will attack your hidden monster!" It released a voltage blast at the set card, a Sangan(1000/600) was what it turned out to be. "Ah, a good move. But Rai-Oh can negate any effect that lets a player add cards to their hand from their deck!" She smiled as a jolt of electricity stunned the hand of her opponent, preventing him from using Sangans effect. "I set a trap and end my turn." She awaited his next move. "..Dark Scheme." And he revealed his trap, with which both players could discard 2 cards from their hands and draw two new ones. "Two? But.." Yet the trap also allowed Sarah to discard a card from her hand instead. "I discard Zeppo, Wattdragonfly from my hand." This way no cards except hers were thrown away. "I guess this means you are the god of the Giant." Sarah knew only two immortals were still at large, Cusillu and Ccpac Apu. The latter was more known for using beasts than demons. "You have a field spell already. Most Dark Worlders are special summoned when they are discarded too." If she had not been careful just now, he could have gotten two tributes for the summoning of a god. "You are.. just buying time for them." It growled.

"But I do not hunger for them.." The immortal let another card leave his hand through the Gate, after he banished Sangan. It was Grapha the Dragon God of Dark World. "I hunger for you!" When Grapha was discarded, one card on the field would be destroyed. "Be gone, ThunderKing." Mist crept up Rai-oh and swallowed it whole. "Wattkeeper!" But Sarah could now use her trap. "I special summon a Watt monster from my cemetery!" She resurrected her trusty Wattdragonfly(900/100) in defense mode. "Your Light, will be blown away." But he then normal summoned a new demoness. "Tour Guide From the Underworld." A vixen bus guide(1000/600) appeared, with a bus that could transport any level 3 demon from the deck to the field. "She is followed by Broww." Another Huntmans(1400/800) came. "Uh oh." And Sarah was well aware of which monster could take advantage of Browws presence. "Reveal yourself, Grapha." The Dragon God cracked out from the dark floors, reducing Broww to black mist. "The Dragon can revive itself, by sending another Dark World monster back to the hand." That was the full effect of Grapha as she knew it. "Attack!" The Tour Guide destroyed the first Dragonfly, and Grapha killed the second one which was summoned by the first one's effect.

"Thank you Zeppo and Zippo. Now I can special summon Thursday from my deck!" Wattdragonfly could call out any Watt monster upon its death. She called out the electric fox, Wattfox(800/100). "Then I normal summon Adama, Batteryman AAA." A walking triple A battery(0/0) appeared. "Then..hey." Just at that time, she received a text message. "Oh. I see." Whatever she read, she was not going to let him on it. "Now I will tune Adama with Thursday!" The Batteryman was of the 4th level, the fox tuner was of the 2nd, together they could make a level 6 synchro monster. "Wattchimera!" And she called out a lion/snake/eagle hybrid(1400/1200). "My Chimera, Zoltron can strike directly." The creature turned into pure lightning and struck the duelist from behind. "And when he does damage, he send a card in your hand to the top of your deck!" The opponent had to place a monster back on top. Afterwards she placed one trap card down again and ended her turn. "Pain, will not stop me." When his turn started he drew that monster again. "The end alone matters."

Immortals LP: 6600

And the enemy banished the first Broww in his graveyard to discard that same monster card through the Dark World Gate. "Ceruli, Guru of the Dark World." He tossed out a demonic monk, who suddenly appeareed on Sarahs field. "Huh?" When Ceruli(100/300) was discarded, he always revived himself on the other side in defense position. "And then he forces a discard." Ceruli then used its second effect, allowing his new enemy to throw away whatever he chose. "Broww." And he discarded the Huntsman. "Because Ceruli now counts as my card, it is an opponents effect that discards it?" She realized this way a dark world duelist could trigger the secondary effects of most Dark World monsters. For instance when their opponent forces a Broww to be discarded, they were allowed to draw twice instead of once. "...Does he have it?" But to her surprise and joy, he appared to have no god in his hand at all. "Attack." Instead he let Grapha strike again, the dragon released shadowy flames. "Trap card: Wall of Revealing Light!" But the darkness was no match for a defense of pure light, Sarah paid 3000 of her lifepoints to make sure monsters with less attackpoints than that amount could not attack. Not even his god. "Tsk" He placed two traps and switched The Tour Guide to defense mode.

Sarahs LP: 5000

He was done. "You aren't that talkative are you, then again you have less brothers to talk to.." She drew a card. "I banish two Batterymen in my graveyard!" D and AAA were removed from play, so they could function as special sacrifices for the strongest battery in existence. "Industrial Strength!" Sarah brought out the top grade Battery monster(2600/0). "Then I activate the trap card, Judgment of Thunder!" When a thunder monster was special summoned, she could destroy one card on the field. And she targeted Grapha. "Dark Illusion!" But the god countered with a counter trap that protected his dark monster and destroyed her trap. "Aww. Well okay, I can add more thunder fuel to my new Batteryman, who I have called Sir Tesla, to achieve the same result." By banishing another thunder monster, Industrial Strength could destroy a monster and a spell or trap card on the field. "I remove my Wattsquirrel, to destroy your Dark World Gate and your Dragon God!" Lightning ripped across the floor, electrocuting Grapha and the doorway to the darker realm. "And then I enter my battle phase!" She sent Wattchimera out once more, this time to kill the Tour Guide from the Underworld with its snake tail. At the same time the Industrial Batteryman blasted the duelist with energy.

Immortals LP: 4000

"You will not. You will not stop it." Some emotion surfaced in its voice, anger. "You will not buy enough time, time is on our side!" He activated the trap card Fine. "Two monsters are discarded from the hand!" He threw away Warlord Siilva and Wu-Lord Goldd, who were both(2300/1400) special summoned to the field because they were discarded. "Despite your desires, your struggles, we will never die!" Then he played a second Dark World Gate field spell from his hand. "Tsk. He had a field all along?" Using his field spell, he discarded a Kahki, Guerilla of the Dark World from his deck to his hand. "When Kahki is discarded, a spell or trap goes away!" The Guerilla threw a knife away to shatter the Revealing Wall. _"Now he can attack me.."_ And then the two dark world creatures were sacrificed for a tribute summon. "Come out, Ccpac Apu!" And soon the darkness was not alone. A beating heart appeared and drew in blue light. Lines carved out the shadows, shaping a gigantic man. It was the Earthbound Immortal, Ccpac Apu(3000/2500). "And now, you all are.." Yet while it itself filled the floors of the mall all at once, no other soul besides Sarah was there to see it. "Where did.. all the mortals go?" It could taste it, an absence of sustenance. No humans had been absorbed by his heart.

"Did I forget to tell you? My friends managed to free everyone from your barrier while you were dueling me. that was why I tried to stall the duel." The text message had been the heads up, everyone was saved already one turn ago. "wwwWHAT?" Now the duelist had nothing but rage in its tone. "VERY WELL, THAN I SHALL FEAST ON YOU ALONE!" It screamed. "Now you can attack me.." She said, sounding defeated. "I do not follow your expectations, girl." He entered the battle phase. "Were I to choose that path, your Industry incarnate would smite my god. No, I shall strike at its heart instead of yours!" The god raised its fist and sent it towards the Industrial Strength Batteryman. "I was hoping you would do it that way!" But she activated a card effect, from her hand. "What?" And in the middle of gods charge, the target powered up. A valiant angel gave Tesla(5600/0) the power that Ccpac called his own. "I discarded Honest!" The thunder monster countered the attack with his newfound power and shot straight through Ccpac Apu. "NO!"

Immortals LP: 1400

Just like that, his true form was broken down. Lightning sparked all over its body, reducing it to a black powder. "You, you can not do this." It cried out pitifully, as the human he possessed was all that opposed her now. "I think I just did." She waited until all of it was gone and then pointed her finger at him. "In the end, I think I should thank you for showing up. I hated not knowing what was going on on the frontlines." She entered her battle phase. "But this way, I could still contribute." She smiled and let Wattchimera finish the duel. One direct attack from it was enough. "No, you do not understand! You could not.." He continued to scream until the very last lifepoint dropped. And then he fell to the ground. "..." The mark on her wrist was glowing again, she saw a card float down to the ground and went to pick it up. Except.. someone beat her to the punch. "Hey hey!" From the returning shadows a man leaped out, snagged the card away, and disappeared back into the dark. "Wait, I do not think you want that!" She shouted after him, but she could not even hear his footsteps or anything that betrayed another presence. "Where the heck.. did he come from?" One thing was for sure, this was not someone who worked for R-tech

Sarahs LP: 0

"What do you mean someone took it?" She could not answer a very upset Kein either, who was the commanding officer for the evac operation. They had successfully rescued all mall goers, and kept them from seeing the god. However the result of the duel did not satisfy the Ace of Spades. "There was no way anyone could have gotten in that building again, we checked every corner." He sounded like he did not believe her story. "It is the truth! I would not lie about that. It is not like I want to keep such a thing for myself." She objected to the things she thought he was implying. "Hmph. Maybe it was them after all. If the gods are on the move, the Infinati could be too." He grumbled. "Infinati? But this guy definitely did not wear a mask." Sarah said, that was the first thing she recalled about that club. "That says nothing. For the Infinati, their real faces are the masks.. Either way, these times of peace are over.. We need to gather everyone."

(To be Continued in Mark 066: Pride and Seek)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Thunder King Rai-Oh<br>Batteryman AAA  
>WattChimera<br>Batteryman Industrial Strength

-  
>Soul Rope<br>Judgment of Thunder

**New Cards used by Ccpac Apu**  
>Snoww, Unlight of Dark World<br>Broww, Huntsman of Dark World  
>Sangan<br>Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World  
>Tour Guide From the Underworld<br>Ceruli, Guru of Dark World  
>Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World<br>Siillva, Warlord of Dark World  
>Kahki, Guerilla of Dark World<p>

-  
>Dark World Dealings<br>The Gates of Dark World

-  
>Dark Scheme<br>Dark Illusion  
>Fine<p> 


	66. 066: Pride and Seek

**Mark 066: Pride and Seek**

"What.. happened here?"

It was supposed to be the first day of a new schoolyear at the Dresden academy. And Siren expected to enjoy it. They had been forced to move over to a new building ever since the fire at the old place, they had enough funds for a new facility after all. Yet when he arrived later than usual because of traffic, he entered a scene nobody would have predicted on a good day. "Everyone.." The hallway, the classrooms, they were littered with bodies of teachers. "No!" He rushed over to one of them, and while they looked alive, they were not breathing. "This is.. not possible." He tried to sense deeper, he could at the very least scan the mind on some superficial level. But he got nothing in return, the minds of these people were wiped clean. "Who did this?" He looked around, this could not have happened too long ago. And that idea was soon confirmed by sounds that echoed across the deadsilent halls. They came from the new principals office! _"Damn it. I don't have a phone with me." _He wanted to call 911, but had no means of doing so.

It was worse than he thought however, the noise was getting closer. It sounded like footsteps, and a dragging rattle followed it. _"What do I do, what do I do?" _He did not think he could handle whatever had caused 'all of this'. He had to get out, he knew that much. _"Come on." _As softly as he could manage, he creeped out of the classroom and inched towards the nearest exit. But he stopped, caught by the question of whether or not he should at least get a glimpse of whoever had done this. "...Early for school?" However that single pause was somehow enough time for the mystery man to sneak up on him. "Gah!" But rather than turn around to face the owner of that cold raspy voice that greeted him, he made a mad dash for the door. "No, no, no!" Behind him a light sprung up, and a the rattling sound turned into a loud hum. He knew that sound. But before he could experience whatever was unleashed behind him, he had managed to get to the outside, frantically running out into the streets. He only stopped to catch his breath on the other side, surrounded by curious onlookers. _"That.. that was.. a dueldisks sound?" _Wheezing heavily he stared back at the academy doors, where a shadow briefly met his gaze before he retreated back into the now lifeless building.

Elsewhere..

Somewhere at a trailer park on the west side of the country, a certain duelist was closing on on his endgoal. He walked through the towns of the four corners, looking for specific opponents to defeat. And so far he had beaten them all. None so far took even a second try, he was unstoppable some might say. However none of the victories brought him the kind of satisfaction he desired. Each adversary was just a stepping stone, but to him it felt like an apology. He had to answer to half a hundred duelists the last few months, for the acts of forgery that he had unknowingly committed. They once called him the King of Games. But his throne was a lie, because the sword he went into battle with did not swing with the power of a warrior, but a trickster. Now he was here to force himself to ask for forgiveness by duel yet again. He had tracked down the 106th name on his list to this place, and Urizen Artani was not going to leave until he had settled the score with this man as well. Only then could he return to his father and his world.

"Do you happen to know if a Ian Darkend lives here?" Urizen asked the man in the first trailer he came across. "You're speaking to him." The one who answered was a young man not much older than Urizen, he wore a grey bathrobe and had messy black hair. "... Do you remember me?" He was not exactly what Urizen had expected, given all the others he had faced so far. "Am I supposed to?" And his reaction was also unusual, but not unique. "You are one of those huh. When did you duel last?" Artani displayed his dueldisk. "Oh. Wait." And some memories began to flood back into his mind. "It can't be. You are Urizen aren't you? What is the ex-king of games doing in a place like this?" Allthough he looked tired, he could muster some level of enthusiasm. "That is a long story. But I am here to confirm something. You and I battled each other two years ago, and at that time I won. But now I am asking for a rematch." Ian just stared at him. "You are, why? I mean I do not want to disappoint you, but I havent played since forever."

While this was a setback, the ex-champion considered it to be a minor one. He then went on to tell him what really happened that duel. Outside of the tournament scene he usually needed some form of persuasion to get a duel against someone anyway. "Ah. Now I understand. Yeah that sucks. I would be mad too." He said, rather calmly. "But you are not mad." Too calmly for Urizens tastes. "What? No of course not. Man I did not deserve to win at that time, I just ran whatever deck I thought looked best in three dimensional holograms. I was in it for the fun, not the glory." He shrugged and went back inside to pour himself some coffee. "But that was in the past. Right now I would be surprised if I even have any of my old decks left. And I am pretty sure I sold my disk on the market for a quick buck." The duelist had noticed the rather impoverished surroundings, which gave him an idea. "Then how about I reward you for a duel with me?" He could give him money if he needed it. "..Now that is interesting. But not really necessary. I mean I would not mind having one more game with you, I have the day off so why not have some fun?" He pushed aside some boxes. "Ah there we go." And he found a dueldisk. "Guess I did not sell it after all. Nobody wanted to pay a lot for it I remember.."

A few minutes later, Ian had dressed himself more properly and readied himself for the duel. "Does it even work here though? I thought we needed a wifi spot to link in to the virtual hologram database?" Darkend was certain this place was nowhere near an online connection point. "My disk has a long-range connector, courtesy of R-tech. When someone faces me, we can duel wherever." He explained as he began to shuffle his deck. "Okay, cool. Anyway I am using my Amazoness deck for this game. Because that is what I used last time.." He started shuffling his cards too. "You should not give me help on this." Urizen grumbled and activated the disk. "Oh right, you want to win on your own. I get ya." The two were done, all that remained was to draw their cards. "But I will let you go first, ex-king. Every duel during your tenure as champion started with your turn, so we can not change that now." He drew five cards, Urizen drew six. "Fine by me." Artani then placed one monster down and one trap. "Now we can start this."

Ians LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"Hmm. The deck you used last time was the Steelswarm deck. I don't recall what you liked to set facedown, since you were always more about power. But.." Ian summoned his first monster, a young chain wielding amazon(1500/1300). "I do know you like your cards to be in the grave. But Amazoness Trainee here sends the monsters it slays back into the deck instead!" Before he attacked he placed a field spell down. "I use Amazoness Village too, this spell gives all my amazons more attacking power." The Trainee(1700/1300) poqwered up and then threw her chain at the set card. "Giant Germ was my monster." Urizen said as the Amazoness pierced through the demonic virus(1000/100). He had to shuffle it back into his deck, so the germ could not split up into two more Giant Germs. "That was new." Ian had not seen him use that monster before. "But it was still killed, Trainee also gains 200 attackpoints every time it wins a fight with another monster." The girls(1900/1300) chain extended. "I see you changed your deck too."

"Before the turn is over I activate my face-down card, Fires of Doomsday!" Urizen revealed a quickplay spell. "I summon two doomsday tokens to my field!" Two one-eyed ghosts(0/0) appeared. "Ah, so its about getting tributes now." Darkend realized that when the Germ failed, he fell back on tokens. "But those two can only be sacrificed for a dark type monster, so at least your color has not changed." He placed two traps down and ended his turn. "Of course not." Urizen started off his turn by tributing the doomsday demons for his seventh level Darkness Destroyer(2300/1800). "Now it's my turn to attack. Destroyer can attack twice in a turn!" The dark one raised one claw and sliced through the young Trainee. "Ugh. One down, but that triggers the effect of my field spell!" Ian suddenly special summoned a new Amazoness from his deck. "Once a turn, when an Amazon dies in battle, another of equal level shall take her place on the battlefield. And I call out a Swordswoman." An older sword wielder (1700/1600) appeared. "That one is more familiar to me. It will reflect all damage back to me, right?" Darkness Destroyer raised its second claw. "Do not think that is enough to stop me!" And another swipe brought the Swordswoman down. But this time her master did not suffer with her.

Ians LP: 7600 Urizens LP: 7400

"That did not change either, from my memories." Ian smirked. "You never showed fear or doubt." Ian drew a card. "I activate Amazoness Willpower." He revealed his first set trap, a card that could revive an Amazoness from his graveyard. "That is because I am in control. I counter your trap with mine!" Urizen however revealed the counter trap, Overwhelm. "Since I control a tribute summoned highlevel monster, your card is negated." Ians Willpower trap failed to revive anything. "I could say the same thing about you anyway, you are not even showing fear right now. Is that because of confidence?" Urizen noticed that this counter did not make Ian upset. "A little." He then activated the spell card, The Warrior Returning Alive, to bring a warrior monster from the grave back into his hand. "But I do not think it matters.." He took back and resummoned the Swordswoman(1700/1600). "Your confidence in yourself was shot when you discovered how you became king, yes? Confidence is too easily taken away is what I mean.."

"...Anyway, I will attack now. After I equip the swordswoman with this!" He gave the amazon a fertility doll necklace, to hang around her neck. "Amazoness Heirloom. It grants my amazon the power to avoid death once a turn." He sent the sword wielder out, and her sword clashed against the Destroyers claws. "Ugh." Again the damage was reflected to Urizen. She survived the encounter thanks to the equip spell, while his demons claws were cracked. "Also after the wielder of the Heirloom finishes attacking, her prey will be destroyed." The cracks spread out and shattered the entire body of Darkness Destroyer. "Your move."

Urizens LP: 6800

"Hmph. Then it is enjoyment for you, that kept you going. I suppose that trait can be envied." Urizen summoned a Phantom of Chaos(0/0) next. "Now then, since your monster reflects all damage, I will not give you any damage to reflect! Phantom integrates the effect and power of Darkness Destroyer!" The wraith imitated the shape and size of the Destroyer(2300/1800). "It attacks your monster twice!" Two claws came down upon the swordswoman. The first was blocked by the Heirloom. But the second attack could not be stopped and she was slain. "Ah. Because Phantom of Chaos can not damage an opponents lifepoints, you do not lose lifepoints either." Ian was impressed. "I set a trap card and pass the turn back to you." Urizen did not answer that praise. "Hold on, do not forget about the Village we are in." But before his turn could be ended, Darkend was allowed to special summon a new level 4 Amazoness. "I summon the Sage." Instead of a warrior, now an amazon magician(1600/700) appeared. "Hmm. I remember more and more of you, Urizen. I saw how you trick enemies into attacking what looked like an easy kill." He said as Phantom of Chaos(0/0) was back to its original helpless form. "The phantom cant give damage, but can receive it."

"However." He glanced at the set trap. "I am not foolish enough to attack without insurance. I summon the Amazoness Scouts." Two scouting amazons(700/1100) joined the Sage in their village. "I can tribute this card, to protect my warrior ladies from destructive effects and targeting effects." One young scout aimed her arrow at Urizens facedown trap. "Now, when my Sage kills a monster as a result of battle, a spell or trap on the field is destroyed." She struck down the Chaos phantom with her wand and sent a spell to blow up Urizens set trap. "You destroyed my Hate Buster.." Urizens trap could under normal circumstances have destroyed the Sage before she used her effect. But the Scouts prevented him from harming any Amazon this turn. "Next, trap card Queens Pawn." Ian flipped his other set card. "When an amazon claims a life, another will join the hunting party." As the Sage finished off the phantom, from the deck came a new lady, the Amazoness Paladin(1900/300). "This Amazoness gains 100 attackpoints for every Amazoness under my control. She attacks you directly now." The paladin(2100/300) unsheathed her sword and cut alongside Urizens torso. "Tsk. Looks like you have the big lead this time." Urizen cursed as this would be one of those kinds of duels.

Urizens LP: 3100

"This still can go anywhere." He said, even though his hand did not give him many options. "I draw!" He was about to pull a new card from his disk, when unexpectedly.. "Argh!" he felt something burn his wrist. "Argh? Are you hurt?" Ian did not quite understand what happened, he saw nothing. "It's fine, just a bit of muscle pain." He lied. "Ah. You should duel less then." Ian chuckled to himself, he seemed to accept the cover for what really had gone on._ "Again.." _Urizen looked at his hand, and saw a faint glow coming from under his coats sleeve. _"And this is what t gave me." _And he had drawn just the card he needed to get out of this situation, Snipe Hunter. With it he could destroy both amazons and get back a good lead._ "No. It is doing it again, giving me what I want. But I.." _He shook his head and placed a monster from his hand face down, it was not even the Snipe Hunter he set._ "I will not let this happen, I will win with my own power." _He looked at Ian, no longer even bothering to smile. "It is your turn."

(To be Continued in Mark 067: Chase after one Destiny)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Snipe Hunter<p>

-  
>Fires of Doomsday<p>

-  
>Overwhelm<p>

**Cards used by Ian Darkend**  
>Amazoness Trainee<br>Amazoness Swordswoman  
>Amazoness Sage<br>Amazoness Scouts  
>Amazoness Paladin<p>

-  
>Amazoness Village<br>The Warrior Returning Alive  
>Amazoness Heirloom<p>

-  
>Amazoness Willpower<br>Queen's Pawn


	67. 067: Chase after one Destiny

**Mark 067: Chase after one Destiny**

Ians LP: 7600 Urizens LP: 3100

"Is everything okay. You sound different." Urizen told him that the pain was nothing new, but Ian could not overlook how he quickly changed his already surly demeanor right afterwards. "Just keep playing." The ex-king grumbled as he had passed the turn to Ian. "Well okay." He had two monsters on his field, Urizen only had one. "..." But in Ians hand were no additional monsters. "I will attack ." So the two had to do. "The Sage strikes your set monster." Amazoness Sage hit the hidden card with her wand. "Stygian Security!" What was crushed was a little winged imp(100/600) with a siren on its head. "When this monster dies I can summon another level 1 demon from my deck!" Stygian Security itself was a level 1 card, so Urizen just summoned a second(100/600) in defense mode. "Okay." Amazoness Paladin(2100/300) cut that one down as well. "I summon a third." The field stayed the same regardless. "Ah that is a tuner monster too, isn't it?" Dark said, knowing what this was a sign of. "I end my turn."

"Yes. I am not fond of doing so, but I started using synchro monsters again. Not because of me.. but because it saved my life once." Urizen started his turn and summoned the level 4 Armageddon Knight(1400/1200). "It did what now?" Ian was a bit stunned to hear that. "Long story. Ignore it." He used the effect of the Knight to send a dark monster from his deck to the graveyard, the Necro Jailer. "I synchro summon the Stygian Sergeants!" After that the two monsters he controlled were used as materials, one plus four equalled a level five synchro monster. A twoheaded bike riding cop demon(2200/1800) drove unto the trailer park. "The Sergeants attack your Sage!" One Stygian aimed their gun at the Amazon and shot right through her. "Then when they destroy a monster, they can attack again with additional and strengthened firepower!" The second and boosted hellish sergeant(3000/1800) took out a bigger gun and fired at the Amazoness Paladin, her sword was no match for his bullet. "Ah, now you are making your comeback." Ian smiled.

Ians LP: 6100

"Well then. Guess I gotta go to the next level as well." Ian activated the effect of his field spell, Amazoness Village, special summoning an amazon of the same level as the one that died just now. "I call Amazoness Fighter." A fistfighting female(1500/1300) appeared. "My turn? Good, then I sacrifice her." But he quickly tributed it to bring out a level 6 monster. "Amazoness Queen." She was replaced by the queen of amazons(2600/1800), seated on her throne. "Your monster only keeps its power-up until the end of your turn. So.." He entered the battle phase, and the queen swung her sword at the Stygian Sergeants, cutting off both their heads with one move. "It still sounds interesting though. I did not realize dueling had become such a serious affair. Then again there are those rumors and tall tales out there. You would not happen to know more about that, would you?" As the son of R-techs headmaster, he might have known a thing or two. But Urizen did not say anything. "Was worth a try." Ian shrugged and placed a trap down.

Urizens LP: 2700

"If I told you, your life would not be the same. Some things peope are better off just not knowing." Urizen answered eventually. "At any rate." He activated the spell card Allure of Darkness. "I draw two cards." He added a dark monster and another spell to his hand. "Now I have to banish a dark monster from my hand." He had three to pick from, and he chose Snipe Hunter. "I do not need this things help." The card he drew two turns ago when his wrist began to hurt, that was his choice. "I summon Mad Archfiend!" And he called out the bone demon(1800/0). "That one?" Which surprised Ian, since that was a dark monster too._ "He banished Snipe Hunter, when he could have banished this one?" _Snipe Hunter could easily have destroyed his Queen. "Darkworld Shackles!" But then Artani played his new spell, shackles from the underworld that chained the queen(100/100) down to her throne. "She can not attack anymore and is weakened to near helplesness! So now I attack her!" And Mad Archfiend sent a hail of bone bullets at the shackled Amazon. "But.." The bullets hit her, yet they did not kill her. "Amazoness Queen makes it so that no amazon can die in combat, even herself." Ian took damage, but the bone spikes did not even hurt the queen. "Feh."

Ians LP: 4300

"During my endphase, Mad Archfiend switches to defense mode." He said as he ended his turn. "And during your standby phase, Darkworld Shackles inflicts 500 damage to your lifepoints!" Ians lifepoints went down a little. "I will live. Now I play the spell Reinforcement of the Army, to take out Amazoness Sage." The spell could target any warrior in the deck. Darkend then summoned the Sage(1600/700). "Gah." And Urizen, having seen her in action already, knew exactly what was coming. "She attacks the archfiend!" The Sage slew the mad demon with her wand. "When Amazoness Sage takes a life, one spell or trap on the field will be destroyed." The Sage threw a blast spell at the queen, which melted down the Darkworld Shackles that binded her. Unchained she(2600/1800) was now free to attack Urizen directly, and she did. "Man. I have never pushed someone that close in all my duels in the past. I hope this is as exciting for you as it is for me." The attack left urizen literally on the edge of defeat. However..

Ians LP: 3800 Urizens LP: 100

"Monster effect." It also gave him two tools to bring himself out of this situation. "When I receive damage, and my field is empty. I can summon Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness from my hand!" From the depths below came hells envoy(2700/1500). "And since I have taken battle damage, Gorz summons his other half Kaien!" He was joined by the token who gained stats equal to the damage taken, Kaien(2600/2600). "So that is the case. An effect like that is very risky." He placed another card down and ended his turn. "If a king takes no risks, he will never achieve fame and glory. The wholw reason I took on this challenge was to become a champion without fear." Urizen drew again. "You can not be fearless if you avoid all the risks, I will challenge it all!" The two underworld emissaries dashed towards the Amazoness Sage. "I forgot how serious you were about this." But Ians main monster kept the Sage alive, the Amazoness Queen deflected both sword blows with her own blade, redirecting the damage towards Ian himself.

Ians LP: 1700

"At that time it was just an act. But the duels I have undertaken lately changed all that." He placed a card down and the turn was ended. "So you said already. Are we talking metaphores here? Or did it literally save your life?" Ian could not think of a way in which this game could rescue anyone from death. "I myself barely believe it. Or rather, understand it. I can not call upon disbelief anymore." He stared at his own wrist, still covered by the sleeve. "I did not tell you why my father did what he did, why he thought it was necessary to turn me into a false king. He told me that it was the only way to test my blood. It is only now that I see what he was talking about. One curse replaced another." He shook his head. "Yes it saved my life, because a higher power did not want me to die. And that same power right now does not want me to lose to you, even if I refuse its assistance it keeps on giving at least once every duel. This is the champion father was looking for. Sometimes I wonder why I even want to go back to his throne."

"O..kay." That speech came out of nowhere Ian thought, he had no adequate answer for that. "Well even if you do not want to be King again, it is an admirable thing to want to apologize to every duelist you cheated out of victory in the past." Ian stated and he summoned a new Amazoness, the Amazoness Tiger. It gained a powerboost from the village, and its own effect. The Tiger(2500/1500) gained 400 attackpoints from every Amazon, including itself. "But if the endresult of that road is a hollow title, what is the point?" Urizen retorted. "Sometimes the road itself is the prize. That way it does not matter whether you win or lose, as long as you gained a memorable experience." Ian smiled. "By the way, I am attacking.. I activate Amazoness Fighting Spirit." He played a continuous spell. "When an amazon attacks a stronger opponent, he gains 1000 attackpoints!" He entered the battle phase. "The Tiger targets your Emissary!" Amazoness Tiger raised its paw. "Then I reveal my Red Screen!" But the claws of the beast failed to break through a red crystal screen that was summoned after Urizen flipped his trap card, red Screen. "None of your monsters can attack now." Gorz and Kaien were safe behind it. "Even if victory is meaningless, defeat is even less than that. I can not accept it."

Ian switched his queen and sage to defense mode and let Urizen take this turn. "And now I will end this." Urizen spoke with renewed confidence as he saw his next card. "I summon Sinister Sprocket!" It was the level 1 chain tuner(400/0). "Gorz is a level 7 monster, so I can tune it with the Sprocket to form a level 8 monster!" He immediately tuned the two monsters together. "!" And Ian knew very well, almost everyone would know, what was Urizens favorite level 8 synchro monster. "Red Dragon Archfiend!" The demonic dragon(3000/2500) was released from the extra deck, free to fly over the amazons on the ground. "And because the Sprocket was used for a synchro summon of a dark monster, a face-up spell of yours will be destroyed!" He shattered the Amazoness Village, causing the amazons to lose some power (Queen: 2400/1800, Sage: 1400/700, Beast: 2300/1500). "And when Red Dragon Archfiend attacks a defending monster, all defending monsters will die." That way one could overpower the Queens defenses.

"But, I have the tiger." Ian smirked. "Amazoness Tiger has to take all incoming attacks, so your dragons effect will not go off." The Tiger was still in attack mode. "I am aware. That is why this card was activated." Urizen pointed at red Screen. "I can not pay the 1000 lifepoints I need to keep it intact anyway, so I will shatter it!" The screen collapsed. "When I control a Red Dragon Archfiend, I can destroy the screen of red to revive a level 1 tuner." A level 1 Necro Jailer appeared, a walking cage made of bones(300/300). "Tokens can be used for a synchro summon too." He united the seventh level Kaien token with the returned Jailkeeper, to bring out a second level 8 synchro. "What?" It was Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400). "That card, I do not..know that one." The Infernity series was as of yet not known to the general dueling public. "It is a tribute, to someone who gave their life for me. But that is not what affects you right now. Because I used the Necro Jailer, I can now kill one monster you control!" A cell of bones rose up and threatened to trap the Tiger.

_Necro Jailer, 1/300/300 Dark/Fiend/Tuner  
>This card can only be used for a synchro summon during a turn in which it was special summoned from the graveyard<br>Activate one of the following effects when this card is sent to the graveyard, depending on from where it was sent:  
>* When this card is sent from your deck, banish 1 monster card from your opponents graveyard.<br>* When this card is sent from your hand, send 1 monster card from your opponents deck to the graveyard.  
>* When this card is sent from your field, send 1 face-up monster card from the field to the graveyard.<em>

"I can avoid that." Ian said as he flipped the trap Amazoness Shamanism. "I will have to. I destroy all Amazons I control." The Tiger, Sage and Queen disappeared. "And that allows me to revive three level 4 or lower Amazons in defense mode." He brought back the Swordswoman(1500/1600), Trainee(1500/1300) and not someone who was his actual third choice. "Wait. Where did the Scouts go?" His plan was to revive Amazoness Scouts and use their effect to keep Urizens synchros from destroying his warrior ladies with card effects. "I sent the Jailer to the grave one time before, did I not?" When Armageddon Knights effect was used to be exact. "I removed your scouts from play three turns ago." He made it clear, that Ian had lost this round.. and this game. "You got me." All he could do was summon an Amazoness Paladin(2000/300) instead. "Attack, Red Dragon Archfiend! Draco Meteor!" The demon unleashed a meteor of flames that consumed all three amazons at once, thanks to the Shamans trap, they were all in defense position. "Now your field is wide open. It was the red dragon that beat you last time. But now, it will be her dragon that brings me closer to the last act. Doomdragon, attack!" And the hellish synchro swiped its pincer claw across Darkend.

Ians LP: 0

"Oh man. I forgot to pay attention to that card. My bad." Ian sighed. "But hey, it has been a while since I had this much fun." He laughed a little, until he noticed Urizen was still holding the same expression of gloom. "Wait, did I do something wrong? You won fair and square this time, right?" He asked the ex-champ, as he was rubbing his wrist. "I believe so." He replied as he saw that the glow had left his arm. "I barely remember the duels I forced upon myself since I restarted this quest." He said as he checked the name Ian off of his list. "And I do not at all remember my first time facing you. However, I shall try to remember this match. I try to honor all that nearly ended my journey this way." He turned away. "Wait, you are leaving already?" Ian sounded disappointed. "I mean, can't you tell me some stories. Now that I had a game again, I feel like hearing more about your games." He was addicted again, so to speak. "It all blurs together. And the challenges I do distinctly remember, are too painful. I will say it again. I.."

He paused.

"You.. what?" Ian noticed Artani was looking at something, and he looked in the same direction. "Hey, do you know her?" Ian saw a young girl standing at the edge of the trailer park, long black hair shielded half of her face. "You can see her?" And Urizen loudly showed his astonishment at the fact that someone else could see it too this time. "Yeah? Do you know her?" Ian did not know, that up until now only Urizen had seen her. "That girl. She has been following me for two months now." Was all Urizen said. "Then shouldn't you say something to her?" Ian forrwarded the straight forward solution to his problem. "Why bother. She disappears every time I.." Again he stopped, as the girl started pointing to the east, to the road. "What?" They could not help but glance in that direction. "Gah!" And of course when their eyes turned back to her, she was no longer there. "How did..that's one fast girl." Ian was more surprised than Urizen. "Tch. If it is a girl at all..." However Urizen did see something on the road.. someone. "Hey." A man was lying there. "How long has he been there?"

The two walked over to him, and he was quickly recognized by Urizen. "That's John? What is he doing here?" And before he could tell Ian how he knew this figure, the man rose up and grabbed Urizen by the collar. "He is coming!" Urizen cringed and pulled himself free. "What, what are you saying?" John nervously looked behind him, and between deep breaths he spoke one word. "The Reaper."

(To be Continued in Mark 068: On the Run from Another)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Stygian Security<br>Armageddon Knight_  
>Necro Jailer<em>  
>Stygian Sergeants<br>Red Dragon Archfiend

-  
>Darkworld Shackles<p>

**New Cards used by Ian Darkend**  
>Amazoness Fighter<br>Amazoness Queen  
>Amazoness Beast<p>

-  
>Reinforcement of the Army<br>Amazoness Fighting Spirit

-  
>Amazoness Shamanism<p> 


	68. 068: On the Run from Another

**Mark 068: ****On the Run from Another**

"The Reaper?" This was not the first time Urizen heard that title. It belonged to the famous duelist that terrorized the tournament scene several years back. "I thought that was just a fairy tale?" Urizen replied to John. _"But then again, I believed 'she' was the Reaper."_ For a while Urizen had thought the girl known as Ramirez had been the reaper. And his theory was almost proven when she used a monster whose effect resembled the reapers ability to survive even after the loss of their lifepoints. However she denied that identity at the time. "No. He is back, or it is a new one. I don't know, but he or she is just as terrible!" John rose up. "You must have heard something." John sounded very adamant about this fear, and annoyed as well with Urizen for not believing it. "Wait, you know this guy?" Ian asked, as he was not at all in the loop at this point. "You might say he has a thing in common with you." Urizen replied. "Ian, say hello to John. He was one of the first I managed to cross of my list." He gave the two a proper introduction to each other. "You don't say.."

"Before I start buying what you say, you should tell me why you are here." So Artani continued the conversation. "And do not say you came here to warn me. I do not see you as that kind of person." Someone that snuck into other tournaments and robbed people of their identities, just to get revenge on one person, would not come all the way out here to help the same man. "Of course not. This guy is after me. I came to you, so you could help me." John said, though his words lacked conviction. "But how did you know I was here? And for that matter, you do not look surprised to see Darkend here either." Artani was catching on to several holes in his story. "Are you saying he followed you here? Like that girl from before?" Ian caught the implications as well. "What girl?" And now John was confused, but also more worried. "Just admit it John. You were here to duel me again. I do not know when you got out of holding or why, but I can see why you are here. I mean for the love of god, I can see a dueldisk around your arm" John looked down at the disk. "Tsk, I forgot about this. But that does not matter right now!" John changed the subject, panicking even more. "Can we just go somewhere out of sight? That guy might be watching us right now, I am dead serious!"

So a minute later and they were all inside Ians trailer. "Do not suppose some caffeine will help you relax?" Ian said as he poured himself another cup. "No." John sat at the table, fidgeting about. "Well then tell us what happened to you, that put you in such a state." Urizen wanted to hear the full story, from the start. "Well, alright I did follow you. I tracked down where you were going after I met with previous duelists you defeated. Because I felt like I deserved another shot at you. That was all I could think of.. until today. Until I heard what happened at the new Dresden academy." The two stared at him. "You really do not know? For christs sakes', put on the TV!" John fumed, and Ian complied by turning on his set. "Any news channel will talk about it. " John took the remote and switched it to a public broadcast. About an apparent murder spree that took place at an academy, leaving all the teachers and other staff members dead. "Whoa. That is.." Ian was left speechless. "Yeah. They only know one thing about this guy.."

"He left a message on every school computer, which stated 'the reaper passed by'."

"You get the picture. What kind of person can do that to a building full of psychic duelists? For instance, how did none of them see him coming?" The news also talked about how no traces of the attacker were found. They questioned one kid, a student who claimed to have heard the killer, but he never got a good look at the guy. "He attacked before the students got there, he did not want them." John explained. "But if that was all, I would not have given it much thought. However, not an hour later." He turned off the TV. "I received a phone call." He showed them his cellphone. "It was from an unknown source, and there was only a single word message. 'The Reaper is calling'." He showed them the text message. "What? That could mean anything. Like a virus.." Ian was not as quick to jump to the horrible conclusions. "I'd rather not take any chances. Even if its a prank, and especially if it is not, I want the best protection. Forget the cops. Luckily I followed you, Artani, because now your father can help us both."

As much as he regretted it, he knew Gaunt was the best source of information at this point, so Urizen gave in and tried to call his father. "But of course I get put on hold." He grumbled as he waited for a response. "What is the point in having a secret number, if nobody answers it?" Before he ahd left, R-tech had made sure he could contact them at any time. He just had never wanted to do so until now. "This had better not be a false lead anyway. The old man will think I used you as an excuse to get in touch with him again." He said to John, just as the connection went through. "This is Urizen, I would like to speak to.." But whoever was on the other end did not let him finish. "Urizen, is that it?" The voice finished for him. "Well that _is_ a surprise." And the tone was not one you'd expect to hear from a devoted R-tech employee. "...seems like you and me have a mutual acquaintance." The man laughed. "Who is this?" Urizen did not like this particular attitude of his. "What? You have not gotten to that part yet? Well you are about to.."

Just then a scream was heard, coming from outside. "Huh?" The trio rushed to the window to see what happened, while more laughter came from Urizens phone. "No.." Out in the open was a young man, his back turned to them, his face looking down at an unconscious woman. "That's mrs. Hyacinth!" Ian recognized her as one of the other trailer occupants. "He is here!" John cried out. "How did he.." Urizen tried to disconnect and call again. But all outgoing lines just went back to the laughing voice. "I _do_ apologize. But your tools of communication are no longer there for you." He said gleefully. "Now why don't you three be nice and come out here, before I have to _silence_ anymore innocent bystanders." He left them with little choice. "Is that him talking to us? That guy outside?" Ian did not understand how he could do that, he saw no phone in the mans hands. He was not even moving. "He asked for all three of us." Urizen cursed and moved for the door. "Do not get it in your head to run now, John. You are better off here."

Urizen, Ian and then john stepped outside. "Ah. That did not take you too long." The man turned around, revealing his face to them. While the slicked back hair and lack of eyebrow already made for an unusual face to face, the crazed slashers smile he wore made it clear that they were not dealing with the average guy. "Greetings. The living call _me_ the Reaper." He pointed three fingers at them. "So allow me to introduce myself to the dead. _I_ am Lithium." John took a step forward. "Why are you after me, I have a right to know that!" Even when threatened with death, he could feel his frustrations get the better of him. "Is it because I pretended to be that Psyche guy bak at Battle Garden? Because I am not a psychic, if that is what you are after.." He almost felt insulted that this was about him. ".." But Lithium did not give him an answer, instead he extended his hand. "Look.." And a dueldisk appeared from under his sleeve, it tore right through it. "Out?" It was apparently a very compact model, for it to be hidden so well. "He is a duelist too?" Ian expected a gun or a knive, anything but that.

"Yes. Any_ duelist _on my list gets one chance at salvation. Defeat me in a duel, and I will let you live." John blinked, a rush of relief came over him. "Is that all?" He immediately activated his dueldisk. "Wait. You want to put your life on the line like that?" Ian questioned the logic in that, this sounded nothing like an innocent game. "Fear is a good response. None of the psychics in the academy could best _my_ decks." Lithium opened his jacket, revealing dozens of pockets filled with decks. "You shall see why they call me the Reaper. Why the living _envy_ the taker of lives!" He inserted one of them into his disk too, letting it get shuffled. "Heh. You do not scare me! Artani, watch me as I show you how I planned to defeat you!" John exclaimed with uncanny optimism. ".." Urizen wondered if John had trained, or just found a new cheating tool. His second guess was actually more accurate. _"Heheh. With this modified dueldisk, I can alter my draws in any way I wish. I always win in less then a turn._ Let's Duel!"

Johns LP: 8000 Lithiums LP: 8000

"Perfect." John could not help but gloat out loud as he saw his hand. _"A Green Gadget to start off the combo, Ultimate Offering to perpetually summon gadget monsters, a 'Sound the Retreat!' trap card to turn all Gadgets on my field back to my hand. And even Limiter Removal. That is more than enough to fuel my Machina Cannon combo." _Machina Cannon was a machine that required discarded machine monsters to be summoned, and each machine gave it 800 attackpoints. If John could get the Gadget loop started, he could get his Cannon monster to exceed 9000 attackpoints and end the duel in one blow. "Draw." However lithium took the first turn. "Hey we had not decided yet who goes first!" John protested. "_I_ thought it would be kinder this way, to let you taste hope first without having to shatter it. Given the power you employ, I _can_ not hold back." He summoned a monster, a young greenhaired witch(1700/1100). "Caam, the Serenity of Gusto?" It was a wind elemental and a psychic card. "Wait, o are you a psychic duelist or not?"

"No. The instrument of _your_ defeat was chosen at random." He activated a quickplay spell card as well, Emergency Teleport, to special summon a lowlevel psychic monster from his deck. "And yours are here, now." Lithium called out a Mind Master(100/200). "The question is, _can _you see it? And if you can, will you choose a slow or quick death?" He equipped the Mind Master with the Telekinetic Charging Cell, a spell that allowed the psychic to use its effect without having to drain the lifepoints of Lithium. "What are you getting at?" And John did not see any danger, yet. "Mind Master sacrifices a psychic, to summon a psychic." The Master destroyed Caam, allowing Lithium to call another Caam, Serenity of Gusto(1700/1100) from his deck. "W-What?" And the second one was sacrificed too, to make the third Caam(1700/1100) show herself. "What was the point of that?" Ian did not get it either. "Caam has an effect as well. Once a turn she can return two psychic monsters from the grave to my deck, and I can draw two cards." He used Caams effect, sending both previously tributed girls back while taking out a new card from the deck. "Wait. That means." With those two out of the grave, Mind Master had new targets. "He can resummon them as many times as he wishes?"

"That is correct." Due to the Telekinetic spell, Lithium did not need to relinquish 800 lifepoints every time he activated Mind Masters ability. "Then he can draw as often as he wants!" He combo went into another repeat. The third Caam was replaced by the first, thanks to the Master. The second soon exchanged places with the first. "And because its a new one, the draw effect can be used in the same turn." Caam number two returned number three and one to the deck, and Lithium added one more card to his hand. "Is he going to empty his entire deck?" John could not believe this, Lithim kept cycling through the Gusto Serenities, drawing one card each loop. "No. Just going to empty all that I _need_." The reaper suddenly stopped when he had about 29 cards in his hand. "If there is one thing I can always trust in. It is this card." He took five cards from his hand and placed them down. "The one power no spell, trap or monster can overcome. A card in a class of its own, the absolute deliverer _of death_." His smile grew even wider. "Exodia!"

"You're lying.." John gasped. "Am I really?" The five pieces were all there, the Left Leg of the Forbidden One, Right Leg of the Forbidden One, Right Arm of the Forbidden One, Left Arm of the Forbidden One and the head: Exodia the Forbidden One. When all five were in a players hand, an automatic victory could be declared. "A..first turn kill." Urizen was just as horrified as John. "You tried to cheat death, John, by altering the rules of your own dueling tool." Lithium explained with a sudden harshness in his voice. "What?" Urizen would have been outraged, that this was Johns plan all along, had it not been for the fact that John was a dead man. "No. Please. You do not need to kill me. I did nothing, I know nothing! I am not even that good a duelist!" The defeated duelist started groveling. "That you know at all, is _why_ the design went against you." He declared the effect of exodia, within a heartbeat all of Johns lifepoints were taken away. "Know? What do I know?" John fell to his knees, desperately looking for answers. "Enough." And then a bright flash hit the field.

Johns LP: 0

When the light faded again, John had collapsed to the ground. "Hey!" Just barely Urizen could see some white tendrils slither back to Lithium, slipping underneath the blue glass lid on his dueldisk. "What did you do?" Whatever that was, it had affected John. "Is he..dead?" Ian meanwhile went to check on the guy, and was shocked when he noticed no pulse in his veins and no breath come from his mouth. "He is more than that. I have seen this before." Urizen turned to the reaper again. "You are not just some assassin duelist, are you? You are one of 'them'." The first man he saw this happen to, was Richard the Ace of Clubs. He had been defeated by Lincoln, the insider sent by a certain cult. "The Infinati! You are one of them!" Lithiums eyes narrowed, but he took Artani's insight in stride. "Well I was not always one. But today you'd be right." He shook his head and chuckled. "Guess you could call me hired help, no masks for this guy." He then flicked his finger. "But honestly, Urizen, you want to know more? You already have been designated as a threat by the Infinati. And by extension your friend there too must be eliminated." He returned his deck to his coat and took out another. "Now then, you choose who visits the reaper next. I do not mind either way.."

(To be Continued in Mark 069: Dead Inside)

**New Cards used by John**  
>Green Gadget<br>Red Gadget  
>Yellow Gadget<p>

-  
>Ultimate Offering<br>Sound the Retreat!

**Cards used by Lithium**  
>Caam, Serenity of Gusto<br>Mind Master  
>Left Arm of the Forbidden One<br>Right Arm of the Forbidden One  
>Left Leg of the Forbidden One<br>Right Leg of the Forbidden One  
>Exodia, the Forbidden One<p>

-  
>Emergency Teleport<br>Telekinetic Charging Cell


	69. 069: Dead Inside

**Mark 069: Dead Inside**

".. I.. I can not believe this is happening." Ian Darkend now realized they really weren't metaphors, Urizen had been in duels to the death! "Pick _now_." Lithium waited for one of them to come forward. "Or submit, and then your life can be taken quickly." John had already fallen, two remained. "You son of a!" or rather three, as a new player made his presence known. "You put that thing down right now and step away from those kids!` A man pointed his shotgun at Lithium. He had even fired warning shot first to get his attention. "Oh, such _crude_ technology." The reaper yawned. "Supervisor Barbrady! Be careful with this guy!" Ian warned the man who he knew as the guy in charge of this park. "Do not worry boy, I have him in my sights. Nobody threatens a camper here and gets away with it!" He reloaded the shotgun. "Anyone? Do you refer to the duelist there?" Lithium nodded towards John. "The woman here." He nudged mrs. Hyacinth with his foot. "Or you?" He lowered his face and smirked. "Why you!" Barbrady fired a shot directly at him. "As I said." However the bullet was blocked. "What the?" The supervisor saw his shot hit an energy wall, that came from Lithiums disk. "Crude." And just at that time, urizen saw an opening and ran for it. "Hey, where are you going!" Ian followed him.

"Do not think you can run." Lithium shouted after them. "Hm?" But he saw Barbrady take out another shell. "_You_ had your moment of glory." He opened the lid on his disk again, and energy tendrils shot out of it. "Now get out of _my_ way." Before he knew what hit him, the supervisors lifeforce was sucked out of his body and it fell to the ground. "Meh, another no-content lifeform. Now where.." Yet before the reaper could resume his chase off the two duelists, he heard the distinct sound of a starting car. "!" And then he saw Urizen and Ian, seated in the car he had used to get down here. A car that drove straight towards him. "Heh." Lithium jumped out of the way, and Urizen kept on driving. "Missed him." The two left the park and headed for the freeway. "You're just going to abandon them?" Ian looked through the rear window. He would not have been surprised anymore if Lithium somehow behind them, but luckily he was not that inhuman. "They are already dead. And even if some remained alive, we cant do anything for them. We need to go to someone who can.."

_Elsewhere_

Far away from the many disasters that took place that day, a young girl named Ada lived. In certain ways her life had been brightened up ever since the incidents of two months ago. Because she had been instrumental in the fight against the Castle family, R-tech had given her the reward she had wanted for a long time. In effect while Sarah was made the official winner of Battle Garden, she had been given enough money to help her and her parents with their loans and other problems. Things were looking up indeed, and yet there was a hole in this better world. She had not entered the tournament alone after all.

Xavier Ali, the one who came back with no memories of that event or anything for the past few years. Ali was still there, he went to the same school as she did, occupied the same flat, walked the same streets. And yet none of that was the same, because he no longer knew her. He had been tested over and over again, and all the doctors could say was that he suffered from post traumatic stress which induced amnesia. She of course could not tell them what the trauma was, she could not even tell his mother and father that. They would not believe it, that Ali's soul had been taken away from him by an insane girl. And all they could tell her in return was that his memory would come back to him in time, that was almost always the case. It had been two months, and she stuck close to him to be there when figments of the past would resurface. Yet nothing came forward, he was the same then as he was now. It had come to a point where she started to believe that his soul had not been returned at all. Was this even Xavier?

"You do not have to keep walking me home, you know. I have gone back and forth enough to remember where I live." School was over, they and other students walked out of the building to head home. "I know. But I want too." It seemed that his amnesia, while a powerful case, did not remove everything he knew. Xavier could still recall basic facts about the world, he had not lost any knowledge. In fact it seemed he had gained some at times. "I can not believe it, you got a perfect score on your test Xavier." One girl who walked with them complained. "I wish I had your lucky kind of amnesia." Ever since that day, Ali had gotten nothing but high marks. Ada's meanwhile suffered because she could not concentrate well enough. "Was I really that dumb before then?" Xavier asked the students with them in return. They just giggled and walked off. "..." He took that as a yes. "Look, Ada. This has not been unpleasant. And the doctor said that contact with old relations may help. But this is still awkward. Can't we just skip the routine today?"

Before she could say anything about the matter, someone else joined in on their conversation. "You know what might help?" One of the students had stuck around, a young blackhaired kid with bags under his eyes. "You could jog his memories with one of those games you always used to play together." He said with a smile. "We already tried that Dean." Ada said back to him. "Oh you mean chess? Well that is fun, but I can't win against her." Xavier sighed. "No I mean_, that_ game." Dean took something from his uniform, a stack of cards. "Hm?" Xavier did not recognize it. "No!" Ada did, and grew furious. "You know what they said. What his father said. He forbade him from playing that again!" She snapped at the student. While their parents did not know what had happened at the tournament, they knew it was partially to blame for his memory loss somehow. Therefor they told Ada to not duel him again, and she accepted that. "Besides, he does not even remember how to play that!" The card game was one of the few facts he did forget.

"Alright, alright. I did not mean too push. But I can't stand to see him like this either." Dean and various others in their classes had expressed in the past, how much they missed the old Xavier. This one was, to quote them, not as much fun to be around with. "But I also thought about doing it another way." He looked at Ada. "He could just watch us do it. His parents do not have anything against that, do they?" Xavier shrugged. "I do not get why they have anything against it as much as they do. But I do not mind if you duel. It looks like fun to me." He said with a grin. "Well if you say its okay." Ada had her doubts about this, but also her hopes. She had not gotten the chance to try this before, it could work. And at this late stage, she was willing to chase any chance. "Then I think it is okay too. I left my stuff at the clubroom, let's go there." She was talking about the room where the game club normally held their afterschool meetings. "Good idea. They have a hotspot there. We can make the duel just like in the tournaments."

A moment later the three had gone into the room and Ali sat down on one of the chairs. The others selected some dueldisks from a pile and inserted their cards. "Okay. I am excited. Surprise me." He awaited their confrontation with great enthusiasm. "Just look closely, Ali. This is the deck you and me built together. If that can not help things." She wanted this to work, this had to work. "By the way what kind of deck do you use, Dean? I did not even know you played the game." Dean was not a member of the gaming club either, she wondered why he was the first to suggest this. "It is a surprise. But I started playing this around the time you two got back. Specifically because you raked in a fortune with your run at the day of games." He then drew his cards. "Who goes first? Ladies or gentlemen?" He glared at Xavier, and so did Ada. But he did not respond. "I guess you will." Ada said with a slightly bitter tone. _"Not even his personality is the same anymore." _The old Xavier would definitely have demanded a lady to go first.

Ada's LP: 8000 Deans LP: 8000

"Well then, if that is what you want." Dean placed one trap card face down and one monster as well. "I shall start off by defending." He was about to explain what he was doing. "No, no. Do not take time off to tell me the rules. I am a fast learner." But Xavier insisted. "I see, to make this flow as much like the real thing. In that case, my turn is over." He passed the turn over to Ada. "Okay. I shall start off by attacking." She did not want to hider her monsters, his monsters. "I summon Dragunity Militum!" Her first card was the winged dagger girl, Militum(1700/1200) "...Then I play the continuous spell card, Dragon Mastery! I can now take Dragunity-type dragons from my hand and equip them to monsters on my field as an equipment card." She took a Dragunity Corsesca(800/700) from her hand, which became a trident in the hands of Militum(2200/1200). Dragon Mastery also provided her with additional attackpoints. "Anything?" She paused to ask Xavier if this was already bringing up anything, but he shrugged. "Not that easy."

"Then it is time for the battle phase. Militum attacks your face-down card, Dean!" The winged warrior skewered the set card with the Corsesca. "When a monster equipped with Corsesca destroys another monster, I can add a monster with the same main- and subtype from my deck to my hand." She added a Dragunity Tribus to her hand. "Do not count your chickens yet, Ada. You overlooked two things. One!" Dean pointed at a continuous trap card, which he had seemingly activated before the attack hit. "Cyber Summon Blaster, it does 300 damage to an opponent every time a machine type monster is special summoned." And then he pointed to the pile of metal and wood scraps that his set monster(1400/200) had been reduced to. "Two, you destroyed Nisamu; Karakuri Soldier model 236. When this wooden machine is sent to the grave as a result of a battle, another karakuri can come from out of my deck." The wood and metal parts were reconfigured, going from a soldier to a generals frame(500/1600). "Nishipachi, Strategist model 248. When this card appears, a monsters position is changed." The Merchant moved his arm, and Dragunity Militum was forced to kneel down. "So it's about Machines." Meanwhile Cyber Summon Blaster fired a single shot.

Ada's LP: 7700

"But I can special summon too. Watch this, Ali! This is what they call a synchro summon!" Militum suddenly unequipped the Corsesca weapon, turning it back into its dragon form(800/700). "Corsesca is a level 1 tuner! I combine it with the level 4 Militum to summon a level 5 synchro monster!" The winged female and the trident dragon became as one, rematerializing in attack mode as an owl-like large-winged fighter(2100/700). "Synchro summon." Ali said as if it rang a bell. "How cute, it teaches the kids basic math." He laughed. "That's not the reaction I was hoping for." Ada hissed, but a laugh was also worthwhile. "I end my turn."

"Now I will attack. With model 919." Dean summoned a new Karakuri, a ninja-like machine(1700/1500). "Kuick, the Karakuri Ninja. It can rebuild a destroyed Karakuri machine, when it destroys an enemy's card. But.." Both players could see that Kucik was weaker than Vortex, even Xavier understood that part. "It needs the assistance of a spell first. Karakuri Gold Dust!" The Strategist took a defensive stance. "Of two attack-position monsters, one is switched to defense position while the other gains that monsters attackpoints." Kuick threw a bottle to the floor and disappeared in the gold smoke the bottle released as it shattered. "Oh!" The ninja re-appeared behind Vortex, and stabbed it in the back with his sword. "Gah!" Vortex died, and Kuick activated its effect. "I special summon Karakuri Soldier." Model 236 was the only Karakuri in Deans graveyard at the moment, so he was the one chosen by Kuick to come back. Cyber Summon Blaster meanwhile fired another shot of 300 damage points towards Ada.

Ada's LP: 7400

"Vortex has a special summoning effect too though!" Ada said as she searched through her deck. "When he dies, he lets me summon any lowlevel winged beast from my deck." She called out Dragunity Legionairre(1200/800). "Ah. So it was a net gain for us both. However.." Dean entered main phase 2. "I have only just begun to summon my wooden dolls. Nisasmu is a tuner monster too." Dean suddenly tuned his level 3 Karakuri Soldier with the level 4 Strategist Nishipachi. "I synchro summon!" From the deck came a level 7 Karakuri, a horned mechanical shogun warlord(2600/1900). "Model 00, the Shogun Burei. When it is synchro summoned, a Karakuri model can be called out from the deck." The shogun extended its left hand and called forth a double-barreled machine dog(600/1800). "Model 313, the Watchdog Saizan." Meanwhile two more cyber blasts had been unleashed by his continuous trap.

Ada's LP: 6800

"And guess what, Saizan is a tuner monster as well!" This one was of the 4th level, so it could merge with the level 4 Ninja Kuick to form a level 8 synchro. "Models 919 and313, become the materials for model 00X!" Their parts were separated and recombined into an even greater machine shogun(2700/1800) in bloodred robes. "Bureido, the Steel Shogun! He has the same first trigger effect as Burei!" Bureido too special summoned a Karakuri monster from the deck, a barrel model(400/400). "Karakuri Barrel, model 96 Shinkuro." Again Cyber Summon Blaster hit the student girl with a double volley. "Ugh. For a newbie, you are already good at being annoying at the game." She cursed. "That's not even all, Ada. Bureido's second effect allows me to draw a card when a Karakuri monsters position is changed. Burei's second effect meanwhile allows me to switch the positions of my monsters!" The weaker shogun used his metallic fan to release a fierce wind, which forced the Barrel Shinkuro into a defending position. Meanwhile Bureido swung his two swords around to draw out one of the cards in Deans deck. "I set one card down and end my turn." He concluded the turn with that combo. "Well, hope my first turn was not too complicated for you, Xavier."

Ada's LP: 6200

_"Because you and I will be dueling sooner than you think."_

(To be Continued in Mark 070: Flatlining)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Vortex the Whirlwind<p>

**Cards used by DN**  
>Karakuri Soldier mdl 236 Nisamu<br>Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 Nishipachi  
>Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 Kuick<br>Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 Burei  
>Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 Saizan<br>Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X Bureido  
>Karakuri Barrel mdl 96 Shinkuro<p>

-  
>Karakuri Gold Dust<p>

-  
>Cyber Summon Blaster<p> 


	70. 070: Flatlining

**Mark 070: Flatlining**

Ada's LP: 6200 Deans LP: 8000

Ada had her work cut out for her. "Okay, so.. monster summoning and burning." Deans field, complete with two Shoguns and a Barrel that could not be destroyed all that easily, outnumbered her field which only had one Dragunity Legionairre(1200/800). "But it is my turn! And I know of a way to size down your army!" She revealed another dragon monster in her hand. "I use the effect of Dragon Mastery to equip Legionairre with Dragunity Aklys!" If she could succesfully initiate the Legion/Aklys combo, she could destroy both his synchro monsters, Burei(2600/1900) and Bureido(2700/1800), in one turn. "Well if it is a spell you want to use, you will be disappointed. I activate Karakuri Cash Shed!" Dean revealed a counter trap. "Because I control a defending Karakuri monster, my Barrel Shinkuro(400/400), I can negate one spells activation!" Dragon Mastery was thrown inside a furnace and burned to a crisp. "So be it, I will fight power with power!"Ada summoned Dragunity Darkspear(1000/1000), a level 3 tuner monster. "I tune the dark dragon with the legion bird!" It and the level 3 Legionairre became the components for a level 6 synchro summon. "I summon the Dragunity Knight Vajrayana!" A red dragon riding knight(1900/1200) phased in through the roof.

"Vash-raj-iana?" But while Xavier still had trouble even pronouncing the names of the cards he used to wield, Dean knew what was coming. "He can equip one Dragunity in the grave to himself." The Knight took back Dragunity Corsesca. "And then he can sacrifice that equipment to double his own power for one turn!" The knight threw the Corsesca away again, and set his(3800/1200) sights on the Steel Shogun. "It attacks your model 00x!" Vajrayana flew towards the Shogun Bureido, letting the red dragon reduce it to slag with its fiery breath. "I'd have chosen that shogun too." Dean smirked, Bureido's power of drawing cards was the more annoying ability. "I end my turn." But he had one shogun left to counterattack with.

Deans LP: 7000

"I summon the Karakuri Merchant Model 177, Inashichi." A street vendor-like woodmachine(500/1500) was his next monster of choice. "It allows me to add a Karakuri card from my deck to my hand." Dean took out a Karakuri Klock trap card, which he placed face down. "Then I switch Barrel Shinkuro into a attack position. To set up my trap card." Dean revealed his other set card, a Karakuri Trick House. "When a Karakuri switches positions, one card on the field is destroyed!" Panels in the floor slid open to reveal a boobytrap underneath Vajrayana, the trap skewered the dragon rider with spears. "And then I declare a triple direct attack! Burei, Shinkuro, Inashichi!" The Barrel, Merchant and Shogun visited Ada with physical blows, taking more than half of her lifepoints away. "What do you say to that huh?" Dean smiled. ".." But Ada did not care that she was losing, she kept looking at Xavier who still showed no type of response to their game. "I do not think is going to work after all." She sighed. "Let's call it quits, Dean."

"What?"

Ada's LP: 2700

"Yeah It is getting late." Xavier chimed in. "I am sorry, but I do not feel anything. And I do not want you to take up your time." They could also only use this room for so long too. "But we were having fun, were we not?" Dean protested. "Only a little. It is just not the same on my own. Look it is your victory okay?" Ada said and was about to place her hand on her deck. "I am sorry then, but." Yet Deans tone suddenly changed. "It only counts when someone falls." And as she had her hand on the disk, she found out she could not turn it off. "Wu-Hey?" She turned to Dean. "What did you do?" But he had the same tired expression on his face as always. "I can not let you end it like that, Ada Wolfram." And from his dueldisk, lights began to shine. "Ali!" The light spread out across the room, putting up a forcefield around the two duelists but also around the walls and door. "Ada?' Xavier could tell this was not part of a regular duel. "Get out, call for help or something!" She yelled back at him. He nodded and ran to the door, but could not force it open. "I am sorry though. You would not have needed to know, had you continued to play along." Dean said with a touch of malice in his voice. "What. Dean, why are you saying this?" She did not understand one bit of this. "I am not Dean..anymore."

"What?" And now she understood even less. "Never mind all that." He used the effect of Burei to switch the Merchant to defense mode and ended his turn. "Continue, Ada Wolfram. Play, for your life and for his. If you can not defeat me, neither of you will leave this room." He let her draw a card. "Tsk. That is easy for you to say, I know what you have waiting for me." That was part of the reason why she wanted to give up earlier, she had nothing that could counter the Karakuri Clock trap he had set. Unless.. "Wait. I summon Dragunity Aklys. And then.." Not one but two monsters were called from her hand this turn, Aklys(1000/800) and Alector(2400/2000). "The Fowl Sovereign can be special summoned from my hand when my opponent controls two or more monsters with the same element." All Karakuri cards were earth-elemental, so she was allowed. "Alector can negate the effect of one card on the field; like your Barrel monster!" Shinkuro normally could switch itself to defense when it was attacked and withstand one killing blow. Not anymore. "I attack!" Alector then targeted the defending Merchant. "How easy we forget." But 'Dean' flipped his trap card, the Karakuri Klock. "When a defending Karakuri monster is attacked, all opposing monsters shall die!" A bomb appeared which exploded underneath the Fowl king.

But through the holographic smoke, one could see that her monsters survived. "Your trap?" Ada had flipped the trap she had set at the start of the game. "Starlight Road. When two or more cards are threatened with destruction, I can stop the card that threatens them. And.." She took a card from her extra deck. "Stardust Dragon can be special summoned!" She called out the majestic star dragon(2500/2000) in attack mode. "Stardust?" Xavier reacted a little, that name was familiar somehow. "I continue my attack!" Alector destroyed the Merchant model. And the newly summoned Stardust broke the Karakuri Barrel to pieces. However no monster could compete with the Shogun yet. "I set a card and end my turn."

Deans LP: 5000

Now it was his turn, and now he drew his cards slowly and less fluidly. "You did better now, with pressure. But soon you will be broken." Dean normal summoned another Karakuri Ninja Kuick(1700/1500). "They all will." He entered the battle phase. "I doubt that!" This was when Ada used her newest trap. "I activate Icarus attack! I sacrifice a winged beast, Alector, to destroy two cards you control!" Alector self combusted. "Kuick and Burei will be smashed!" The released flames headed for and consumed the two models on Deans field. "That is good! Right?" Ali started cheering her on. "My my my. You are pushing me, Wolfram." However from those flames, a blue shadow surfaced. "Wait, what is that?" Wings, cannons, a tail, a featureless face; a buglike machine(2200/2200) was summoned. "When a monster I control is torn away from me by an effect, this machine will appear." And on its chest was the symbol of infinity. "That can't be what I think it is." She had seen that symbol before. "It is. Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity."

Ada's LP: 2400

"An Infinity. You were an Infinati all along?" Because Cyber Summon Blaster was still on the field, she lost 300 lifepoints when Skiel appeared. "I told you, I am not that Dean." The cannon charged up, and fired a shot at Dragunity Aklys. "We are still in the battle phase." Skiel atomized the small dragon. "And I am your Reaper." He entered main phase 2. "Now, behold the synchro killers power." Then energy tendrils shot out from the Meklords chest, which captured Stardust. "No!" She forgot the Meklords could do that, Stardust Dragon was swallowed whole by Skiel. "The Synchro's powers are our powers." Skiel Infinity(4700/2200) gained the attackpoints of its meal. "And when it sacrifices an equipped monster, it may attack directly." He knew Ada only had Dragunity Tribus left in her hand, that alone would not keep her alive. "I set a trap card and end my turn." Whether she lived or died depended on her next draw. " Then why are you..why are you doing this?" She wanted answers first. "To test the validity of his memory loss. But even so..He does not register as content anymore, once you fall, he will be claimed along with.." However only now did he and Ada notice something. "You?" The amnesiac reached for his head. "Ahh. Why.." Faint images began to flicker past the minds eye. "It is coming back to him?" Dean gasped. "Ali?" Ada did not know whether to be happy or afraid.

Ada's LP: 1400

"Gah!" But whatever he saw, it was too much for him and he simply passed out. "Ali!" The boy slumped to the floor. "So he had some left after all." Dean smirked. "That is enough!" Ada drew at last. And then she normal summoned Dragunity tribus, using its effect to send a Totem Dragon from her deck to the cemetery. "Whoever you are, you will not lay a finger on him!" She activated it without a second thought. "Dragons Mirror! I banish five dragons in my graveyard for a fusion summon!" Aklys, Corsesca, Vayrajana, Darkspear and the Totem Dragon were fused together, forming the divine Five-Headed Dragon(5000/5000). "We have been through a lot already. So you and the rest of your Infinati friends can buzz off!" The dragon fired five blasts of all elements at Skiel. "Skiel. I can not..let it be destroyed." Dean said calmly, yet with a hint of panic. "Astral Barrier." He flipped his final trap, which redircted the blasts towards himself rather than the Meklord. "Why..did you?" And she watched as the blasts hit him, dropping his life to zero instantly. "We are not allowed to damage the emperor. It needs to remain intact to contain the absorbed content." Dean collapsed to one knee. "Or else, that Dean will..be freed." His other knee gave in. "Who are you?" She asked one more time. "A Reaper. But you may call me D..N..." His last words were garbled beyond recognition, and he slipped into unconsciousness. "Hey?, hey!"

Deans LP: 0

...

Even before the police could arrive, R-tech had taken over the case. Ada had kept her cool and called her contact there as soon as possible, and they sent someone over to oversee the clean-up. They showed up an hour later. "After all this. This had to happen to him." She shook her head. "His parents were right, I should have kept him away from this game." Xavier was still unconscious. "He will be fine. The medic said so. He simply passed out and will wake up soon. Though they are keeping him at the hospital again for a while." The one they sent over was Nathan, and he tried his best to assure her that all was right. "And if his mother or father want to blame you, they will have to deal with me first. this was not your fault okay?" But his words did not help much. "He reacted." She said to herself. "I do not know what it was, that machine that was summoned or.." But she did not understand why, or how she could get it to happen again. Or if she even wanted too, considering how he ended up after one such miracle.

"What about the other one?" She asked about Dean, who had been carried away earlier by troopers. "No clue. Official records say he is just Dean Ingram, the same student you must have known him as. No spotty record, no dubious relations, an average joe." They would have a hell of a time explaining this arrest to his folks, or to the school staff. "But it does not make any sense. If he is an Infinati, when did he join them? Can you even join them? Or was he an agent for them all this time? Because if that is the case, why our school?" Dean and Ada had been sharing classes since they were twelve. "It is not a coincidence, I believe that much. Maybe the Infinati have sleeper agents at every school in the country?" Nate scratched his chin, even he thought that sounded ludicrous. "Well whatever his case is, we will take him into holding and question him as soon as he wakes up. He is the first Infinati member we have successfully detained so far. And you say he called himself a Reaper? That is even better news, since.."

Just then his phone went off. "Hang on a tic." He took it. "Is this Hearts?" Keins voice came from the other end. "Oh come on, I told you to call me Nate. Or at least Nathan." Nate grumbled, evidently he did not like the title he had gained since he had become an Ace. "Then you should have been quicker on the draw." Kein chuckled. "Anyway, I came to call you that another friend of ours has been attacked by the Infinati too. Urizen Artani." Nate and Ada both gasped. "Urizen too?" She cried out. "... Ashworth, did you put me on speaker?" Kein let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh, you can say 'Ashworth' at least. Well, I feel like she deserves to be in the loop on this 'Spades'." Ash snapped back. "Fine. It is on your head. In any case, Urizen is fine and will soon arrive at HQ. He and an acquaintance of his narrowly escaped from the Reaper himself. And he can ID the attacker." Hearing this, Ada and Nathan both did a double-take. "Did you say reaper? Because.." They looked at each other. "She was attacked by the Reaper too."

"...Huh. That is odd." That was all Kein said. "Are they the same? It can't be right? Allthough maybe he was remote controlling Dean somehow? Could explain Deans drastically altered behavior." Nathan wondered what was up with that. "Ashworth, what in the hell are you blabbering about. It is far more likely that 'Reaper' is a codename used by all their maskless agents. Whoever massacred the Dresden academy for instance could not have travelled all the way to Urizens place in the time there was between both events." Then again they had seen the Infinati use teleportation to get away, but that did not explain Dean calling himself a Reaper too. "Whatever it signifies, this is serious. The gods and the Infinati are both striking at once." Ada flinched. "Gods? Those are back too?" Nathan nodded. "Oh yeah, I did not tell you that yet. Sarah was attacked." But a loud cough came from the other end. "You had a reason to not tell her." Kein cursed. "But yes, they are back too. But there is only one remaining.."

"And we need to get to it before the Infinati do."

(To be Continued in Mark 071: A Story before Bedtime)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Dragunity Darkspear<br>Five-Headed Dragon

-  
>Starlight Road<p>

**Cards used by 'Dean'**  
>Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 Inashichi<br>Meklord Emperor Skiel

-  
>Karakuri Cash Shed<p>

-  
>Karakuri Trick House<br>Karakuri Klock  
>Astral Barrier<p> 


	71. 071: A Story before Bedtime

**Mark 071: A Story before Bedtime**

"Okay, you're all here. We can begin." Macbeth said to the new arrivals at R-teach HQ, Urizen, and also Sarah had been invited into a conference room on the lower floor. Kein and Macbeth were also present, but one Ace remained absent. "What is your status, Hearts?" Macbeth and the others could speak to him through an open line. "What did I tell you Kein? Anyway I flying over to you now, due to arrive in two hours." The connection had to do in the mean time, since things were urgent. "Wait, he is Hearts now?" Sarah made the first question. "Yes. He took my position and I took Lincolns." Macbeth explained, it was the one he always wanted. "I see you have no replacement yet for Richard though." Urizen said, but none of the Aces responded to that sentence. "It suits him I'd say, Ashworth is so 'friendly' with other people that I am surprised you did not bring Ada along with you." Kein smirked. "She wanted to stay with Xaviier, Schiver. And besides you brought along Sarah, did you not?" Despite many motherly protests, her girl had ended up here again. "That is because she _can _assist us." Kein grumbled. "See, that right there is why you never even got considered to be the Ace of Hearts." Macbeth chuckled. "Feh, can we get down to business now?" Urizen snapped.

"I have two questions, first off what is going to happen to Ian now?" He looked at Kein or Macbeth, eithers answer would do. "Since he too is able to ID your attacker, he is in danger of an Infinati attack. We will keep him under close observation. Though he is free to go at his own risk. We claimed that the man he saw worked for the same terrorist group that attacked the cities two months ago." They had not apparently told him about the gods and all that kind of information. "That brings up my second question. When did you release John?" Last time Urizen checked, that guy was still in their jail. "He served his time. For the impersonation of tournament duelist, he had to do community work for one month. Whatever he chose to do after that punishment, was up to him." Kein explained, and Urizen seemed half satisfied with that story. "Well it is not like you expected those masked nuts to start targeting people who know about the gods. That is the assumption we are going for, right?" Kein and Macbeth nodded. "The pattern fits so far."

"Then where is Gaunt at anyway, should he not be in charge of taking care of this mess?" Urizen had not seen his father anywhere in the building, or even heard his name get mentioned. "This morning he was still overseas, but he is on a flight bound for the capitol airport already, so he should arrive soon." This time he got his answer from a third voice. "Oh? Ansoni!" Sarah and Urizen saw the current King of Games walk through the door. "And where were you?" One was not as happy to see him as the other. "Helping my father deal with the governments side of things. They want to prevent another riot outbreak." The way he said that last part, made it look like that task was not too easy. "How much do they know anyway?" Sarah asked this time. "My father keeps saying the government is corrupt and dealing in conspiracies." She added nervously. "Not to worry. They know the basics, but other than my father I do not know if they believe what we tell them. But they all agree that the general public is better off not knowing the truth."

"At any rate. To get a better picture of what has been going on, allow me to tell you what has happened while you were gone. And what we have learned since then." Ansoni walked over to the end of the room and turned on the big screen. "Though I am affraid to say we did not gleam much from our encounters with the Infinati, ior unearth more data afterwards. That is why the capture of this dean has been a lucky break." He paused as Nathan wanted to speak up. "You can say that again. I wish i could have taken a look at his cards though." He said with a bittere tone, as he figured nobody would want to trust him with rare cards after the Cusillu mess. "But how they work, is still a mystery. As far as we can tell, the reaper is not just one person but a group of mercenaries in direct contact with the Infinati. They attack multiple places at once and spread the name of the Reaper at the scene to make people blame one singular yet powerful identity. Who knows if the actual reaper incident from several years ago was also started by them?"

"I guess we will see about that when we get that guy here. But you speak as if more places have been attacked than just Ada, me and the Psychics." Urizen began to think of who else they could be after. "We are well protected here, so I do not think they will come after us yet. But there are others who know, like my father, any of the duelists who have been absorbed by the gods before. Or even him." He changed the screen. "Oh." He showed them a surveillance image of Jason Castle, son and brother of the disappeared Castles. "He is placed under house arrest, and kept under close guard. But the Infinati may want to strike at him too." Thanks to his immunity deal he had been living at least in some luxury until now. "Was he not supposed to exchange information with you guys?" Sarah heard that was part of said deal. 'He told us what he claimed to know, enough to get the contract signed. But he knew no names and every location he gave us was already cleaned out by the time we got there. The Infinati and the Castillo family had merely loose connections, which were easy to cut." He sighed. "I reckon we have no news on _that_ front." Urizen referred to the family as a whole. "No. Not since Callisto and Malcean went into that portal. Lord knows what happened to them." The Infinati probably knew more about that too.

"What about the earthbound? Is it just a coincidence that they attacked at the same time?" Sarah asked again. "There were only 14 hours between both incidents, so that does not seem likely. But since the immortals are not easily swayed by mans doings, I believe it was their return that forced Infinati's hand. Not the other way around. They do not work together." Their leader back then had told everyone how they planned to seal the gods behind the portal for good. "Why the gods showed up now though, is a mystery. They could simply have been waiting for one of the signers to come close to one weak dueling soul they could possess." Like that unfortunate, now comatose patient, from the tournament. "Are you saying it was my fault?" Sarah said half annoyed, half regretful. "No. But only two remained at large, they needed any encounter. And now with Ccpac Apu sealed, even if he is in enemy hands, the remaining immortal will be even more desperate. It is impossible to tell when or where he will strike.."

Just than all lights turned red and an alarm sounded. "What what what? What does that mean?" Sarah literally jumped from her seat. "A red alert? We only raise that one when.." Kein flinched and took his communicator. "has the last immortal been spotted?" This was the highest level of warning, a god-class threat. "Yes sir, a blackout has taken the town of Guilderdam offline, and we already ruled out technical causes." They had seen such events often enough to recognize the accidents from the immortal outbreaks. "Damn! That village is all the way up north, we may not be able to reach it in time! Why is a god even there!" Ansoni did not expect this, not now. "Maybe.. maybe they found the sixth signer before we did." Macbeth suggested. "Whatever the cause, we have to stop it. This our shot. But.." They had no agents in that remote place. "Wait, up north you said?" Nathan cut in. "I am close by in that case!" He had taken the plane from North City, but could easily get the pilot to change course. "Ashworth, do not be a fool. You do not even have your deck with you!" Kein was against his plan. "Calm down Schiver, I have_ a_ deck, just not the new one. And I have a talisman. We know it can be used to seal the gods. Besides this one is Cusillu right, the monkey? I owe him one." That earthbound had escaped Nate's victory once, he could defeat him properly now. "Fine."

He would be there within minutes. However a some silent tense moments, Kein got a call back. "Ehr. This may sound odd, but the geoglyph has been activated already." Nate called in, trying to bring the news as sensitively as possible. "What did you say? That can not be!" Kein gasped. ".. The satellite confirms it." Macbeth got a report from the monitoring station, and they sent in a overhead photo of the city. The monkey's symbol was clearly etched out across the skies and ground. "I thought those marks appeared once a duelist has been targeted by a god. So is someone dueling it already?" Urizen would like to know who that could be. "I was not me this time!" Nathan yelled, now realizing how Kein felt when it had been him in Nathans spot two months ago. "It was supposed to be." Kein hissed under his breath. "Look. You can still pass through the glyphs barrier with the use of the talisman. Land somewhere safe and find the center of the marked area, there the god should be." Ansoni said. "And also the poor soul it challenged."

The actual duel took place near a church in the middle of the town, between a young mailman duelist and an older fellow in a trenchcoat, his face shaded by a hat.

Mailmans LP: 8000 Mystery Mans LP: 8000

"Show me it, show me!" The young kid was the possessed one, he only had one trap on his field and the field spell Closed Forest. His opponent controlled one set monster. "You have it, I can smell it. I need it!" The kid drew, as it was his turn. "Egotistical Ape!" He discarded a beast, another Egostical Ape, from his hand to special summon the level 5 tuner(1200/1200). "It can add or deduct the level of the discarded monster from itself, I choose to add!" Because one Egotistical Ape was discarded, the ape's level was doubled. "Then Beast Soul Swap!" The mailman flipped his trap. "A beast on the field is swapped with a beast in my hand, oif equal level!" The now level 10 Ape returned, and out came another monkey. "My true power will loosen your tongue!" Strenghtened by the field spell, Earthbound Immortal Cusillu(2900/2400) hit the field, standing tall besided the church towers. "We attack directly!" And the Immortal threw a punch at the opponent, who took it without flinching or giving an inch. "Fall, fall and shatter!"

Mystery Mans LP: 5400

"..It is my turn." Was the mans single response, as he drew his card. "Card Destruction." He activated a spell card to discard all cards in both players hands and drew new cards. "When The Fabled Ganashia is discarded, it is summoned and strengthened." From his hand came two level 3 elephant deities(1600/1000). "Then, Guldfaxe." His normal summon for the turn was a level 4 beast, a black horse(1600/1000) with a golden mane. "Tuner monster?" The kid noticed its tuner status. "That is all your kind can think of, synchro summons! It does not work against our power!" It laughed out loud. ".. This is a new power." The man said calmly, as he started the process. "Tenth level or even twelfth, it matters not!: The kid was at first unimpressed when the two Ganashia's and Guldfaxe were all used as materials at once for a level 10 synchro monster. "Wait. What is.." Until he saw what shape they took together. "No. This feeling, this is not right. This power can not be!"

Elsewhere Nathan rushed through the streets of the town as fast as he could, drawing closer to the source of the chaos. The other troops on the plane made sure to secure the area while he went ahead. All around he heard people panicking as many had disappeared in the area beyond the yellow lights. "This is going to be hard to cover up. This place does not even have a hotspot." He could bypass the barrier thanks to the talisman around his neck, but he was already too late to prevent the summoning of the god. All he could do was hope that whoever he was dueling, he was not in too much trouble. "There?" The talisman grew brighter and brighter, which he assumed was a reaction to the immortals presence. Yet as soon as he arrived, an even brighter explosion of lightning filled the area, temporarily blinding anyone on the scene. "Gah!" He averted his eyes, and when he looked back at the scene he saw that all lights were fading already. The god that loomed on the horizon just a few seconds ago was no longer there, and the eaten people started to return to the streets.

But things had not gone back to being normal just quite yet. Nathan had to find out who this was. "Hey. Are you alright!" He walked up to the coated stranger. "I mean, that was no ordinary duel, but you must have realized that right?" Yet for as long as Nate kept talking, that long the man kept his silence. "Or maybe, you are too amazed at all of this to say anything?" Nathan instead turned to inspect the mailman who now too lied on the ground in an unconscious state. _"But why did it appear here, why this kid and why now?"_ This just raised more and more questions. "he wanted to be a duelist." The mystery man suddenly spoke up. "Huh?" Nate hoped for some answers, but did not expect answers for the questions in his head. "He was trapped here as the only soul that cared for the game. Stuck in this dead-end village, with a dead-end job. Those were the words he chose to describe his situation, and what Cusillu needed to possess him."

"Hold it.. Is this." Nate crouched down and picked up a card from the kids dueldisk. "No way." He was looking at the god card itself, the one he failed to seal two months ago. "You did this? You defeated him and also sealed him? How?" Nathan almost thought he was one of theirs, but he did not spot a talisman anywhere on his person. "Ashworth, what is going on? Report!" Kein shouted at him from the other line again. "Uhr, it is a long story. Some dude in a trenchcoat sealed the god before I could get to it." He explained to them. "What?" Most did not know what to start making of this. "Oh!" However Sarah received an epiphany. "Is the coat grey!" She asked Nate directly. And when he answered affirmatively, she screamed. "That must be him! The guy who took the other god card away from me in the mall!" Nathan gulped when he heard this. "He is?" Then." He immediately stepped back to draw a distance between the two. ".." The coated one simply reshuffled his deck. "That card. I will have to take it from you." He said. "I do not think I can give it to just any stranger." Nate told him.

"Then we have a problem.."

(To be Continued in Mark 072: Pages ages page ages)

**New Cards used by Cusillu**  
>Beast Soul Swap<p>

**Cards used by 'Mystery Duelist'**  
>The Fabled Ganashia<br>Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts

-  
>Card Destruction<p> 


	72. 072: Pages ages page ages

**Mark 072: ****Pages ages page ages**

"Bu, why.. why do you want this?" Nate took another step back. "Who are you anyway? Do you work for those Infinati guys?" The mystery man was shuffling his cards, indicating he wanted to duel. "I can not give you my real name. Today is a Thursday, you may call me that." He then inserted the cards into his dueldisk. "And I have been sent by a higher power, to gather all." He pointed a finger at the god card in Nathans hand. "I sealed it, but I could not claim it alone. It appears this god was wounded from a past encounter. So it did not fully recognize me as its owner." Nathan was surprised to hear that. _"So I guess I was lucky enough after all, that I dueled this god first."_ He smirked. _"Allthough now its put me on his hitlist, I should not have come here perhaps.." _He then placed his communicator aside along with the god card. "Hang in there fellas, I have to take care of this first." He activated his dueldisk. "Alright then Thursday. You have roped me in. If you're not an Infinati, maybe at least this will be a fair game." He drew his cards. "Let's do this."

Nathans LP: 8000 Thursday's LP: 8000

"I will set one monster and one trap card down, and that ends my turn." The opponent nodded and looked at his own hand. "My greatest power has not yet shown himself. So for now the testing shall be done by stories of a less epic scale." He summoned to the field, a demonic green rooster(1700/1500). "The Fabled Kokkator." Nathan raise an eyebrow. "You use Beasts too?" He found it funny too think that a beast duelist took down the beast god. Though this series of Fabled monsters focused on discarding as well. "When it ends the life of one monster, a card in my hand can be thrown out and replaced by drawing one from my deck." Kokkator darted over to Nate's field and pecked his facedown Bolt Hedgehog(800/800). "I shall tear out the Fabled Peggulsus from my hand." He discarded a winged horse monster, but he placed it down on the field instead of inside the cemetery. "When Peggulsus is discarded, it can be set on my field." Afterwards he drew one new card. "One trap is set as well. And that ends this turn."

"Very well. I do not mind if you do not show me your very best right off the bat. Unfortunately." Nathan activated the spell Tuning. "My hand is loudly telling me to pick up the pace." Tuning let him add a Synchron monster to his hand, and discard a card from the top of his deck. "I add Junk Synchron to my hand!" He discarded a Nitro Synchron from the deck. "Then I summon Junk Synchron, whose effect I use to revive one level 2 monster in my graveyard!" The Junk tuner(1300/500) appeared first, and its ability brought back the discarded Nitro tuner(300/100). "I then revive Bolt Hedgehog as well. Which it can do when a tuner is on my field." The hedgehog returned, and right afterwards Ashworth revealed his facedown trap. "Imperial Iron Wall. From now on cards can not be banished." This trap was in his deck so he could keep reviving the Hedgehog, as it usually removed itself from play after the first revival. "I tune the Hedgehog together with Junk Synchron!" The level 2 bolt machine and level 3 tuner became the level 5 Junk Warrior(2600/1300). It was powered up by the presence of the other Synchron.

"I revive Bolt hedgehog again, since I still have one tuner monster on my field." Bolt Hedgehog reappeared next to Nitro Synchron. "Then Nitro Synchron and Junk Warrior are tuned together!" The two monsters became one level 7 monster. "Nitro Warrior!" The green nitro fighter(2800/1800) was called out. "And it attacks your.." But before Nate could declare his attack, a strong blast of wind removed his monster from the field. "What the?" Nitro Warrior returned to his extra deck. "Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. One more card is torn from me, while a monster on the field returns to where it came from." Thursday pointed at his trap. "I discarded The Fabled Ganashia." The elephant beast(1600/1000) was special summoned to his field because it had been discarded. "Good thing I left my Hedgehog there." Nathan could also at least draw one more card because Nitro Synchron had been used for a Nitro monsters summon. However he could not do anything else with his turn.

Meanwhile on the other side of the country. "Tsk. Naturally Ashworth gets wrapped up in another game when he should have been better off elsewhere." Kein spat. "But if he had not been there, he could not have taken the god card for himself apparently." Macbeth saw an upside to all of this. "Who cares. You should be focusing in surrounding that guy, in case he does win and tries to get away." Urizen snapped at both Aces. "I agree. In fact I have already sent out an order to that effect to Nathans squad. The town of Guilderdam is very small, so crowd control will not require all men." Ansoni told him reassuredly. "Whoever this man is and who he works for, we will find out soon enough."

"It appears this book will be long indeed. Perhaps fate does not desire out meeting to be brief." Thursday said with a disappointed tone as he looked at his latest card. "Maybe." Nathan simply smiled. "Or perhaps it has decided my full power is too much for you. Either way.." He flip summoned the Peggulsus monster(100/1600) he had set. "I do not predict you will win." Peggulsus had the ability to send a Fabled monster from the deck to the grave when it was flipped, if the controller revealed one other 'Fabled' card in their hand. "I reveal Catsith and send away Kushano." He discarded a dark blue angel. "I can add Kushano back to my hand, by discarding another card from my hand." He threw away a Fabled Catsith. "Uh oh." Nathan had seen that one before. "Catsith destroys one displayed card when it is torn from my hand." The cat targeted Bolt Hedgehog, rather than his Imperial Wall."Oh no!" Nate cried out as he was left wide open. "This is where you start to taste what we are about." He then flipped a continuous trap, Forced Requisition. "From now on, whenever I tear from my hand, you have to do the same." The next discard Thursday started, would come for both their hands.

Thursday normal summoned Fabled Kushano(1100/800). "Synchro summon." Then he tuned the level 1 tuner Peggulsus with the level 4 Kokkator and the level 3 Ganashia. "Fabled Valkyrus." In their place appeared a level 8 demon, the armored Valkyrus(2900/1700). "One demon he can take from my hand, and replace it with a card from my deck." Valkyrus swiped at Thursday's hand and placed it on the field. "Let me guess, another card that is special summoned when it is discarded?" Nathan saw a masked imp(200/400) appear in defense mode. It was a Fabled Lurrie, who had exactly that effect. Of course thanks to Forced Requisition, Nate had to discard a card from his hand too. "Here it comes the first setback." Kushano and Valkyrus fired dark burst beams at Nathan, and the blasts sent him back a few feet. "Gah!" He was pushed into the church cemetery, nearly tripping over a headstone. _"It's going to be like that? A duel where the holograms become physical?"_ The impact felt real enough. _"Then again we are dueling outside the network. This all is fueled by magic I suppose..Or maybe he is a psychic duelist?" _

Nathans LP: 4000

After that attack, the opponent placed another trap card down and ended. "Let's try this again." Nathan started his turn and summoned a tuner monster once more. "I call the Symphonic Warrior Basses to my field!" It was a walking guitar machine(600/400). "I discarded another Basses last turn thanks to Forced Requisition. I can use the effect of that one from the grave. I up the level of this Symphonic Warrior by the number of cards in my hand." Nathan had four so Bass Guitar went from level 1 to 5. "Then I revive Bolt Hedgehog again." The level 2 Quillbolt monster could still be revived thanks to his Iron Wall. "I tune both together to form the Lightning Warrior!" This time he synchro summoned a blonde haired warrior in a tattered red cloak and immaculate white armor(2400/1200). "It attacks Kushano!" The warrior punched through the dark angel with ease. "And aside from battle damage, he inflicts 300 damage to the opponent for each card in his hand." Lightning Warrior released thunder from his fists. "You have two!" 600 damage was done to Thursday. ".."

Thursday's LP: 6100

"I set all cards in my hand down by the way." Nathan said before he passed the turn back to Thursday. As many as four cards had been set, as he wanted to avoid the drawbacks of Forced Requisition as much as possible. "You duel well. Even in the face of stronger enemies you keep on attacking." The man said, as Nathan was still powerless to stop his Valkyrus demon. "But if this is about how many cards are in our hands, or how many pages are left to this story of ours. You will meet with disappointment." He used the effect of Valkyrus and discarded a Fabled Cerburrel from his hand, which also could be special summoned that way. After the dog(1000/400) appeared, Thursday drew a new card. "Are you fearless. Or just determined." He sounded rather serious about that query. "Well I hurt you too. So why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself too?" They had a fancy term for that, but hell if Nathan could remember what that was. "My story is not my own to tell."

"Sacrifice summon." Lurrie was tributed. "One Fable is enough of a sacrifice for this Fabled fiend, Dianaira." A muscular winged ogre(2800/100) switched places with the tiny imp. "It attacks." Dianaira took to the sky and swooped down towards Lightning Warrior. "That it does. But I may surprise you yet!" Nathan revealed the trap he had set last turn, Synchro Deflector. "I stop your attack and destroy another monster!" The demon was knocked back by a reflective field, and he fell straight down on Valkyrus instead. "I do not know where my story is going, if that is what you are asking. But I do know I do not want others to dictate where I am headed." Since he failed to kill Lightning Warrior, he placed one card down to minimize the effect damage he was about to take. "My turn!" The other duelist immediately sent out Lightning Warrior to counterattack. "I see what you were hoping would happen, but too bad." Cerburrel was left in attack mode, because Thursday had intended to attack directly with it. "Go Lightning Warrior!" The synchro knight smashed the fabled dog, and inflicted 300 damage to its owner for the one card in his hand. "But now I am curious. Why do you say you have no right to tell a story? Does your boss have that much of a hold over you, whoever he is?"

Thursday's LP: 5000

"Hold it!" But at that time, Nat's backup had chosen to reveal themselves. "Hey fellas, what are you doing?" Nathan asked them as he saw half a dozen guards surround the two duelists with guns and batons. "I am sorry sir Hearts. But we have been ordered to detain this man, regardless of the duel's outcome." One trooper clarified. "Let me guess, sir Spades gave that order." But while Ashworth was upset by this move, as he believed he could win this, Thursday was not bothered one bit. "Hearts and Spades?" He seemed more concerned with their nicknames. "Yeah we are the four Aces of the land. Three rather.." Nathan quickly corrected himself. "Our task is to protect and serve the duelists here, and that includes taking down the immortal threat and sealed them for good. It's a busy task with little reward, but I have taken a liking to it." He said with some pride. "Aces.." Thursday just repeated that word. "Do not make a move now." The guards meanwhile repeated their warning. "This duel, must be seen through to the end."

But he ignored them and drew a card anyway. "I said!" And before Nate's men could put action behind their ultimatum, Thursday added a little emphasis to his wants. "Do not interrupt this." He raised his arm, and with a gesture he forced all the guards back. "Whoa!" Their guns and weapons were thrown into the sky and they were tossed against the building walls. "Hey! What did you do that for!" Nathan gasped. "More importantly, how did you do that?" His psychic duelist theory was looking more solid by the minute. "Only you and me can settle this, no other characters are allowed to disrupt the flow of this story. Now move on." Nathan placed one monster down and ended his turn. "Wait a second." But that unleashing of kinetic forces also ruffled up Thursday a bit, his coat loosened up and his hat had been caught up in the winds. "I know you." The face he saw before him was not something he could mistake for another person. "But you were not... Why are you here?" The face he saw, was that of Richard.

"To gather the gods." 'Richard' summoned a new monster, the skeletal angel Fabled Urustos(1500/200). Since its owner had less than 2 cards in his hand, it could give all Fabled monsters 400 more attackpoints. (Urustos: 1900/200, Dianaira, 3200/100) "Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Nathan however wanted to get this mystery solved first. "Richard, why are you here?" And as the other Aces heard that name get dropped through the communicator, which they still had on speaker, Macbeth practically had a seizure. "WHAT?" He shouted loudly enough that even Nathan could hear his voice. "Whoever this Richard is, it is not me." Thursday replied coldly and entered his battle phase. Dianaira flew towards Lightning Warrior again and crashed right into him, destroying the synchro for good. "I am me.. that is all I have ever been."

Nathans LP: 3200

...

Eleswhere, a heavily guard prisoner van drove to capitol city. Its contents were the mysterious Dean, who remained unconscious. "What is." But unexpectedly, their vehicle was forced off the road. "Look out!" They were knocked aside by a mechanical monstrosity and tipped on their side. "Ohh..Ah!" And as they lay there, dazed from the impact, the same looming figure smashed through the windows and assaulted them with energy. Leaving them lifeless. "..." At this exact time, Dean woke up and crawled out of his convinements. "Tsk tsk." Then the backdoor was torn from its hinges. "How could you let yourself get captured?" In the opening stood a masked man and Meklord Wisel Infinity. "It is a good thing, that I am on your side now, Reaper." He laughed.

(To be Continued in Mark 073: Loss of Self)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Nitro Synchron<br>Symphonic Warrior Basses  
>Lightning Warrior<p>

**New Cards used by 'Richard'/Thursday**  
>The Fabled Kokkator<br>The Fabled Peggulsus  
>Fabled Kushano<br>The Fabled Catsith  
>Fabled Valkyrus<br>Fabled Lurrie  
>Fabled Dianaira<br>Fabled Urustos

-  
>Phoenix Wing Wind Blast<br>Forced Requisition


	73. 073: Loss of Self

**Mark 073: Loss of Self**

Nathans LP: 3200 Thursday's LP: 5000

"But it has to be you. I mean yeah you are not wearing glasses, and have a new coat. And a new attitude. But..the rest, even your cards, they are..." Nathan was 100 % sure of himself on this, he was standing opposite of the Ace of Clubs, Richard Marshall. "I do not know what you are talking about." But the ace acted as if he did not know him, he had done so all along. "Urustos attacks." And he continued his battle phase disregarding Nate's bewilderment. His Fabled angel of death(1900/200) summoned a scythe and cut down his set monster Tenshin(800/100), a lowlevel fairy. "But what happened to you? Do you even remember two months ago, back then you were still Richard?" Nathan did not get one bit of this anymore. "Two months ago?" But Thursday seemed like he was having trouble thinking that far back. "I did not exist, until I was created." Was his eventual answer. "The maker made me.." Thursday placed a trap card down. "Gave me purpose. This was less than a month ago." Nathans eyes widened. "That.. You do not even look that young!"

"Believe what you must, I remain what I am." He said calmly. "Well, this is the second time a familiar face calls himself someone else. But you do not even work for the Infinati. This confusion is tiring." Nathan hit his own head. "Gotta focus. I will figure you out after I beat you!" He drew a card and summoned it. "Synchron Explorer, this monster can bring back one Synchron tuner in my graveyard!" A red robot(0/700) appeared, and from the black hole on its chest came the revived Junk Synchron(1300/500). "Then I revive Bolt Hedgehog in my graveyard too." The return of a tuner allowed the Quilbolt monster(800/800) to follow it from the grave. "Finally I activate the trap card Graceful Revival, to bring one level 2 or lower monster from my cemetery back." He used the graceful trap on the Tenshin that had been killed 2 turns ago. "Tenshin gains 400 attackpoints for each level 2 monster on the field." There were three right now, including itself(2000/100). "Then I play the equip spell, Unstable evolution." The spell was the third of four cards he had set down two turns ago to avoid Forced Requisitions discards. "I equip it to the Explorer, turning its original attackpoints into 2400, since my lifepoints are lower than yours." The Explorer(2400/700) grew in size.

"The field is set, time to synchro summon Junk Warrior again!" Nathan tuned the Hedgehog together with his Junk Synchron, the level 2 and level 3 materials merged into the level 5 Junk Warrior(2300/1300). "Junk Warrior gains the attackpoints of all level 2 or lower monsters I control. Ergo.." Tenshin was back to 1600 attackpoints with the loss of Quillbolt, but it together with Synchron Explorer added 4000 attackpoints to the Warrior(6300/1300). "This story may end now. First the Explorer strikes." Synchron Explorer stepped in front of Urustos and sucked the skeletal angel into its body. "Now your powerboost fades again, so Junk Warrior will attack Fabled Dianaira." His synchro blasted towards the large ogre(2800/100). "Lumenize." However a trap got in its path. "Cra-ap!" A dazzling burst of light blinded him and his owner. "Lumenize negates your attack and adds the power behind that attack to a Light-elemental monster I control." When the light faded, Dianaira (9100/100) had more than tripled his size. "Well, damn."

Thursday's LP: 4500

The powerboost lasted for only one turn, but that was all this duelist needed to win the duel. "You are out of moves." Thursday drew a card and pointed at Tenshin. "My target is the weakest monster you control." Dianaira spread its wings again. "Be gone." However Nathans last set card came in handy at this point. "I play Synchro Barrier, I sacrifice a synchro monster to negate all damage done to me during this turn!" Dianaira crushed the little angel, but the damage that spilled over dispersed against a barrier. Junk Warrior had to give his life to fuel the barrier. "You keep fighting, this is admirable. I will not call you a fool, but you are unfortunate." He entered main phase 2 and summoned a toddler demon, Fabled Oltro(800/500). "Your defeat has been pre-ordained." This level 2 tuner was combined with the level 8 Dianaira. "Fabled Leviathan." And out came a red winged red haired fallen angel(3000/2000). "You did not even know you were going to duel until just now!" Nate protested. "How can everything be predestined already?'

He got annoyed by all of this, but the other one was not answering him anymore. "Ugh." He placed another monster down on the field and switched Synchron Explorer to defense mode. ".." And Thursday remained silent as he entered his turn and attacked again, Leviathan smothered the Explrorer with hellish flames. "Come on.." Nathan drew another card. _"Tuningware? Oh you never let me down. But, there is not much I can summon with you. Unless.." _He flip summoned his facedown monster, Turbo Synchron(100/500). "I will tune this one with Tuningware!" Nate said after he summoned the other machine(400/200) from his hand. Both level 1 monsters came together. "Formula Synchron is summoned!" The formula 1 synchro tuner(200/1500) appeared. "What will that do?" Thursday did not see the threat yet. "It wont do much. But when it is synchro summoned, I can draw a card. I can also draw a card because I used Tuningware as a synchro material." Nate took two cards from his deck. "Good. Time for counterattack number four."

"First I set a trap card down. Then I revive Bolt Hedgehog, of course. However I shall sacrifice it!" He brought back the hog only to tribute it for a level 5 warrior, the Salvage Warrior(1900/1600). "When Salvage Warrior is tribute summoned, one tuner monster can be called out from my hand or cemetery. I choose Junk Synchron." Junk Synchron was revived as well for the umpteenth time. "Level 5 Salvage Warrior and level 3 Junk Synchron, I tune you both together to form Junk Destroyer!" They were the materials for the strongest Junk synchro monster, the Destroyer(2600/2500). "When it is summoned, it can destroy a card for every non-tuner material it took to make him." Salvage Warrior was the only one, so one card could be destroyed. "I choose Leviathan!" The Junk monster sent a fist of energy at the crimson angel, punching through him and sending him to his death. "When Fabled Leviathan is destroyed, three other Fabled monsters can return to my hand." Thursday explained, as he took back Fabled Ganashia, Catsith and Kushano. "That's a concern for later, for now I will attack you directly!" The Destroyer threw another energy punch at Thursday himself. This time the hit actually seemed to pain him. _"Man. Even if you say you are not him, I do not like attacking him."_

Thursday's LP: 1900

"So it has come to this after all." Thursday recovered and drew his card. But he stared at the other one in his hand. "You have shown me your greatest spirit, now I shall show you the one my master granted me." He special summoned a monster from his hand. "Hm?" It was the black horse Guldfaxe(1600/1000). "Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts can be special summoned when my opponent controls a synchro monster, and I control no monsters at all." Then he normal summoned Kushano(1100/800) again. "Nordics? Wait a second." Nathan was still trying to figure out when norse mythology came into play, when Thursday initiated his combo. "Beckoning Light. All cards in my hand are discarded, and new light monsters from my grave are added to my hand." Thursday threw away Catsith and Ganashia. "Oh not again." Both Fableds effects were triggered. The cat destroyed a face-up card, Junk Destroyer. Ganashia(1600/1000) meanwhile was special summoned to the field. Afterwards Thursday added three Fableds from his grave to his hand.

_"Hold on. That horse is a tuner monster. But.."_ Nathan knew he Fabled synchro monsters required Fabled tuners, so Guldfaxe had to be for something else. "It comes." But whatever it was, at level 10 it could not be good news. "I can not let you! I activate my trap card, Synchro Material!" He played the other card he drew last turn. "I can use one of your monsters for one of my synchro summons!" he explained. 'But you can not summon anything." Thursday protested, as it was his turn right now. "Normally no. But!" Nate nodded to his part of the equation, Formula Synchron. "Formula Synchron allows me to synchro summon with it, during your turn!" he smiled as he targeted The level 3 Fabled Ganashia. "I combine your Ganashia with my synchro tuner, to summon a level 5 Scarred Warrior!" The elephant disappeared, which Thursday reacted visibly too. "A-ah." His monster was used up to form a new warrior, a bandaged warrior(2100/1000) "Yeah, Scar Warrior can not be destroyed in battle. So.." Nathan did not even notice Thursday's reaction. "?"

"Hu-ah, gyah!" He was twisting and turning, reaching for his head and then his arm. "What the?" Nathan could clearly see a light coming from under his sleeve, a light shaped like a claw. "No.. I called upon him. But I failed him, the power..it can not manifest itself!" Thursday cried out in agony. "It is too much!" He bent over backwards and thunder started shooting from his eyes and hands. "Holy Mother..!" Nathan ducked behind a tombstone, while the bolts shattered many others. "And was that a mark?" When the outburst stopped, Thursday slumped to the ground, the power had taken its toll on him. _".. Man, why do duelists keep fainting like that? This one did not even get defeaten properly." _The other soldiers were still unconscious, so he walked over to his opponent. First he checked his pulse. _"Good, still breathing." _Then he rolled up the coats sleeve, but he saw nothing on the mans arm. _"It had to be a mark." _But then he saw one of the trap cards in Thursday's hands. "Karma Cut?" It was a trap that could have banished his Scarred Warrior, leaving nate defenseless. "Well. Guess it's a good thing he fainted when he did." Nathan looked at the Cusillu godcard on the ground. _" I should probably call back to Kein now. He needs to see this, see him."_

"Well?" A few hours later, the area had been cleaned up and Thursday had been taken into custody, arriving on the same plane as Nate. "I can not believe it, but it checks out." When he returned to R-tech HQ, he had been given samples of Thursday as well. While Macbeth went down to see him in person, Kein, Ansoni, Urizen and Sarah headed over to the science department to get physical evidence of this mans reaction to the Richard they knew. "The DNA is already match-able, the fingerprints they took are 100 % the same. Physically this Thursday is no different from Richard Marshall." Kein was stunned. "No sign of a mark then?" Urizen asked him. "No. But you can not identify mark owners through those tests anyway. And a mark would explain how he drew the attention of the Earthbound." How he got it was another question. The former Ace of Clubs was not even related by blood to a former Signer. "It was the mark of the claw too. Did that one not belong to the Castles?" Sarah and everyone else knew this was a clue about who his true master was.

"Just great. The gods, the Infinati and now the Castle family. It all comes in threes." Urizen grumbled. "But at least we took care of one faction, right?" Sarah said optimistically. "Not quite, Thursday did not have Ccpac Apu on his person. We must assume he was collecting the few gods that had not been sealed by signers yet, the other five are already on the other side." Nathan then raised his hand. "What about his extra deck? He looked like he was going to summon something big. But I stopped him and than he passed out." He was curious as to whether or not he could see the card he wanted to call. "Nothing special was in his deck, just Fabled cards." Kein replied. "Not even that Nordic Beast?" Nathan could not recall its name, but Guldfaxe stood out from the rest. "That one was not recovered either." Kein shook his head. "Either way, Richard was devoured by the earthbound gods two months ago. But he was already braindead before then. Only the body went along with the Castles to the other side. Now only his body returned."

"Sir!" A guard ran into the room. "Yes? What is the matter?" Kein demanded to know why he stormed in like that. "We just received word from the prisoner transport crew. They were ambushed!" He was quick to tell him why. "What? Are they alright, and what off the prisoner?" Ansoni knew very well who was inside that van. "The subject was released unfortunately, sir. But they said it was a masked man, controlling a Meklord type monster." Keins eyes widened. "Coult it have been.." Ansoni also realized who fit those descriptions. "Lincoln." Kein uttered the name with as much contempt as possible. "This means we're back to square one, doesn't it." Urizen lamented the loss of their prisoner. "Should we not tell Ada about this? if the guy is free, he could come after Ali again?" Sarah was worried about the two. 'I will warn her. However at this rate we should increase security on all possible targets. That includes.." Ansoni glanced at Urizen. "Jason Castle." Urizen did not exactly have good memories of him. "We need him alive, Urizen." Ansoni added, feeling he was being judged. "Oh no. I understand. In fact I want to help protect him." He spoke with a bitter tone still. "I never did get the chance to talk with him in depth, after the stunt he pulled with me.. with us."

Down below on the medical deck, Macbeth looked at an unconscious Richard Marshall. "Deja vu." He said to himself. This was the second time in months that he had to stand besides his friend as he just lied there. "You know I have a lot of questions. How did you get back, why do you not remember, all that kind of stuff. I have some theories, maybe you'd like to hear them?" Of course Richard did not answer him. "Maybe it was the same thing that saved Ali. He lost his memories too. But then again he did not act completely different either." For all the things he said, Tobias Macbeth was just as clueless as anyone else here. "Diamonds, we have a message for you." One medic went up to him and gave him a phone. "Yeah?" On the other end was Kein who told him all about the Infinati freeing Dean, and the sighting of Wisel Infinity. "Is that so. Well then." He shut it off. "Looks like I get another chance after all, Rich. I did all I could to save your body, and it looks like someone else did the rest. Now, we will save your soul.."

(To be Continued in Mark 074: As Large as Shelf-Life)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Synchron Explorer<br>Tenshin  
>Salvage Warrior<br>Scarred Warrior

-  
>Graceful Revival<br>Synchro Barrier  
>Synchro Material<p>

**New Cards used by 'Richard'**  
>Fabled Urustos<br>Fabled Oltro  
>Fabled Leviathan<p>

-  
>Lumenize<br>Beckoning Light


	74. 074: As Large as ShelfLife

**Mark 074: As Large as Shelf-Life**

A large pension, on the outskirts of capitol city in a restricted park, that was where Jason Castle now resided. "Nice place you have here." Urizen could only look at this house with anger, and the face he had to look at as well did not help. "Please." But from that mans mouth came a tone of equal loathing. "This is a prison." Jason Castle sat on a couch in his living room. A room with bare walls and bulletproof windows. "They allow me to live here, sleep and eat here, but that is all. They give me no luxury, nothing to do all day, nobody to talk too even. Hell, they do not even let me use the internet!" There was not a single guard inside his house, just plenty of troops stationed outside and cameras hidden in every corner. "It is precisely because of what you are, that we can not just imprison you in such a way. You can fool people's senses, you could easily escape if the you were only watched at from a close distance. And until we have nullified the threat of your former accomplices, we do not want to let you out of our sights." Kein explained coldly.

"What makes you so sure I am still here?" Jason smirked. For all they knew he was already gone. "You tried to break out before, Jason. But you failed, and we learned more about your powers. You can not create visions, you can only manipulate." He explained this more for Urizens sake than Jasons. "For instance, you can make people experience an empty silent room, or make confuse left for right. You can not make them hear new sentences and see new movements. Back then you tried to do so, but the images were too flawed and we caught on. And of course, you can not fool the cameras. Or put people to sleep as long as we stay out of your range." Jason just grumbled, as he was well aware of his own limits. "I suppose you are enjoying this, eh Artani?" He turned back to the signers son. "You had it coming." He replied with his own smirk. "Not that. I mean, you must enjoy the fact that you were right all along. Nobody in the world is that friendly, it was all an act of mine to get closer to R-tech." Urizens smiled disappeared while Jasons grew. "Or did you make any friends in these last few months, did you find anyone?" A silence followed. "I did not think so. My father was right in the end, this world is rotten. I just hope the old man gets off his new throne and starts doing something about it soon."

Urizen clenched his fist. "You.."

However his impulsive reactions were nipped in the bud, by a sudden flickering of the lights. "What is this?" Macbeth looked up at the lights. "Don't ask me. They always worked fine before." Jason shrugged. "It can not be the gods, they are all gone by now." Kein did not know what was causing this. "Maybe it is just a general power failure, do you people even change lightbulbs?' Urizen snapped, ready to ignore this and continue arguing with Jason. "No, I mean. It can not fail. And.." Just then the television set shorted out as well, as did the airconditioning. "Do you people even know what they can do, with technology?" Jasons tone suddenly took a turn for the severe. "They can crash planes if they want too, shut down entire cities. They _own_ it!" He came to one realization, and soon the others did too. "They are coming for him." Kein finished Jasons sentence, as all lights were dimmed. "Quick, get him to the panic room!" Macbeth yelled. "He has a panic room?" Urizen repeated with mild astonishment. "Like that is going to help now." Jason cursed.

"Indeed." A distorted voice suddenly reached out to them. "!" The four of them directed their eyes to the entrance. There stood four hooded and masked individuals. "We can get to anyone at anytime. Hide wherever you want, you will only trap yourself." All of them had the Infinati symbol. "That voice." And the one in the middle sounded the most familiar. "Lincoln, I know that is you!" Macbeth shouted at him. "You still call me by my false name, Tobias. But since it is fortunate for me that we meet each other here, you can keep saying it. You were all targets for the Reaper after all." Lincoln chuckled as he took off his hood, but not his mask. "Yes, all you _did_ was speed up our schedule." Another recognizable voice started talking. "Lithium." Urizen could not forget him either. "Small world, eh?" Lithium took off his mask and bared a nasty smile. "And that one fits Nathan's description." Kein pointed at the smallest member, the kid with the wild black hair. "Then I suppose you were the ones that broke him out." They had no clue who the fourth one was though, he did not speak up at any point.

"Well, now with the introductions out of the way. Let's cut to the point. We want your life, _all _of yours." Lithium explained with glee. "It does not matter in what order, you could even go all _at once_." He took a deck from his coat. "As if. Against a deck like yours, it does not matter how many players oppose you." Urizen said, knowing very well Exodia did not limit itself like that. "I'd say you could have Jason. But he is apparently vital." Urizen added. "Then how about this. Why do not settle it the old way, eh Kein?" Lincoln tilted his head. "What are you suggesting?" Kein responded, expecting an attack at any moment. "A gauntlet match. There are four on both sides, so we let the four of us duel the four of you." The reapers said nothing, they already seemed to accept this idea. "That way, you can either claim all our lives in one go. But on the other hand, we will live freely until the last lifepoint." Macbeth actually liked that plan. "As long as you guys go ahead of me, I am fine with everything." Jason laughed nervously. "I figured as much." Urizen sighed. "But I am in. This time I am ready for you Lithium." He glared at the one-turn killer. "Oooh, scary." Dean started to laugh. "Nobody seems opposed, then it is settled." Kein nodded. "In fact, we were hoping it would come down to this."

"But it will be me and you that start this off.. Lincoln!" Macbeth suddenly stepped forwards, startling Kein who had wanted to go first. "Oho." Lincoln cracked his neck. "I think I know where this anger comes from." He gestured at the others to take a step back. "Very well, Tobias. Ace of the Hearts, you may start." He activated his disk and drew his cards. "Shows what you know. I am the Ace of Diamonds now!" Macbeth drew six cards. One of them was set in the spell/trap zone, one was set in the monster zone. "You? The Diamond Ace? Looks like he stole your title." Dean grinned. "Now that is hilarious." Lincoln was amused as well.

Lincolns LP: 8000 Macbeths LP: 8000

"I start by summoning Card Trooper." A space robot(400/400) drove unto the floor. "By discarding three cards from the top of my deck, I can add power to this machine." Lincoln threw away a Level Eater, Smashing Ground and Scrap Goblin. Card Trooper(1900/400) gained 500 attackpoints for each of them. "But, I shall not attack you, Tobias. I know very well that when you set a monster down, it is either too strong to destroy or you want it destroyed. Therefor." Lincoln activated the continuous spell card Scrap Lube. "I skip my battle phase, to special summon Scrap Goblin." The scrapmetal goblin(0/500) scurried out of the graveyard. "Then I set two cards, and wait for your turn to come." Card Trooper(400/400) powered down again. "What do you take me for, Lincoln? Do you believe I will for your traps?" Both Lincolns monsters were very weak, so those set cards had to compensate for it. "I flip my monster, Gem Turtle!" A crystal turtle(0/2000) was flip summoned which activated its flip effect. "I can add Gemknight Fusion to my hand now." He took the fusion spell from his deck. "I activate it! I fuse Gem-Knight Garnet, a Pyro monster, with Gem-Knight Sapphire." Blue and orange crystals were forced together to form a golden knight with a brightred sword. "Gem-Knight Citrine, he can block all trap and spell effects when he attacks!" Macbeth said with pride. "Oh, gemknight huh?" But Lincoln was not impressed. "I always thought that was your weakest deck."

"What?" Macbeth flinched. "Do not let him get to you!" Kein warned his partner. "As if I need to. My skills alone will suffice." Lincoln flipped a trap card, Widespread Dud. "Huh!" Two mine duds were attached to Card Trooper and Citrine. "When a monster with a dud is destroyed, the other goes off as well?" Macbeth remembered Lincoln using this trap to great effect. "You think this will deter me?" He asked the traitor Ace. "I do not need to do that either." Lincoln flipped his other card, the quickplay spell card Scrapstorm. "Try to keep up will you? With this spell I send a scrap monster from my deck to my grave." Lincoln discarded a Scrap Searcher. "Then I destroy one Scrap monster and draw one card." The Goblin was destroyed. "When a scrap monster is destroyed, I can call Scrap searcher from my graveyard." A metallic vulture(100/300) appeared. And as soon as it did, both mines went off and took down Citrine and Card Trooper. "Gah! What?" And because a Card Trooper was destroyed, Lincoln could draw again. "Scrap Searcher destroys all non scrap monsters on the field when it is summoned." Kein explained to Macbeth. "Crap, so that is why the mines went off, Searcher killed the Trooper." He had no cards left to play. "Ergh, I end." His turtle was not much of a defense.

"I see now. Why you use this deck. To set right what went wrong. To prove that this deck can beat me." Lincoln started his turn. "But it can not, it is far too simple. Compare your turn, to mine." He summoned a new Scrap monster, a mesh of tank wheels and household appliances(1600/400). "Scrap Hunter. With this summoned, i can destroy one Scrap monster I control to send one Scrap tuner to my graveyard." The Hunter dismantled the Searcher with its grinding drill. "I send Scrap Mind Reader away. Next!" A twoheaded metal dog(1700/1100) appeared. "Scrap Orthros can be special summoned from my hand, since I control a scrap monster. Afterwards I must destroy a scrap monster." Orthros in turn broke up the Hunter. "Searcher I will revive again." The bird of metal returned. "But I choose to destroy it again, to bring out this monster." Scrap Searchers parts were restructured into legless machine titan(2100/700). "Scrap Breaker can be summoned when my opponent controls a monster." He pointed at the Gem Turtle. "I attack that thing." Breaker revved up its chainsaw hand and sliced up the crystal reptile. "Then I attack you." And Orthros bit Macbeth in the leg. "Gah!" He cringed. "Please. I have not even made these holograms physical yet. Shame is enough for now."

Macbeths LP: 4200

"But it is not your turn yet!" Lincoln suddenly brought back a non scrap monster. "I can bring back Level Eater, by reducing the level of a highlevel monster card on my field." A level 1 ladybug ate one of Scrap Breakers six stars, turning it into a five star monster. "I synchro summon!" As feared, the Infinati tuned the insect with Scrap Breaker and the level 4 Scrap Orthros, who was the tuner in the equation. "I call Atomic Scrap Dragon!" A three-headed machine dragon(3300/2400) appeared in defense mode. "I can destroy one card I control to send three cards you have in the grave, back to your deck!" Lincoln revived Level Eater a second time, letting it eat one of his dragons ten stars. . "I send back Gemknight Fusion and two of your Gemknights!" Citrine and Garnet were sent back to the deck along with their spell, after Level eater was destroyed. "Shoot. I should have added Gemknight Fusion to my hand last turn." Macbeth's spell could be added to his hand if he banished a Gemknight from the grave, but he forgot to do that.

"Grr. It is my turn." Macbeth called out a new Gem-Knight, a blue crystal-skinned knight(1800/1200) "Alexandrite can be tributed, to bring out a normal Gemknight from my deck." Alexandrite's blue shine was replaced with Gem-Knight Crystals(2450/1950) colorless brilliance. "Good thing you kept your dragon in defense mode!" Crystal jumped on top of the dragons back and punched right through it. "But when Atomic Scrap Dragon is destroyed.." Lincoln special summoned Scrap Breaker from his graveyard. "A scrap monster is revived. Yeah I know." He grumbled as he placed a card and ended his turn. "You know Macbeth, you have changed. I will admit that." Lincoln said, though he did not sound like he was admiring the new Ace of Diamonds. "You dropped our costumes, you stopped calling out the names of your attacks. Why I'd think you were actually serious about this, about avenging Richard." He drew a card. "It is not about revenge, I am going to get him back." Macbeth protested. "We already have his body, now we need what you stole from him!" But as he told them this, the Reapers expressions changed. "What?" Lincoln stopped smiling. 'Oh that is for me to know, and you to find out." Macbeth finally could smile. "You do not know what you are talking about, Tobias."

"Scrap Chimera is what I summon." The level 4 chimera of metal(1700/500) appeared. "Scrap Orthros is what I choose to revive with it." Orthros joined it. "Ugh." Everyone knew what was coming. "Every single turn." They could only watch as the two scraps mingled together to form Scrap Dragon(2800/2000). "Of course I will use Level Eater." The Level stealing bug returned once more, so Scrap Dragon could destroy it. "I choose to destroy your Knight of Crystal!" The dragon crushed Level Eater and then sent pure heat towards Crystal. "I will not let my friends down again, Lincoln!" Macbeth countered with a trap. "Gem Enhance! I exchange a living Gemknight with a dead one." Crystal shattered. And once the flames passed, Gem-knight Sapphire(0/2100) returned to the field in defense mode. "Feh, you do not have a choice." Lincoln entered his battle phase, Scrap Dragon destroyed the defending Sapphire, while Scrap Breaker attacked Macbeth directly.

Macbeths LP: 2100

"Because, I am going to let you in on a secret, Tobias." Lincoln showed one card in his hand to his opponent and everyone else. "What, a Meklord?" Jason gasped, the masked duelist had Wisel Infinity in his hand all along. "Indeed. But so far I have seen no need to use it against you, Tobias. You were never fond of using Synchro monsters anyway." He entered his second main phase and activated the effect of the Scrap Mind Reader in his graveyard, by destroying Scrap Breaker he could revive the level 1 tuner. And because a scrap monster had been destroyed, Scrap Searcher came back as well. "My synchros will never lose to your fusions." He then tuned Scrap Dragon, who was still a level 7 monster thanks to Level Eater, together with the Mind Reader and the Searcher, two level 1 monsters, to synchro summon the most dangerous Scrap card, Scrap Twin Dragon(3000/2200). "Just like the last time, you will have to witness how your failures, hurt everyone.."

(To be Continued in Mark 075: Diamond in the Rough)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem Turtle<br>Gem-Knight Citrine  
>Gem-Knight Alexandrite<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. lincoln**  
>Card Trooper<br>Level Eater  
>Scrap Hunter<br>Scrap Breaker  
>Scrap Mind Reader<p> 


	75. 075: Diamond in the Rough

**Mark 075: Diamond in the Rough**

"Sir. They have made contact with the enemy. We have a visual." The perimeter enforcers sent Ansoni back in R-tech HQ a visual transmission of what was going on at Jasons place. "It is as we feared then." Ansoni, Nathan and Sarah saw four Infinati members engage Macbeth and the others in a gauntlet duel. "Be warned. Do not engage them. You are not equipped to handle them." Ansoni ordered the guards. "We know sir. I will not let my men endanger their lives." The head enforcer told him. "We shall wait and monitor the duels until direct interference is required." Ansoni nodded and closed off the comlink. "Direct? What are we going to do?" Nathan asked him. "If it comes to it, brute force can not succeed. Nor can we contain them. Our only option is to neutralize them with sleeping gas." That way nobody on the other side would get hurt. "isn't gas like that kinda dangerous?" Sarah had seen on the news how sleeping gas could kill a man. "We tested this weapon, we know how much to use. Before it does become lethal.."

Lincolns: 8000 Macbeths LP: 2100

"Curse it." Macbeth drew another card, and placed it down. "Out of monsters already?" Lincoln sneered, as apparently that was all his opponent could do before he had to end his turn. "You will just return whatever I set anyway." The other Ace of Diamonds grumbled. "That is true." Lincoln looked at Macbeths field, two traps were set. "But just because you did not use that one trap since we started this duel, does not mean I will leave it alone." Lincoln revived Level Eater(600/0), letting the ladybug eat one of Twin Dragon(3000/2200)'s nine level stars. "I destroy Level eater and send your cards back to your hand!" The two heads chewed up the insect and set flame jets towards Macbeths field. "Heh." However he flipped one of them. "Trap card: Pyroxene Fusion! I can fuse Gemknight monsters during your turn!" He activated it before it was sent back to his hand. "But you did not have any monsters!" Lincoln protested. "Not in my hand no." Macbeth also activated the other trap. "Chain Material! During this turn I can banish the fusion materials I need from wherever I want." He combined this with Pyroxene Fusion to fuse two gemknights in his grave, Sapphire and Alexandrite. "Sapphire is the key ingredient to fusing the Aquamarine Knight!" A blue Gemknight(1400/2600) showed up.

"Such a weak thing still." Dean commented on how, for all the fanfare, Aquamarine was still weaker than Scrap Twin Dragon. "That is not the point." But Lithium could see there was more to it. "I see." Aquamarine's ability was to send one monster back to the hand, if it was ever sent to the graveyard. "Kill it, and your precious synchro will disappear. Do not kill it, and the same will happen." Macbeth explained happily. "Tsk. Fusion monsters fused through Chain Material are destroyed during the endphase." Lincoln realized, either way he would lose the dragon. "But do not think you will touch my lifepoints now. I revive Level eater again!" He summoned one other monster to shield him before he ended his turn." During his endphase, both their strongest monsters left the field. One went to the grave while the other went back to the extra deck. "He can not revive a Scrap monster like Scrap Searcher from his cemetery either." Urizen was impressed. Maybe now this guy could make his comeback? "My turn!" Macbeth was eager to start for once.

"I summon the Gem-knight Amber." A bright yellow knight(1600/1400) appeared. "And I sacrifice it for my spell card, Symbols of Duty!" Lincoln flinched. "What?" He saw the crystal one shatter, and turn into a soldiers tag. "I can equip this to any monster in the cemetery." He pointed at Lincolns grave, dramatically. "I pick Scrap Dragon!" He did not have to get it himself, Lincolns dueldisk shot the specific card out and towards the other player. "Why you.." And it was summoned, his own Scrap Dragon(2800/2000) now belonged to Tobias of all people. "Guess it knows who the real Diamond Ace is!" He then placed a card down, and let Scrap Dragon destroy it. "I destroy your Level Eater!" The insect was destroyed. "And now!" He waited, yet no certain machine responded. "Wait. You are not going to bring it out?" Dean was surprised by this. "I am no fool." Lincoln had Wisel in his hand and could have summoned it when a monster was destroyed. "Fine by me!" Yet he chose not to, which left him open to Scrap Dragons direct attack.

Lincolns LP: 5200

"So in the end, you are telling me that your own skills are not great enough. You have to use my cards against me to win." Lincoln shrugged off the hit. "You always said that cards do not make the duelist, Lincoln. Me stealing your dragon is my skill." Macbeth ended his turn. "Fair enough. However you are aware that i let you hit me that time." Lincoln started his turn by summoning Scrap Kong, a mechanical gorilla(2000/1000). "It was a nice hit, but it will be your only one." Scrap Kong however destroyed itself as soon as it was normal summoned. "Oh?" And because a monster was destroyed by an effect.. "I special summon my Meklord Emperor!" Wisel Infinity(2500/2500) was brought into the living room. "No!" And its arrival spelled Macbeths doom. "Even if cards do not make the duelist, they still belong to me. I will take it back now." Wisel used its effect, the infinity core absorbed Scrap Dragon entirely and absorbed its power. "Tobias Macbeth. You are still the worst of the Aces. No title swap can fix that!" The symbol of Infinity appeared underneath both duelists. "Now he is making the holograms physical?" Macbeth braced himself as the Emperor(5300/2500) raised its hand. "Gah!" It wildly slammed into Macbeths. 'Mac!" Kein cried out as the Ace was knocked against the wall.

Macbeths LP: 0

"That bastard." Urizen muttered, while Kein ran towards Mac. "That idiot. He put us at a disadvantage." Jason spat. "Shut up!" Kein snapped back at him. "What did you do to him!" He then turned his anger towards the masked one. "Calm down, Spades. I grazed him. It was the impact that knocked him out. We agreed to not take souls until all four of you have been defeaten." He cracked his knuckles. "And me and my Meklord are raring to go for round two." He passed a quick glance at Dean and Lithium. "Do not comment on my duels again. If I had summoned Wisel in his turn, Scrap Dragon would have killed it in battle. You of all people should know not to summon the Infinities at the first sign of destruction." He said, glaring in deans direction in particular. "We shall be silent then." Lithium responded sarcastically. "Lincoln. I will go next." Kein got up again, he had made sure Macbeth was okay and was now focused on just one thing. "I am going to finish what he started." He activated his dueldisk. "As the last Ace should."

Keins LP: 8000 Lincolns: 5200

"I do have a question though, Lincoln. Why do you still wear that mask? We have seen your face already." Kein started to get bothered by it. "That face means nothing anymore." From the way Lincolns mouth curved, it was clear that he did not want to answer that question. "Fine. I summon Skull Kraken." Kein dropped the subject and started the duel with his skull octopus(600/1600). "With this monsters normal summon, I can destroy one spell or trap card you control. That includes cards equipped to monsters!" The Kraken sent out its tentacles, which dragged Scrap Dragon out of the Meklord(2500/2500) and crushed it. "But destroying an monster this way still counts as destroying the monster." Lincoln smirked as when Scrap Dragon was destroyed, he could revive a Scrap monster from his graveyard. He brought back Scrap Breaker(2100/700). "Lucky for you, my Meklord Emperor blocks any attacks coming from other monsters I control. However you left a good target for Wisel." Skull Kraken was still far weaker than its enemy. "But I can switch the Kraken to defense mode, that is its other effect." The octopus took a defending stance. "Then I place one card down and end my turn." He had weakened the Emperor at least.

"But this is how you lead the duel against me, this pathetically?" Lincoln drew. "If its not a fool, it is a coward. You Aces amount to nothing. You even let Nathan become one I hear" He tributed the Breaker to tribute summon a Scrap Golem(2300/1400) "Of course, technically he should have been an Ace to begin with." He chuckled at his own remark, but Kein did not give him the pleasure of responding to it. "Meh, you bore me already. I revive a lowlevel Scrap monster through Scrap Golems effect." The Golem rebuilt a Scrap Searcher(100/300) from scratch in attack mode. "On his side?" But Urizen and Jason saw the etallic bird appear on Keins side. "Damn." Because Scrap Searcher destroyed all non scrap monsters on any field he was summoned too, its shift of allegiances did not help Kein at all. The Kraken was destroyed. "I attack." Then the Meklord blasted forwards, cutting the Scrap bird down with one swing of its wristblade. "Already I closed whatever lead Tobias has given you." He placed a trap down and ended his turn.

Keins LP: 5600

"I summon Gishki Noelia!" Kein summoned the redheaded witch of the seas(1700/1000). "She looks at the top 5 cards of my deck, and if a ritual spell is among them. It is discarded!" Noelia revealed 5 cards, one of which was the Gishki Ceremonial Mirror. "I discard this one." Kein sent it to the grave and the rest back to the deck. "Then I activate its effect, when the Mirror is in my graveyard. I can return it to my deck to add a Gishki Ritual monster to my hand." He sent the mirror in the deck and took a Evigishki out. "Then I activate my another Ceremonial Mirror from my hand!" Kein was about to tribute two monsters to fuel his ritual, when. "Your ritual spells are useless against me! Did Macbeth not tell you?" Wisel fired a laserbeam from its head which sliced up the Mirror. "This machine allows me to negate one spell every turn." Lincoln laughed. "He did actually." Kein replied. "Huh?" And Lincoln saw him activate The Preparation of Rites. "Thanks Lincoln. I take back a Ritual spell from my grave and add a level 7 or lower Ritual monster to my hand!"

The Ace of Spades reclaimed his Mirror spell and added another Evigishki to his hand. "I can now tribute one Evigishki to ritual summon another. I play the Ceremonial Mirror." Kein sent an Evigishki GustKrake in his hand into the Mirror. "And I ritual summon Evigishki Mind Augus!" A sea magician riding a scuttler fish(2500/2000) emerged from the mirror. "When it is ritual summoned, 5 cards from any cemetery are sent back to the deck." Augus targeted Lincolns cemetery with his wand. "Level Eater, Scrap Searcher, Scrap Orthros, Scrap Chimera and Scrap Goblin. I will return all those annoying cards." Five monsters were sent back into Lincolns deck. "Tsk." There went most of his scrap tactics. "And now to get rid of your Emperor." Kein played the spell Aqua Jet, which powered up Noelia(2700/1000). "She attacks Wisel, while Augus attacks Scrap Golem!" Noelia closed in on Wisel. "Not in your lifetime, Schiver." But Lincoln flipped a continuous trap card, Scrubbed Raid. "I can send one card I control to the grave to end a battle phase." He tore Scrap Golem to pieces, which halted the attack of the Ghiskis.

"I summon Oilman" Lincoln summoned a small oil robot(400/400) this time. "Oilman is a union monster, and I equip it to Wisel of course." The oil add-on attached itself to Wisels shoulder. "Now, then.. Since it can survive destruction once, Wisel attacks Augus." The Meklord flew towards the Ritual serpent. "Magic Cylinder! I turn the attack back to you!" Until a trap was activated, two cylinders were placed in its path. Wisel flew into one cylinder and came out the other. "When did you start using that card?" Lincoln yelled just before Wisel slashed him. "Why did you think I would not improve my deck?." Kein said, looking at Urizen who approved of the move. "Well then. I hope you enjoyed damaging me. Because I am going to pay you back." Lincoln activated a quickplay spell card from his hand. "Double or Nothing! When a monsters attack is negated it can attack again with doublt its regular power!" A golden aura surrounded an empowered Wisel(5000/2500). "I think this time, I will attack your seahag!" Wisel turned 180 degrees and faced Noelia. It made one sweeping motion with its arm and cut the Gishki spellcaster in half. "You countered my counter." Kein did not expect that.

Lincolns LP: 2700 Keins LP: 3300

"And when a machine equipped with Oilman destroys a monster, I can draw a card." Lincoln added a spell to his hand. "Then I will have to get rid of that Union monster." Kein started his turn and did not even hesitate to attack Wisel "Oho.." The two monsters clashed, since Double or Nothings boost lasted for only one turn, they were equally matched. "You do know I can sacrifice a Union monster to negate the destruction of the equipped monster, dont you?" Wisel let its shoulder take Mind Augus's strike, and countered with a green energy field that destroyed both the Evigishki and Oilman. "I had no choice." Kein sighed as he placed down a monster card and another trap card. "Indeed. In the end you will go down to my Meklord like your poor partner. Hell, I would not be surprised if I can take out all four of you like this." He laughed again.

_"This is insane."_ Jason thought in the mean time. _"I have to do something, or these fools will get me killed. Why did I agree to this?"_ He now wished he had let them die one at a time. _"Wait. Maybe I can."_ An idea hit him. _"Maybe I should.. help them with my powers?"_

(To be Continued in Mark 076: Pro-Euthanasia)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Aquamarine<br>Gem-Knight Amber

-  
>Symbols of Duty<p>

-  
>Pyroxene Fusion<br>Chain Material

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Skull Kraken<br>Evigishki Mind Augus

-  
>Magic Cylinder<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. lincoln**  
>Scrap Kong<br>Oilman

-  
>Double Or Nothing<p>

-  
>Scrubbed Raid<p> 


	76. 076: ProEuthanasia

**Mark 076: ****Pro-Euthanasia**

Keins LP: 3300 Lincolns LP: 2700

Lincoln still had an advantage, despite Keins lead in lifepoints. "You know. I can not attack with other monsters." He said as Meklord Wisel(2500/2000) did not allow other monsters besides it to strike. "But I can use their effects against you. Heheh. I activate the Spell card: Guts of Steel! I can revive one of three Scrap monsters in my graveyard!" He chose Scrap Dragon, Scrap Golem and Atomic Scrap Dragon. ".." And as much of a gambit the Golem was, he rather faced that one then the synchro dragons. "Golem." He selected it, while the other two would be banished. "Ah you must be thinking, there is no way he can synchro summon with no tuner in his grave, right?" He activated the spell Foolish Burial, which let him bury any monster in his deck. "Wrong. With this I can put whatever Tuner I want in there. And I choose this one." He was about to pick Scrap Beast. "Not that one, agent Vincent." But a distorted voice stopped him. "What?" It was the fourth reaper that spoke, the one still wearing a mfask. "I told you I do not need help!"

"This is not a tip, this is a warning." He pointed a finger from under his cloak at Jason Castle. "That one is disrupting the flow of your mental patterns." Castle flinched. "h-how?' He was caught redhanded. "You.." Urizen turned on him. "You did that trick with the eyes again?" Lincoln glanced at what he thought was Scrap Beast, but it turned out to be a Scrap Goblin. "How sneaky." He quickly placed it back in his deck and discarded a proper beast card. "I just wanted him to win." Jason tried to justify his actions. "Tsk, a duelist should be able to win on his own power." Urizen cursed. "Like that matters right now!" Jason yelled back at him. "Enough you two. Jason i appreciate it, even if you did it to save your own skin. But it does not seem to be effective here." Kein waved the argument off. "Quite." And Lincoln continued his turn. "Golem revives Scrap Beast." From the scrapyard came the Beast(1600/1300). "And then I tune them both into Scrap Twin Dragon!" He called out the same two-headed dragon(3000/2200) Macbeth had removed earlier this day. "I destroy Scrubbed Raid to send both your cards back to your hand." The dragon burned down Lincolns continuous trap and Keins set trap and monster left the field as well. "And then I attack you." Wisel slashed Kein in the leg. "Gkh!"

Keins LP: 800

"The next hit will be _fatal_ I assume." Lithium snickered. "Only a matter of time." Dean added with a smirk. "Ggh. Not yet, this is not over yet." Kein drew a card. "I activate the effect of the AquaMirror Ritual spell card in my graveyard!" Kein returned the spell to his deck and added a Gishki ritual monster to his hand. "I then activate another Gishki AquaMirror from my hand!" He had drawn another apparently. "When will you learn, Kein?" But Wisel had the ability to negate spell cards once a turn, a laser cut right through Keins card. "You presume too much, Lincoln. I wanted this." But Kein sent this Mirror from his grave back into his deck as well. And he took another Evigishki card from his deck. "What good will those do?" Lincoln asked him. "This is what it will do. I activate Moray of Greed!" This spell could return two water monsters in his hand back to his deck, and he could draw three new cards. "I return both Evigishki ritual monsters." Kein sent back a Tetra Ogre and Soul Ogre, and drew three times after that.

"..Well, did you draw anything to save your life?" Lincoln threw another question his way. ".. I set one monster and two cards down." Apparently all he had gained was more shields. "I thought not." Lincoln drew again. "Scrap Chimera!" And summoned the most despised Scrap monster in his deck. "The Chimera revives a Scrap tuner." The lion hybrid brought back the Scrap Beast. "I tune both level 4 monsters to summon another Scrap Dragon." And a third dragon head(2800/2200) joined the dragon with two heads. "But you do not have anything to destroy." Urizen pointed out that Lincoln had neither cards left in his hand or on his field. "On the contrary, son of Gaunt. They can destroy themselves, since the destruction of both cards resolves at the same time." The three heads started spewing flames at their own bodies. "What in the world.." They were burned down, but the melted slag spread out across the floor. "I destroy your set monster and return your two set cards to your hand!" Keins field was cleared out as well.

"Are you ready to receive the final blow. Kein?" Lincoln was about to declare an attack. "I think that mask is limiting your vision, Lincoln. Take a look at my field?" Two creatures surfaced from the molten metal. "What!" Two Nimble Manta's(800/100) were summoned from the deck. "When you destroy a Nimble Manta, two more take its place." Lincoln could not believe it. "Ggh. I should have sent it back to your hand." He made a mistake, in his mind it simply sounded more logical to counter two spells with two heads, and one monster with one head. "Also you triggered my second trap, Treasure Map." Kein revealed a trap he put in his deck especially for Lincolns sake. "When this returns to my hand, I can activate it instead. I draw two cards and discard one." Kein did so, and discarded a Gishki Erial. "Who cares? Just die!" Meklord Wisel cut down one of the two Manta's. But since they were in defense mode, no life was lost. "I will get you next turn!" "Who said there will be a next turn?" Kein grinned. "Ritual Spell card: The Ritual of Destruction!"

"I told you!" But this spell was negated too by the Infinite Emperor. "Yes you told me. But again, it can only stop one spell every turn." Kein summoned a monster to his field, the Gishki Marker(1600/1200). "Gishki Marker can take one ritual spell from my grave and add it to my hand!" The octopus took out the Ritual of Destruction again. "Oh!" And Kein played it once more. "I sacrifice Gishki Marker on my field and the Djinn Release of Rituals in my hand." A level four octopus warrior and level 3 djinn were thrown into a dark kettle. "And I ritual summon, Garlandolf!" From the black mass came the destructive god himself(2500/1400). "And when he is summoned, he destroys all other monsters on the field, whose defense is lower or equal to its attackpoints!" Even at 2500 defense points, Wisel was only the Kings equal. "No!" So the machine was blown to pieces, along with the remaining Nimble Manta. "Looks like my king dethroned your Emperor. That is what Macbeth would want me to say." Garlandolf(2700/1400) also had gained 100 attackpoints for every monster that was destroyed. "And earlier you called Mac out on not 'naming' his attacks. Well, I shall oblige, Lincoln." Garlandolf charged dark energy. "Savage Perdition." And unleashed it upon the enemy.

Lincolns LP: 0

"Finally." Urizen was glad to see Lincoln go. "Maybe, maybe they can do this after all?" Jason started to feel more optimistic again. "This means nothing..!" Lincoln meanwhile was clearly less than pleased. "This was just a result of attrition! If Tobias had not dueled me first...Either way do not even thank that this will allow you take back Richards sould or anything like it. His lifeforce is.." But Lithium placed his hand on Lincolns shoulder. "Give it a _rest_, will you? You're done. They do not need to hear more from you." He pushed him aside. "Frankly, I am glad one of us gets to take up the reins, _I _was geting tired of your yapping." The reaper activated his dueldisk. "_I _will go next. And honestly, I should have gone first." Lincolns expression showed that he was angered, but he did not dare speak up. "There _is_ a good one. You know your place." Lithium chuckled and turned to Kein. "What do you mean with that?" It sounded like Lincoln was not that popular in the Infinati ranks, and he wanted to know more about that. "I would not mind _telling _you, but it is not for you to know, Kein Schiver.." He shuffled his cards and drew six of them. "Only _we _can attain all knowledge."

Keins LP: 800 Lithiums LP: 8000

"Be careful Schiver. This guy plays one turn kill decks with Exodia cards." Urizen explained to the Ace. "Does he now?" Lithum nodded. "But relax. I do not have the means of getting all five pieces yet. Since your friend has seen my last deck, I had to change it out." Lithium liked having the element of surprise. "_Now_ then, I activate Pot of Duality!" The reaper had to reveal three cards from the top of his deck; Sangan, Pot of Avarice and Monster Reincarnation. "I choose Sangan, _the rest _are sent back to my deck." He added the critter to his hand. "Then_ these _four are all hidden down!" He placed one monster and three traps down. "Your turn, _Ace_ of Spades!" He passed the turn over. "Draw!" Kein gained a trap card from his deck. _"What did he set, was it Sangan? In that case.." _Kein suddenly banished the Ritual of destruction spell card in his grave. "By removing this spell from play this turn, all monsters I kill are sent back to the top of your deck!" Garlandolf gathered dark energy again. "Savage Perdition!" And unloaded it on the set monster.

"Crystal Seer?" But it was not Sangan. It was a spellcaster(100/100). "The seer _sees_ the next two cards in my deck." Lithium looked at them: the Left Leg of The Forbidden One and Precious Cards from Beyond. "I send the Leg back and take the spell." This choice surprised Kein. _"Why did he not take the leg?"_ Either way, since Crystal Seer had a flip effect rather than a normal effect, it went off even as she was sent back to Lithiums deck. "I set a card and end my turn." Kein was worried, he had to have a reason for rejecting an Exodia piece. "You can not _see_ it yet can you? The reaper's so very close by." Lithium started his turn and drew the Seer from the top of his deck. "Good Goblin Housekeeping!" then he activated two traps in a chain. "I can draw one card, and one more card for each Goblin Housekeeping trap in my grave, I can draw again." By the time Lithium played the second trap, one was already in his cemetery. So he drew three cards in total. "Then i return one card in my hand to my deck." Lithium returned the Right Leg and Crystal Seer back into his deck. "Again?" Kein was at a loss for words. "You do not understand." Lithium played a spell, Reinforcement of the Army, to add a warrior to his hand from his deck; A Samsara Kaiser. "Now all are here."

"It begins." He flipped the third trap, Ultimate Offering. "Mysterious Puppeteer." He also normal summoned a robed puppeteer(1000/1500). "When a monster is normal summoned or flip summoned, that monster gives the player 500 lifepoints?" Urizen had not seen anyone use that card for a long time. "That way he can cancel out the lifepoint payments for Ultimate Offering." The continuous trap allowed Lithium to normal summon as often as he could pay 500 lifepoints. "Yes he starts to see." Lithium then played a continuous spell. "Precious Cards from the Beyond. I can draw two cards whenever a monster is tribute summoned with two tributes." He told them as he started normal summoning again. "I summon two Samsara Kaisers from my hand." A tiny caped knights(200/100) and three-eyed demon (1000/600) came to the field through Ultimate Offering. Lithium paid 1000 LP for it, but regained 1000 LP thanks to his Puppeteer. He could also add a second Samsara Kaiser to his hand thanks to Sangans searching effect. "And then I sacrifice both for the Red Ogre!"

The two were tributed for a crimson undead ogre(2800/2100). And due to his spell, Lithium started drawing. "Oh my god." And one of those two cards was discarded immediately. "I get it." Jason watched as The Red Ogre returned to Lithiums hand. As did Samsara Kaiser. "When a Samsara Kaiser is sacrificed, it comes back to a players hand. When Red Ogre is summoned, it can discard cards from the controllers hand to send cards on the field back." Two cards were discarded, Garlandolf but also red Ogre were repulsed. And Lithium started the combo again, Ultimate Offering allowed him to bring out the Samsara duo again, and they were tributed for Red Ogre again. "That is how he is going to draw his deck until it runs dry?" Urizen gasped. Lithium could draw two cards again with precious Cards from the Beyond. "There is nothing he can do!" Jason panicked. The Red Ogre then sent himself back to Lithiums hand again, the Kaisers returned as well. "He will draw twice as much as he needs to discard every time, he can keep this up forever!" Keins eyes widened, but he knew what had to be done. "There is one way.."

He placed his hand on his deck. "Huh?"

Keins LP: 0

"I surrender." Kein said solemnly. "What, you can not do that!" Lincoln protested. "There is no rule against it." Dean was less peeved. "You Aces sure like being underhanded." Lithium clapped his hands, he was impressed with this. "This would not have worked in a normal duel, i know. But against scum like you, I am not afraid to get dirty." This way at least his follow-up would not have to deal with a duelist who could keep declaring automatic victories. "Sorry to put you up against this." He looked at Urizen, who he assumed would be up next. "No.." But while Urizen was not about to stand down, Jason had had enough of this. "You can not win this, this is madness." And he suddenly turned tail and ran out the room. "Castle!" Urizen yelled after him. "Where does he think he is going?" Dean shook his head and quickly chased after him. "Well then. One link is removed from the gauntlet." Lincoln was entertained once more. "Then it will be three on three. Are you ready for this, son of Gaunt?" Urizen now had to defeat two duelists in a row. "Yes I am."

Meanwhile back in R-tech HQ, the unconscious body of Thursday still did not respond to any treatment. He was not sleeping, or even in a coma, yet the body was not dead either. It was a mystery to the doctors. "Wait, did you see that?" But at 21:35 AM, one doctor noticed a slight spike on the charts, a rise in mental activity. "That looks like a response to an external impulse. But what changed?" They did not know what could have caused, they had done nothing different yet. "No other part of his body reacted, it as as if something directly stimulated the brain." Whatever it was, now activity was back to zero. "Hey!" Just then another doctor rushed in. "Another analysis came back from the lab. We confirmed the presence of foreign matter on his clothes!" He was excited about this news. "Foreign how?" The head doctor asked. "As in, undocumented. There was dust on his coat that is not known to exist on this planet!"

(To be Continued in Mark 077: Racing with Reapers)

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Marker<p>

-  
>Moray of Greed<p>

-  
>Treasure Map<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Guts of Steel<br>Foolish Burial

**New Cards used by Lithium**  
>Crystal Seer<br>Mysterious Puppeteer  
>Sangan<br>Samsara Kaiser  
>Red Ogre<p>

-  
>Pot of Duality<br>Reinforcement of the Army  
>Precious Cards from Beyond<p>

-  
>Good Goblin Housekeeping<br>Ultimate Offering


	77. 077: Racing with Reapers

**Mark 077: ****Racing with Reapers**

One duelist who still had little to no idea what was going on, had not been given the chance to learn either. "Hey. I have not seen you around here before." That was until a voice of interest pierced the silence surrounding him in the waiting room. "Wha.." He looked up and saw a young blonde girl. "Hey there! You must be that Darkend guy Urizen brought along." She spoke as if this made him a celebrity or something. "Ehr. Yes? And you are?" He was not sure how to talk to her, as she seemed unlike most of the people he met here so far. "Oh right. I always forget that part. I am Sarah Rain. A duelist like you are." She extended a hand. "Oh. Well, nice to meet you then." He returned the favor and they shook hands. "But have you been in here for all this time?" She looked around the room., thinking the place looked really dull. "Oh.. well.. I could not really go back to my trailer. They told me it was now part of the investigation scene. They also told me I am safer here. Do not know how long I have to say though, I have work in the morning."

"No way. Wait that means you have been here, how long?" She was shocked. "It is not that bad. They let me use everything on this floor." There was a bar and a restroom, though he had no idea where to sleep now. "But all the cool stuff is upstairs! You have to see it. I will not be fair if you can't." She grabbed him by the hand and moved for the elevator. "But won't that get us intro trouble? They told me to stay here!" He did not mind, he he still felt like he had to object. "They can not complain too much, I am a chosen one after all." She smiled and they got into the lift. "Ah.. Wait what?"

"That. That is a long story." She tapped her chin. "I will tell you more later. I want to hear about you first. How did you meet Urizen for instance." She looked at him with big eyes, and he could not not answer her. "He came after me actually. Though can I ask you something, where is he right now?" He had not seen him since he got here. "Oh. Well he is out there, saving the world and stuff."

... Oh."

Lithiums LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

Kein lost. Urizen alone remained of their defense against the Reapers. "You said you had prepared for me. That is good, far more sporting than trying to _run_ away over me, heheh." Lithium's turn was ended when Kein declared his surrender. This was Urizens only shot at breaking his loop. "Even if you have a new deck, the basics are still the same. You draw until you get Exodia. I will just have to whittle your life down before that happens." Urizen started his turn and activated The Mausoleum of the Emperor. "I pay 1000 lifepoints for every tribute my next monster needs!" He paid 1000 twice, to summon a level 8 monster. "Belial, Marquis of Darkness!" A dark halo angel(2800/2400) in black armor flew down into the room. "Then I activate Trap Pause. Which seals all continuous effects and lets me draw a card for every two cards that were sealed." Ultimate Offering and Precious Cards from Beyond were petrified. "Clever son. You _knew_ that as soon as your battle phase starts, I could use Ultimate Offering again." Lithium chuckled. "He destroys your Mysterious Puppeteer!" Belial brought his sword down on the Puppeteer(1000/1500), crushing it with its immense size. "And now with your puppet master gone, you will have to pay lifepoints for your trap again."

Lithiums LP: 6200 Urizens LP: 6000

_Trap Pause, Normal Spell_

_Negate all your opponents face-up Continuous Spell or Trap Card effect(s), until the end phase. Then you draw 1 card for each 2 cards that had their effects negated this way._

"You _wounded_ death. _Well_ done." Lithium did not seem to mind his loss. "But unless you changed your _entire_ deck to stop mine, you will run out of tricks all too soon." Urizen just scowled at him and placed a card down. "Then show me what else you have got." He passed the turn to the Reaper duelist. "What else? Oh you misunderstand." Lithium paid 1000 lifepoints through the unpaused Ultimate Offering. "This is all you will _see_." He normal summoned two Samsara Kaisers(200/100). "What?" And then they were sacrificed for the official normal summon of the turn, Red Ogre(2800/2100). "_I _draw." through Precious Cards from Beyond, he could draw twice. "Heh." Then he normal summoned the Kaisers once more, paying another 1000 lifepoints. "He broke off the loop?" Kein was confused since now Lithium kept his Ogre on the field. "Oh!" But then he paid 500 lifepoints to tribute summon another Red Ogre(2800/2100). "Two of them?" And this one did use its effect, but on Belial. "I discard one card to send your _Marquis_ back."

Lithiums LP: 3700

Belial returned too Urizens hand. Meanwhile Lithium could draw another two new cards. "You are a fish in the desert. Who ever said _Exodia_ had to be the one to kill you?" Both Ogres charged towards the player with their spiked clubs. "You should stick to the deaths you know, Reaper!" Fortunately Urizen could play a quickplay spell to save himself. "Fires of Doomsday!" He summoned two doomsday tokens(0/0), to take the hits from the Ogre's clubs for him. "Ha. Good one." Lithium still did not let a setback get to him. He placed two cards down and ended his turn. "How much do you know about _death_ anyway? Did you lose anyone important to you yet? Or what about your _friend_ who is not with you at the moment?" Urizen narrowed his eyes. "Darkend was not a friend, but even then I would not let him fall into your clutches. He is safe. But I do not like what you are implying." He felt the reaper was talking about family too. "Don't you? Do you even know where they are, your father and your mother? Can you tell me?"

"My mother left Gaunt a long time ago. My father was overseas. Now I ask you, why do you speak as if you know all about me?" He drew a card and summoned the Stygian Street Patroller(1600/1000). "I already said that all knowledge belongs to Infinity. If you want to know more, just join those that fell before you." The Reaper clenched his fist. "No thanks. But to answer your first question. I do know someone that gave her life for me. For your twisted mind, I am sure that counts!" He then special summoned a large-mouthed demon from his hand. "Trap Eater! This card can only appear by destroying one trap on the field!" Trap Eater(1900/1600) ate Ultimate Offering. "Yes!" Kein cheered him on. "The Eater is a level 4 tuner, Street patrol is a level 4 monster. I use them both!" From Urizens extra deck came the synchro monster favored by the one he spoke of. "Infernity Doom Dragon." Hells death bringing dragon(3000/2400) appeared. "But you can only use his effect when you have no cards in your hand." Lincoln objected.

He knew Urizen could not get rid of the Belial in his hand yet. "So you know how the Infernities work too huh? It does not matter, as I play the Allure of Darkness." Urizen drew two cards. "I banish Belial from my hand, to pay for this spell." He could place the two cards down. "And Doomdragon destroys your monster!" The dragon released a breath of deadly vapors that sent one of the two red zombies to its grave. "You lose lifepoints equal to half of its attackpoints!" Lithium was burned by the vapor for 1400 points. "That was a move of her. Hope you liked it.." He waited. "Hope?" Lithium placed another two trap cards down, and switched the other Red Ogre to defense mode. "It appears you have forced _me_ to become the hunted. This is what hope has done for you. But it shall not last." He ended his turn.

Lithiums LP: 2300

"Good." Urizen drew and summoned a new monster, a Steelswarm Sharp(1850/0). "My hand is again empty." Urizen could now activate Doomdragons effect "I target your Ogre and destroy it!" If this worked, his Steelswarm could attack directly and win this duel. "You really did _hope _for this huh? Unfortunately _I_ have a little trap to stop it: Guard Mines!" Doomdragon was countered by mines that exploded around him. "The destroyer and its effect are terminated, and the one who ordered the destruction suffers 500 points of damage!" One mine blew up in front of Urizen, singing his arm. "Ggh." This reaper was turning the visuals real as well. "I activate my facedown spell card. First Step Towards Infestation." Steelswarm Sting flew back into his hand. "I can draw one card after returning one monster to my hand." He looked at it. "Then I banish Stygian Street Patrol from my grave to special summon the Steelswarm back." The bee demon could be special summoned as it had less than 2000 attackpoints. "That is all."

Urizens LP: 5500

"So it is." Lithium drew. "Good Goblin Housekeeping." And he activated the goblins drawing trap once more. "_Two_ of these are already in my cemetery, so three cards are drawn." Lithium then had to send one card in his hand back to the deck. "..I had fun, Urizen Artani. But this really is all you had to offer." He activated the spell card, The Warrior returning Alive. "Oh no." With it a warrior could be added back to the Reapers hand, and he selected the Mysterious Puppeteer. It(1000/1500) was immediately normal summoned. ".." And since that came back, Urizen was not surprised to see Lithium flip his last trap card, Ultimate Offering. Nor was he surprised to see Lithium restart the loop in its entirety as he summoned two Samsara Kaisers from his hand and sacrificed them both for a third Red Ogre(2800/2100). "Poor son of Gaunt, you can not stop a well oiled machine." Lincoln laughed. "Now you and Kein will be out of hairs forever!" Kein grimaced, but Urizens expression was not as bleak. "Heh." He discarded a card from his hand. "I activate the effect of Skull Meister! I can toss it into the grave to stop an effect that activates there!" A skull flew into the grave and ate up one of the two Kaisers, preventing it from returning to Lithiums hand. "Now your loop is broken!"

"Is it?" Lithium still was not even phased. "All _I _need to do is keep drawing monsters." Lithium drew two cards due to his continuous spell, one of which was discarded through Red Ogre's effect so he could send the other Red Ogre back to his hand. "Eventually I might even draw my _third_ Samsara Kaiser, eh?" Lithium summoned a second Crystal Seer(100/100) through Ultimate Offering, and the remaining Samsara Kaiser. He tributed both to bring out the returned Ogre, who then used his effect to send back his 'brother'. _"Damn it. I did not think that far." _Since Lithium drew two cards, he could always discard the spells or traps he drew and normal summon the monsters he drew. _"I can stop him. If I use my trap, Infestation Wave, but that will leave me defenseless."_ If Urizen ever activated it, the two Red Ogres could just attack him directly and end the duel through brute force. _"I can not even kill one of the Ogres, that wont stop the loop." _All that was on his side, was luck. He had to hope Lithium would get a bad draw.

"Hmm. You caught a _break_." And Lithium did on the second loop already. "I have no monsters left to sacrifice, except." he summoned the Head of Exodia(1000/1000). "Oh?" It had come to it that Lithium had to tribute part of the great Exodia to keep the loop going. _"Wait for it." _And Lithium retained that bad luck, as he went through two more Exodia pieces. He drew two at once, forcing him to discard one through the Ogre's effect even. _"Wait for it!"_ And after that bad turn, he drew two traps at once. "Tsk." Even the reaper started to get annoyed. With no monster left to sacrifice alongside the remaining Kaiser, he sacrificed one of his Ogres instead. "Now!" And just as the other returned to his hand, Urizen flipped his trap. "Infestation Wave! I send Steelswarm Needle back to my hand, to destroy your spell!" Precious Cards from Beyond was destroyed. "That card is the lynchpin of your combo, without it the rest becomes fruitless!" He just had to hope Lithium did not have copy of that spell in his hand. "Hmph. I can not believe this." Lincoln sounded disappointed. "Indeed. The statistics were _bent _for this kid." Lithium hissed. He sacrificed the Mysterious Puppeteer and Samsara Kaiser for his last Ogre. "_Oh well_." The Ogre's club slammed into the ground beneath Urizen.

Urizens LP: 2700 Lithiums LP: 1800

"But I am glad to say, Vincent, that this only postponed the death for one turn." Lithium activated the spell Dark factory of Mass Reproduction. "I add two pieces back to my hand." The spell worked on monsters that had no effect, just like the Left Leg and Right Arm he had thrown away earlier. "!" And then the Reaper played the spell card, A Feather of the Phoenix. "I discard Samsara Kaiser from my hand, to send Exodia the Forbidden One to the top of my deck." This meant that he would draw the head on his next turn. "Now them Urizen. I wonder if you have enough fortune left to defeat me in one move." Lithiums turn ended. This was going to be the last turn for one player. _"What?"_ And Urizen felt a familiar burning sensation strike his arm. _"That again? Fine."_ It was happening again, but in a situation like this, he would not complain. "Draw!" Except, all he gained was a trap card. _"NO! Why did it give me this?" _That was the last thing he needed. "..." The fourth reaper however looked up as Urizen made that draw, something felt off. _"A trap? Wait." _But Kein saw what he drew. "Use my set card, Artani!" Urizen heard him and looked down. "That one?" It was a spell his disk said, Kein had placed it on the field before he surrendered. "Very well. I activate this card!" And it was revealed to him.

_Boiling Wave, Normal Spell_

_This card can only be activated at the start of your main phase 1. Until your next turn, you and your opponent can play one Spell or Trap Cards from your hand each._

"Boiling Wave?" Lincoln had no memory of that card. "It was a newly designed spell R-tech created, it allowed me to ritual summon during my opponents turns." Kein explained. He never got to use it that way though. "Then I can use this trap right now: Escape from the Dark Dimension!" Urizen played a trap that released one dark monster from the banished zone. "I bring out Belial, Marquis of Darkness." He who had been removed by Allure of Darkness came back. "Then I normal summon Steelswarm Sting again!" Belial was joined by the swarm bee. "Belial and red Ogre have equal attack!" He sent the angel into a struggle to the death with Lithiums last monster. "You are wide open, reaper!" And then he sent the stinging demon to attack directly, shooting a needle straight into Lithiums leg. "Gah!" He fell to his knee. "Looks like you stumbled over the corpse of a previous victim, reaper!" Kein was pleased that he could still contribute. "Laugh it up while you can, Kein." Lincoln retorted. "I know what you want to say," Urizen was already looking beyond Lithium and stared at the masked face of their fourth ally. "Then show me who you really are, mystery man." He wanted to see what was behind that cloak and mask. "You will see." The distorted voice replied. "You will not like it."

Lithiums LP: 0

(To be Continued in Mark 078: Once Burned)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Belial, Marquis of Darkness<br>Trap Eater  
>Skull Meister<p>

_-  
>Trap Pause (+)<em>

_(+) Based on the Spell used by Jack Atlas in Yugioh 5Ds epiosde 141_

**New Cards set by Kein/Used by Urizen Artani**_  
>Boiling Wave<em>

**New Cards used by Lithium**  
>The Warrior returning Alive<br>Dark Factory of Mass Reproduction  
>A Feather of the Phoenix<p>

-  
>Jar of Greed<br>Guard Mines


	78. 078: Once Burned

**Mark 078: ****Once Burned**

"So. Do you even have a name?" Urizen wondered as Lithium stepped aside and let the masked one take over him. "Demistria." The Infinati answered. "Demistria? That sounds feminine." Kein remarked. "It does, does it not?" Demistria tossed the hood and cloak aside. "I stand not corrected." The revealed long red curls alone were enough to make that all too clear. Aside from that she wore a military outfit strangely, though it lacked anything that could tie the outfit to an existing regiment. "You are not taking the mask of? I thought the deal with you reapers was that you were the ones who did not need to wear them." She did not take hers off, and unlike Lincoln her face was entirely covered. "That may be because I am not a Reaper. By design I was sent to oversee this 'reaping' directly." She told him, still with her voice scrambled by electronics. "Ah. So unlike your 'agent Vincent', you are not demoted to this rank, is that it?" Kein smirked. "Yeah keep pushing, Kein." But Lincoln did not care about the insults, he was certain Urizen would lose.

Demistria's LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 2700

"Well. I do not want to give too much away, as it might lead you to think you have a way out of this." She said with a tone that made it impossible to tell whether or not she was mocking them. "Then let's do this." Urizen was ready. He had enough life left and Steelswarm Sting(1850/0) as well. "Young Artani." On the other hand, she had six whole cards to use against him. And he had no idea what kind of deck she would use. "The Infinati do not believe in luck or in the divine, we say everything fits a pattern. Even this very game. That way, all our victories are a mark of our own efforts. The reverse is also true. In the case of Reaper Lithium his defeat is simply attributed to his maltreatment of his many decks." Even with the mask, Lithium knew she was glaring at him right now. And he looked away. "Why are you telling me all this?" Urizen raised an eyebrow at her. Now all of the sudden she could talk his ears off? "Because there is no way for you to win this. I find that it is much easier to crush those who have no resistance left."

She then special summoned a monster from her hand, a Gilasaur(1400/400). "Hm?" Because it was special summoned, Urizen could revive a monster from his grave. "I will not fall for that." he could even bring out Infernity Doomdragon. However she was still one of 'them'. "Before I know it you will sick your meklord dogs on my synchro monster." He instead revived Belial, the Marquis of Darkness(2800/2400) again. "Yes, you still have a choice. But both results have been factored into this already." Demistria then normal summoned another dinosaur, the Tuner Jurrac Gallim(1200/0) _"Dinosaurs?" _By now her theme was quite obvious to Kein and Urizen. "Synchro summon." She tuned it and the Gillasaur together. One was a level 2 monster the other a level 3 monster. "Jurrac Velphito." A fiery raptor appeared from a sea of flames, Velphito(2600/2600)'s points were determined by the combined attacking power of its synchro materials. "Your Steelswarm will die now." Velphito tore through the demon bee with its talons. "Oh yeah?"

Urizens LP: 1950

"Well you would know then that when Steelswarm Sting is destroyed, one synchro monster will be destroyed as well!" The Steelswarms stinger released one last poisonous barb, which hooked itself into Velphito. "You chose the worst kind of monster to attack me!" The poison did Velphito in. "Skiel." Yet as it died, its body burned up. "..Infinity." And from the fiery remains a new entity was born. "Oh no. When a monster is destroyed." Urizen had been forced to set up for the summon of a Meklord after all. From Demistria's hand came a monstrosity of blue metal, the same one Dean had used against Ada. "Wait, why am I worried?" Urizen said to himself. This machine was no match for his Marquis. And he felt even more relieved when she went to her second main phase. However before she ended her turn, she played a spell card. "Infinite Impact." And suddenly Infernity Doomdragon(3000/2400) was revived to his side of the field. "What the?" And Skiel absorbed it(5200/2200) immediately. "But you can not attack me yet!"

_Infinite Impact, Normal Spell  
>Select and special summon 1 monster from the opponents graveyard to his side of the field, regardless of the summoning requirements.<br>Monsters you control with an ATK lower than or equal to the summoned monster's ATK must attack during the next standby phase._

"I did not lie, Artani." She replied calmly. "Wait. No." And he then saw the fineprint on her spell cards text. "I am afraid so. I sacrifice the equipment on Skiel, which again makes it weaker than your Marquis and lets attack you directly." The aerial machine emperor(2200/2200) converted the absorbed Doomdragon into energy, which it charged its cannon with. "No.." And with one shot, his life was cast into oblivion. "No damn it, no!" As much as he yelled, he could not deny it. He had lost. "Do not blame yourself. You did all with what you had. The odds were simply against you." The holograms of all monsters faded, except for Skiels. "Now then." Lincoln awaited what would come next with malicious glee. "Let it.." Lithium was only midly enthused. "All end." Light shot out of Skiels core, and three beams tore through the room, ripping right into the hearts of Kein, Urizen and Macbeth. "Gghk." They fell to their knees, their very life was being sucked out of them. "Thank you Kein. It was fun seeing you fail miserably one last time." The ex-ace laughed out loud. "Ggrh.".

"NO!"

"No?" Something happened to the light, Demistria saw it go from brilliant blue to an erratic red. "The streams, are contaminated?" She looked at Urizen, the one seemingly fought back by shouting at the damn thing. But there was more to it than that. "Is that not." Lithium spotted a red glow on the duelists wrist. "But that is impossible! All codes were accounted for!" Lincoln saw it, and refused to accept it. "So this is how.. he manipulated his own future intervals." Demistria reached for her own wrist, before she turned her dueldisk off. Meklord Skiel disappeared and so did the energy that was trying to kill the trio. "Why did you do that?" Lincoln was outraged. "Agent Vincent, you should know why. The design can not be contaminated with the code of the other world." She looked at Urizen, who was breathing heavily. "What does that mean?" He managed to ask her. "Your Infinity machines can not take the lives of a signer? Just like the earthbound immortals." Though in their case, at least the gods could take the souls of the signers once they defeated them. This was different. "!" Yet he already lost interest in that puzzle, when he saw a very similar light coming from another wrist in the room. "You? You're one too?" Was all he could say, before he collapsed. But not from the strain on his body.

"What happened to him?" Lincoln asked. "It's sleeping gas. They have been pouring_ it_ into the building a few minutes ago." Lithium said. "Their last resort. They started doing so when they noticed young Artani boy had _no_ chance anymore." Demistria looked at her hand. "It is breathed in through the pores in your skin even. Quite ingenious. Even our resistance is not enough." She tried to move her fingers, but they were sluggish and numb. "We are retreating. The agent chasing the Castle sibling knows how to find us. By now he should have apprehended the essence of that target." She said to her partners. "What, just because we can not kill the boy..." Lincoln objected again, but she cut him off. "We agreed to that before we started this duel. We can not claim one without the other, his mark from that world has tainted the whole gauntlet." She then touched the floor with her finger and drew a double circle on it. "Well they can not blame this on me." Lincoln fumed. Before the three Infinati disappeared into the symbols drawn.

"He is coming around." One soldier looked in his eyes. "Wh-what?' Urizen rose up. "Where, what happened?" He was still in the same room, he soon realized. "Do not move. You were hit by a sleeping agent. It will take a while before the antidote removes the effects." A medic holding a needle explained to him. "Sleeping agent?" He looked at his arm and saw where he had been injected. "It was a last resort." Kein spoke up, he was awake already as well. "We did not want our men to confront them directly, since the Infinati would just drain their lifeforce." Macbeth was back up by this time as well. "Ohh. My head. Did we at least get them? Did we win?" He felt the worst of them all. "The gas was used because we did not win." Urizen understood that now. "And it did not work on them anyway." Kein had to add. "I guess these people have built up a resistance to toxins like that." He shook his head. "We're lucky to be alive though." He said with a more positive tone. "Yeah. that is a good question. Why did they not kill us?" Macbeth asked noone in particular. "It seems the Infinati do not kill to begin with. Not physically at least. Every victim they make has been drained of their life." They just never harmed the body. "But then why did they not just do that to us?"

"..." Kein looked at Urizen. "If you are not going to say it. I will." Urizen cringed. "Tsk. Fine." He rolled up the sleeve of his coat. "It is not here right now, but this..is where it appeared." He pointed at his wrist. "Are you saying?" Macbeth gasped. "Yes. I am a signer, apparently. This mark has burned on my skin periodically ever since Malcean and Callisto left through that portal." He rolled back his sleeve. "Which one was it?" Macbeth knew there were five accounted for. "It looked like a long line to me, with a triangle at the end." Urizen did not know enough about the geoglyphs to give it a name, "The head." Kein did. "That is.. not what I expected. That mark belonged to Gaunts accomplice." He had seen it before on another arm. "You mean it was from the arm which was kept in that tube?" Urizen remembered how Malcean started the ritual by using a corpse's arm as well. "Then could it have been her?" And he remembered what she had done. "Callisto. She touched me, before she disappeared." She had touched his arm, that was not by accident.

"But.. she had one too." He changed the subject, to her. "Who? What?" Macbeth was lost again. "The woman with them, Demistria. She had a mark at the exact same spot." Though Urizen could not see what it was, there was nothing else that could make that spot on the skin glow like that. "Then a signer, is with the Infinati? Why?" They had said that the creator had divided his essence across six mortals, not five as they initially assumed. Now they could guess how the Infinati came to that conclusion. "She had red hair, and was quite tall. But that is about all we can say about her. Demistria did not take off her mask or speak with her actual voice. She was not a Reaper that wanted to show her true self to us. Maybe that is also why she could see when Jason was using his psychic abilities." Kein then came to another realization. "They must not want to kill the signers. In fact they seem intent on keeping them alive and on their side. They tried to arrange for Jason to inherit the mark of his father. Just to get his .. wait."

Only then did they remember the one everyone had come here for in the first place. "Where did Jason go?" Macbeth had not seen him leave, but nobody had seen him come back. "He ran off." Kein begrudginly admitted. "I was not a in a position to run away and chase after him. What about you, lieutenant?" He asked the commanding officer of the perimeter defense. "I regretfully have to inform you all that he did indeed manage to break through. With the power down, we were unable to follow his movements from afar. And of course, he could have used his abilities to hide his presence from us." The guards would not even be able to tell if he left the house at all. "That idiot. One of those reapers is hot on his trail. He was better off with us." Kein cursed. "Well whatever, he may get further than last time, but he can not get away. The only exits from this private park are owned by us." And hopefully the outer perimeter was not hit by a blackout. "But for now it looks like we lost more than we gained here. So let's break it up and return to base."

_"Damn."_ Jason thought to himself as he noticed just how fullproof this security was. _"Of course they had to have cameras. I could mess with their eyes and make them see just loops of the last few minutes. But..I do not know who else is watching with them." _And Jason did not know if they were in direct contact with the others that were also watching._ "Ugh. What am I even doing? Where am i supposed to go?" _Jason had no food or money with him, or even an ID. They took it all when they sent him here. He could fake people, making them think he had those objects. But he did not want to have to concentrate on using his powers like that all the time! _"That place looks safe at least."_ He considered just turning himself in again, and already took a step out of the bushes. "Gah!" Except he suddenly spotted a figure standing in the clearing and got second thoughts. _"Wait a second." _Except it was neither Infinati nor R-tech trooper, it was just a girl_. "What, how.." _The girl shook her head, as if she wanted to say no without wasting words. "Hey." Yet this only got Jason to come out of hiding and approach her. "Who are you?" There was something familiar about her, her black hair and dull clothes. How did a kid even get here? This area was..

"There you are."

Secure.. Up until now. "Ah!" He turned to his left and saw the blackhaired Reaper kneeling on the road. "You.." Behind him he could see a blue mechanical bird suck out the lives of the fence guards. "Do not act as if you care for their lot. You and them are not connected in any way." Dean chuckled. "Your threads just happened to intersect. Just like ours." He raised his hand and Meklord Emperor Skiel was dismissed, reappearing between his fingers in its card form. "Of course they sent one of you after me. Can not catch a break that easy." Jason sighed. "You rejected infinity in the first place. And then the code rejected you." Dean pointed at Jason. "But there is still much inside your mind, that the Infinati can use. So yes, the day you first asked for an audience with us, you damned your own destiny." Dean said coldly. "Well maybe I wanted this. Now my life does not depend on others.." Jason suddenly pulled a deck. "Oh, but you have no disk to duel with?" Dean was surprised. "I am a psychic duelist. I am always capable of dueling."

(To be Continued in Mark 079: Fall out of Grace)

**Cards used by Demistria**  
>Gilasaur<br>Jurrac Gallim  
>Jurrac Velphito<br>Meklord Emperor Skiel

_-  
>Infinite Impact<em>


	79. 079: Fall out of Grace

**Mark 079: Fall out of Grace**

"Ah of course, visualization. But do you not require a disk to shape the images first?" The Infinati was challenged to a duel, even though Jason had no dueldisk. "I trained myself with these cards. I managed to hide the cards from my 'babysitters'." Cameras could not be fooled by psychics, but they could not spot psychic manifestations either. "I can now just form the holograms myself, the codes for each image are printed into them remember? You could call it an advanced stage for a psychic duelist." He placed his stack of cards on a treestump and drawing five from them. "And probably one of the few remaining. I heard about what happened at the Dresden institute. Were you responsible or one of your other friends?" He had gone to that school before, he knew what kind of power they had. "Is that regret I detect? It was because of you and your sisters connection to the school, that all entities there had to be cut down." The reaper replied. "That did not answer my question... Whatever. You can not try to guilt-trip me now. It was you that led those people and also my father to his end, not me!"

Deans LP: 8000 Jasons LP: 8000

"So what is your name then anyway? That is the gimmick of you reapers, is it not?" Jason knew they liked to tell their victims their real name, before they killed them. "Dean shall suffice. It is the name of this face, like Lincoln is the name of agent Vincents old face." Dean drew six cards. He noticed Jason never bothered to take the first turn, as he likely wanted to attack first. "Old face?" Jason could guess what that meant, but did not consider it of importance. "Well then, make your move Dean." The reaper nodded and summoned a wooden barrel machine(400/400). "Model 96, Barrel Shinkuro is summoned." After that card he played the spell, Machine Duplication. "And then duplicated." Since Shinkuro had less than 500 attackpoints, two more could be special summoned from his deck in defense mode. "And then switched." Dean activated a second spell, Karakuri Cash Cache. "One Karakuri defends, and one Karakuri from the deck comes to my hand." The first Barrel took the same position as its duplicates. "Nanashick." And to his hand, Dean added a ninja machine. "Then one trap is set." This was all the reaper did in his turn.

"Bracing yourself already? Heh. Let me give you a taste of my powers. I summon Vylon Vanguard and equip him with Vylon Material!" An angel(1400/1000) with a gold and silver body descended from the clouds seemingly, and took out a spiked equipment tool that gave it(2000/1000) more power. "Your barrels positions are changed when they are attacked, so..." Vanguard pointed its weapon at the middle Barrel. "It attacks Shinkuro!" And his Vylon closed the distance immediately. "I am going to pass on testing your powers, for now." But Deans trap did not wait for the hit. "Karakuri Klock." A wooden clockhouse appeared and dropped a bomb underneath the Soldier. "Gah." Because Jason had attacked a defending Karakuri monster, all his attacking monsters were blown up by the bomb trap. "It looks like you can not read minds yet." Dean chuckled. "That was not my area of expertise." Jason could at least add a new Vylon spell card to his hand as a Vylon Material had been sent to the grave. He chose a Vylon Component in this case. And he could draw a card since Vylon Vanguard had been sent to the grave with 1 equip spell on it.

"I set a card and end my turn." He had little to defend himself with however. "You better make this attack count, Reaper." Nevertheless he felt like taunting the enemy. "You want your death to be swift?" Dean summoned a new Karakuri monster, a machine(0/1900) in a green kimono dress. "Komachi Model 224, Ninishi. If it is on my field, another Karakuri can be normal summoned this turn." Then Dean sacrificed her for a tribute summon. "Level 5 and Ninja model 7749, Nanashick." In her place came a new model of ninja machines, the red shadow Nanashick(2200/1800). "Your monster lets you draw for every equipment that was destroyed. Mine lets me draw for every defending 'toy' I control." Dean explained as he drew three cards, one for each Karakuri Barrel on his field. "Then all are switched to attacking position." The three Shinkuro's heads limbs popped up from their bodies. "I fear your death, will be slow." The symbol of infinity started to glow beneath the two duelists. "Direct attack." And the four machines struck.

Jasons LP: 4600

"Hmph." Yet each blow did not phase Jason. "Ho. You deflected them well." His lifepoints went down, but his body remained untouched. "Another psychic power?" Dean asked him, before he placed two cards down. "I do not just visualize my own monsters." Was all the info he gave his opponent. In reality Jason had learned to visualize a basic energy aura around himself. Though it only lasted as long as his lifeforce. "Anyway." Jason flipped the trap card Royal Decree. "!" It sealed all of their trap cards, except for the Decree itself. "I am not going to play games with you." Jason started his turn after that move. "trident Warrior! When he is normal summoned a level 3 monster can be special summoned!" From his hand Jason called the trident wielding warrior(1800/1000) and the Vylon Cube(800/800). "Synchro summon!" The tuner Vylon Cube combined its three stars with the Trident Warriors four, to form a level 7 Vylon monster. "Vylon Sigma." The white angeloid(1800/1000) took solid form. "I am going to settle this now."

"Thanks to Vylon Material, I have one spell already. Because Vylon Cube was a synchro material for a Light synchro monsters summon, I can take another from my deck." Jason equipped Sigma with the Vylon Component and a Mage Power, the latter gave 500 points to Sigma(3300/2500) for each spell and trap Jason had on his field. "When Sigma attacks, it can equip more spells to itself!" Sigma glared at the Karakurki Barrels. "It takes Twin Swords of Flashing Tryce from my deck!" The angeloid conjured up to sparkling swords, which weakened it(3300/3000) by 500 attackpoints, but allowed it to attack twice in one turn. "Thanks to the Component it can do piercing damage, so even if you switch your Barrel to defense mode!" One sword was about to cleave up the middle Shinkuro. "You will have to feel the pain!" And the Karakuri monster was instantly destroyed. "Wait." Yet that should not have happened. "I thought those Barrels could take at least one hit?" Deans life did not decrease as much as it should have either.

Deans LP: 6100

"You sealed traps, but not spells." Dean pointed to a spell he just activated. "Runaway Karakuri is a quickplay spell. It powers up by machines, yet cancels out their powers." The middle Shinkuro(1400/400) had been wiped out still, but Jason was aware of the math that followed. "Bah!" he attacked again, Sigma used its second sword to pierce the left barrel. Along its attack, another Mage Power was equipped to Sigma(6300/6000). "Those 1000 attackpoints saved your life." Jason watched how the dropping lifepoints of Dean stuck at 200. At the same time the left Karakuri Barrel was not destroyed and switched itself to defense mode. "Indeed. And you are out of tricks to show me." Jason had used his full visualization powers on that strike, but Dean was unphased as well. "Your field is full." And with four equip spells in effect, along with Royal Decree, Jason could play no more cards from his hand unlessl he drew a certain field spell.

Deans LP: 200

"My turn. I believe I shall stop your synchro, with one of mine." Dean tuned the right barrel together with the Ninja Nanashick. "Synchro summon, the Shogun model 00, Burei." Burei(2800/1900) tried to activate its ability as soon as it was summoned. However.. "I activate an effect from my hand!" An orange light beam pierced the shoguns body. "By banishing Herald of the Orange Light and a fairy card from my hand, I can destroy an monster and its effect!" The shogun dissolved into dust. "Ho. Is that a tie to your sister?" Dean knew Callisto liked to use that card in her duels as well. "Oh well, do not answer me. Because." Yet as a monster was destroyed by an effect, a new machine could take its place. "What the?" Dean special summoned the Meklord Emperor Skiel(2200/2200) from his hand. "Those things again." He rasped. "They are our most prized tools, Jason Castle. You forced me to use it." Skiel activated its effect, absorbing Vylon Sigma as it was a synchro monster. "Gh." Jason could only watch as his monster became part of the Emperor, luckily it did not inherit all the equip cards as well. Yet Skiel(4000/2200) had still become formidable. "Direct attack." The emperor then fired its cannon, and the blast knocked Jason off of the ground and into a tree. "Guah!"

Jasons LP: 600

"Urgh. Now that is more like it." Jason recovered slowly, and with a smile on his face. "That felt real, your trump card there. No wonder you want to bring it out so easily." He got up again and brushed off his clothes. "Only pain determines life." Dean answered before ending his turn. "Well I do not know about that. But I do know. I like it." Jason activated a spell card, Mind Control. "!" And suddenly Meklord Emperor Skiel came to his side of the field. "I like it enough to want one of my own." He laughed. "What? No, you can not do that." Dean still had the same low volume in his voice, yet his tone was clearly one of panic. "I am afraid I can. Oh i know Mind Control will not let me use this monster against you." Mind controlled cards could not attack or be tributed. "I just wanted to get my hands on it, as I defeat you. I summon Vylon Hept!" Another machine-like angel(1800/800) was summoned. "But, Shinkuro." Dean could still hide behind his Barrel model. "Yeah no. Vylon Hept here can special summon any Vylon monster equipped to another monster." Hept filled the area with light, and the light drew Vylon Sigma(1800/1000) out of Meklord Emperor Skiel(2200/2200). "No." And then Vylon Sigma struck, taking another Vylon Component from the deck to pierce the Barrel with. "No!"

Deans LP: 0

"Feh, pathetic." Jason spat as he watched Dean sink to the ground with a devastated look in his tired eyes. "I can not believe I was worried about duelists like you." He was happy with himself. "Hey wait wait." Until he noticed the card in his hand started to fade away, Skiel was becoming a blank card. _"Not sure what this is about. But if I can not have it." _So he quickly tore the card in half. "Ack!" And Dean reached for his heart, sensing a sharp pain building inside._ "What is this I am feeling now?" _And Jason's own senses were tingling, he could swear he heard a voice. _**"Twice.. failed.. know the price.."**_ Faint words were floating through the ether so to speak, where they came from he did not know. "No. I can still." Dean must have been the actual recipient as he was in full conversation mode._** "Meklord.. lost... Not part..design." **_And before he could string the words together, it stopped. Jason felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his head. "Who.. was that?" Dean had collapsed, he was awake but in a state of shock. "Whatever it was. I.."

However at that point, a dozen guards showed up. "Freeze!" And they pointed their guns at Jason. _"Great, I wasted my time.." _Jason cursed his own luck and raised his hands above his head. "Easy now..I am hero now."

..

"He was found and detained at perimiter post N5?" Ansoni received the report straight from the source. "That is good to hear. Yes I will tell Kein and the others when they arrive." He hung up. "So we're back were we started?" Nathan was asking if this was even good news. "We did gain something out of this. We now know where the sixth signer is. And we also have subject Dean back in custody. This time we are not taking any chances and will give him a heavy escort. Allthough we did lose two more men in the attack." He sighed. every mission seemed to have its losses. "Well I am sure that Dean fella can tell us how to save the souls they have all taken." Nathan tried to cheer him up. "I suppose. I just feel I could have handled this better." He shook his head. He did not want to think like this. "Either way, Gaunt is landing soon. He will take over the operations again when he gets back here. Regarding the Infinati, and Richard down below; we will at least have something to show for it all. We need that at this point."

"And this is the bar!" Sarah exclaimed proudly as he led the latest guest in the tower to the lowest floors. "Yeah I know. This is where I started out." Ian helpfully told her. "Oh, right." Sarah flinched and started rubbed her head. "I forgot where I wanted to go next. This place is so huge." She did not like to admit it, but she might need a map to cover a tour through this place. "Well I am tired now. So let's just take a break and get something to eat." He gestured towards the cantina area. "Good idea." She accepted and the two were about to move along. "Hey. Look out." When a small girl suddenly darted passed them, causing Ian to nearly trip over. "Whoa i gotcha!" Sarah caught him in time. "Geez. Kids need to look out." She fumed. "Kids? Do people take their children to work in a place like this?" Ian did not think that sounded right for the line of work they were in. "Huh? I don't know. This is a place where they make card games too. I have never seen one though.." Sarah would not be completely surprised to see it happen.

"...!" But something hit Ian all too soon. "No, it can not be." The glimpse he saw skipping along, it looked awfully familiar. "Wait. Little girl!" And he started running after her. "Huh, Ian?" Sarah pursued as well, confused that again people were running all over this place. "Wait. I need to.." The two stopped in front of a staircase, the girl was waiting for them with her back turned to them. "Ian, what is wrong?" Sarah did not know why he reacted this way. "I know it. I saw her before. But that is not possible." Back at the trailer park, this was the same kid that Urizen pointed out to him. "Excuse me. Could you tell me how you got here?" He tried to make his question sound as gentle as possible. Yet the girl did not answer him. "Are you here for safety reasons too? You were at the camp, and some bad people attacked it. So.." At that point the girl turned around. "You were there?" And she looked at him with the one eye not covered by her black hair. "Then you're not a stranger!" She said excitedly. "Heya. My name is Hel..en.. what is yours?"

(To be Continued in Mark 080: Daughter of Time)

**New Cards used by Jason castle**  
>Trident Warrior<br>Herald or Orange Light  
>Vylon Hept<p>

-  
>Mind Control<p>

**New Cards used by Dean**  
>Karakuri Ninja mdl 7749 Nanashick<br>Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 Ninishi  
>Oilman<p>

-  
>Machine Duplication<br>Karakurki Cash Cache  
>Runaway Karakuri<p> 


	80. 080: Daughter of Time

**Mark 080: Daughter of Time**

"So that did not take long." Urizen could say hello again to the guy who ran away from them just two hours ago. "What happened? Did you trip over a branch?" He of course was taking every chance he could get to laugh at Jasons expense. He was placed in an isolated cell within a very large and well fortified prisoners van. Urizen and the Aces took the same ride as that was quicker and they could need a few duelists for protection."You know what happened. I had to fight for my life." Dean was with them as well. Although sensibly the guards had made sure their two captives did not share the same room, or were anywhere near each other. "You only got yourself in trouble then. As you can see we survived our ordeal." Urizen said. "So I can tell. Though you do not sound too happy about it." Jason noticed a slight hint of annoyance in Artani's voice. "They only left us alive, because he had the mark." Kein did the explaining. "He what?" This was the first time Jason heard about it. "What, when did you.. how.. Why you?"

Urizen shrugged at all of his questions. "It is not as if I asked to get it. But now that I know the Reapers wont target me or anyone else with a mark, I can not complain." Jason was seething. "First I fail to inherit my fathers gift. And now you inherit someone else's while your father is not even dead yet." Urizen could tell that it was envy that did the talking here. "Whatever. I hope you are ready for a nice long interrogation. Although we have an even better man for that now." Kein glared at Dean who started muttering to himself. "Oh? He is talking now?." The Ace of Spades took a seat and sat in front of him. "Were you paying attention kid?" Kein snapped his finger in front of him. But Dean just kept on rambling about order, chaos and wanting to see a teacher "Tsk. I would not even have gotten captured had that little girl not distracted me." Jason in the mean time was just complaining. "A Girl? What girl?" Urizen suddenly asked him. "Huh?" Jason did not understand why Urizen would show interest in that. "Jason. What.. Girl?'

"Helen? That's a nice name!" Sarah waved at the girl. "Mine is Sarah, and this is Ian." She introduced everyone to each other with enthusiasm. "Oh. Those are nice names too." Helen giggled. "But. Why are you here, Helen? Where are your mother and father?" Ian said as he still wondered why a child was running loose in a place like this. "I don't know. People brought me here, nice people. They told me mommy and daddy would come soon. I had to wait here and they would come soon." Ian cringed, as this conversation got awkward after that sentence. "Oh. I see." Sarahs expression changed too. The two of them could only assume the worst had happened to the parents, if they were not here at all. "I know who can help on this." Sarah forced herself to sound upbeat again. "Just follow me, we're going to ask the big man in charge." She could only hope for the best, that Ansoni had some good news about the people at the camp. "Yay!" The two srpinted away, and Ian followed. He made one unusual observation though, as he walked after them. _"Her arm..how did that happen to her?" _He noticed that Helen never used her left arm at all, it was carried in a sling as if it was broken. _"And the way Urizen spoke about her."_ Ian could not shake the bad feeling he had about this kid.

**...**

"So what exactly are we looking at here?" Nathan held a tube of grey sand. "A foreign element, this dust was traced from the patients coat. However analysis failed to match this matter with any known particle on the elemental scale. Even microscopic and molecular research has failed to extract any 'earthly' qualities from it." That was the head scientists full report to Ansoni. "That confirms my theory then." Helion had asked for a trace like that, for a reason. "Oh?" Nathan was the only one in the room who had not yet reached a conclusion. "Richard has been to a place where elements such as these exist in large quantities, a place where nothing of this world exists." Nathan blinked and it hit him. "Another world, the world of the immortals!" The same dimension that Callisto and Malcean had gone off too. "Wherever it came from, the readings were off the charts." The scientist pulled out a radiation meter. "This dust has soaked up a lot of energy." Nothing else there made the device crackle as much as the vial did. "It is kind of exciting really, Jim even wanted it to be named after him as he first found it. But I told him we were not at that stage yet." Ansoni nodded. "Yes, we can not let the world of science know just yet. And what about the subject, has he come around yet?"

Whatever the answer was to that question, it was forced aside by an intrusion. "Wooow, biiiig." A young girls voice echoed across the halls of the control room. "What the.." Ansoni, Nathan and the scientist turned and looked at the three visitors. "Ms. Rain, what is.." Ansoni expected them to return, just not with a little kid along for the ride. "Oh. Hello, my name is Helen!" The kid waved cheerfully. "Since when did we allow children here?" The scientist was not pleased with this development. "Is this place not supposed to make trading cards?" Nathan countered. "That's just a cover. The creation facilities are elsewhere." The man snapped back. "Oh. We found her down below. She was apparently around the place that 'Lithium' visited. And she was brought here for safety." Ian told them, trying to dance around the subject of what Lithium was doing there. "She was? I fwas not told of that." Ansoni could believe it though, as he had not felt he had been overseeing everything properly lately. "Wait. What is that noise?"

However the sound that first could only be heard by those around it, was now loud enough to enter the hearing range of Sarah and Ian too. "The reader?" The scientist took the thing out again. "Something is giving off a tremendous amount of energy. In this.." He pointed it at the vial again. "No. That is still." And then he aimed it to his left. "This is..it is her?" The readings came from the girl. "Huh? Radiation, what?" And while Sarah and Ian just stood there confused by the device, Helen started to laugh. "Oh that looks cute, can I have it?" She asked, sounding as sweet as a human could possible sound. "What are you?" The scientist just yelled back at her. "That's not very nice." Helen responded, the harshness with which she spoke was a complete reversal of her attitude this far. "Guah!" And before he knew what hit him, the man had been knocked to the floor and the reader slipped out of his hands. "Now then." The girl picked it up and stared at it. Then she looked at Ansoni and smiled. "Can you tell me where Thursday is? Pleeeeaaase?"

"You came for Thursday? Why?" Everyone took a step back and Ansoni brought his questions carefully. "Now why is everyone so scared? I just want take him back home. Can't you just tell me where he is?" She was back to talking all cutesy-like. But now the illusion of innocense was gone. "I do not know who or what you are. But I can not tell you, or give him to you." Ansoni even wondered if this girl was controlled by someone else. Despite the factthat all earthbounds should have been sealed by now. "Well that's bad. We both want what the other does not. If only there were a way." Helen pondered for a second and than snapped her fingers. "I know!" A stack of familiar shapes appeared in her hand. "From thin air?" Ian gasped as she saw cards appear like that, forty of them. "Let's play that game you and nanny used to play!" She shuffled the cards and placed it in front of her. The cards did not fall to the floor. "It is..floating?" Ian was starting to believe he was going nuts. "A duel? Very well." Ansoni took out his dueldisk and cards.

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Helens LP: 8000

"Okay then. If I win, I get to see Thursday. if you win..ooooh." The girl scratched the side of her head. "Oh! If you win, I will take you to someone you want to see! Okay?" Everyone just stared at her. "Okay." Ansoni accepted and drew his cards. "Yay!" She laughed again and drew her cards as well. "Oh. This hand is awesome! It is the best hand ever!" The girl looked at each of the six cards, and got giddy with anticipation. "I want.. or this.. Or.." But then her eye narrowed and so did her tone. "No not good at all. Do not like it." She activated Card Destruction, forcing her and him to discard their hands. _"Tsk. Can't she make up her mind?"_ Nathan thought. He did not feel like saying it out loud. "Oh this is much better." She placed one monster down on the field. "I set a card and then it is your turn!" Helen said happily. "Okay." Ansoni drew his card. "_Of course it was convenient for her that she made me discard those cards." _The duelist lamented the fact that he had to throw away two Iron Cores of Koa'ki Meiru already.

"I discard a Koa'ki Meiru Guardian from my hand, to activate the effect of an iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru in the grave. I can add it to my hand." He reclaimed one core. "Then I summon the Rockstone Warrior." However he summoned a rockmonster from outside the core type. "It attacks your facedown." A monster made from rocks stomped over to Helens field and crushed the set card, a turtle hiding in a pyramid(1200/1400). "Pyramid Turtle? Then she runs zombies?" Sarah and every duelist like her knew only one decktype ran that monster. "Oh no. But do not worry, mr. turtle. Your death will bring life to a new friend!" Helen took the loss well and used the turtle's ability to special summon a zombie with average defenses. "Zombie Master!" In its place came the undead necromancer(1800/0) "Hm. Then I shall set a card and pass the turn back to you." Ansoni had an idea of what was coming. He saw what she discarded through Card Destruction; several normal spells and traps and two monsters called Skull Servant. "My turn, my turn!"

"Zombie Master discards a card and revives a zombie like him!" She discarded a zombie, but immediately revived it. "The Lady in Wight!" The skeleton of a noblewoman(0/2200) appeared, seated in a cobweb-filled chair. "Now zombies can not be harmed by magic or tricks, and can not ever die!" Now her theme was clear. "Skull Servants? I have not seen those in forever." Ian was stunned. But not as stunned as the ones that took Helen as a serious threat. "Oh and this trap too." She flipped her facedown card, Chain Destruction. "Now two more Ladies in Wight are dead." The trap discarded every copy of a summoned monster to the grave. "Here it comes then." And as feared, the King of the deck was normal summoned next. "King of Skull Servants!" What showed up was the Wight lord(4000/0) whose power was determined for every Skull Servant in the cemetery. "Madam Wight counts as a Skull Servant too, hee." She entered battle. "Boom!" The King howled out loud, and broke down Rockstone Warrior into debris.

"Hey why did you not lose any life?" The girl complained and stomped her foot. "Rockstone nullifies all damage when it dies. Also it leaves behind two tokens." Two of the broken down rocks remained as smaller warriors(0/0). "Awww. Cuute." Zombie Master blew one of them into dust. "Guess I end my turn." She said with a flourish. "Okay. I think I have a hang of your playstyle now. I summon Powerhand!" Ansoni called out his first core monster, a drilling machine(2100/1600). "Then I activate the spell Core Compression. Because I have an Iron Core in my hand, I can discard a Koa'ki Meiru monster and draw two new cards." Ansoni discarded a Koa'ki Meiru Prototype and drew twice. "I banish Prototype and Guardian from my cemetery to special summon, Gaia Plate." Two rock creatures were removed to form one Earth Giant(2800/1000). "This may hurt a little." He initiated battle. "Powerhand attacks Zombie Master and the Eath Giant attacks the Lady in Wight!" Helens two zombies were smashed down. "Owie.."

Helens LP: 7700

"But you did make my monster stronger." Helen remained optimistic, as the King(5000/0) was further boosted with the death of the third Lady Wight. "Hmm. I end my turn. I also have to show you a trap in my hand to keep Powerhand on the field." He showed her a card called Koa'ki Meiru Shield "Okay. Then I attack!" Which she appeared to not notice, as she sent the King right after Gaia. "But my Plated monster halves the attackpoints of all monsters it does battle with!" The Kings strength was cut in half, and he(2500/0) smashed head first into the rocksolid skin of the Earth Giant. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" She cried out as her monster started to die. "But wait. I can do this!" By banishing one of the Skull Servants in her cemetery, the King(4000/0) regenerated its lost bones. "Tsk. It can that four more times." Nathan figured this was why Ansoni never bothered to attack it in his turns. "There was more to it than that, was there Helen?" And Ansoni knew she was not as naive as she acted. "Oh okay, you got me. I wanted to use this." She activated a monster effect. "Wightmare will free a servant from the other dimension at the cost of its own life."

Helens LP: 7400

Wightmare was discarded and the banished Skull Servant was buried back in the grave as well. "Wightmare counts as a Skull Servant too." Both these 'burials' powered up the mighty King(6000/0) beyond Gaia's capabilities. "Then I set a card again, and not set another." A continuous spell was activated, Pride of the Weak. "Now I can draw two cards whenever a level 1 monster destroys another monster!" She then ended her turn. _"...This is a trap. But I can not hold back, even against someone that looks like her."_

"So we are both seeing the same girl huh?" Urizen heard Jasons story, Jason heard his. He had no idea what it all added up to. "Are you sure you are not seeing things?" Macbeth was just worried they were both going insane. He would not blame them. "She looked so familiar too." Jason had seen the color scheme before, right down to the color of her eye. "Ah!" And when he thought back hard enough, he could bring up the right memory. "That is it! But that.." The resemblance of both in his mind was uncanny. "What, what?" Urizen was fed up with this mystery. "That girl. I think I know her name. It is Helen."

"That is the name Callisto gave her.. her doll."

(To be Continued in Mark 081: Only a Dolls House)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Rockstone Warrior<br>Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand

-  
>Core Compression<p>

**Cards used by Helen**  
>Skull Servant<br>Pyramid Turtle  
>Zombie Master<br>The Lady in Wight  
>King of the Skull Servants<br>Wightmare

-  
>Card Destruction<br>Pride of the Weak

-  
>Chain Destruction<p> 


	81. 081: Only a Dolls House

**Mark 081: Only a Dolls House**

"We have landed sir." A steward informed Gaunt Artani, who had been in a flight back to the country for the past few hours. "So I noticed." He could now use his phone again, however the first person he tried to call did not answer. _"Strange, it is not like Ansoni to put this line on hold."_ He figured something was up there, but had no idea what it could be. "Yes it is me." He reached out to someone else instead. "I am aware of that Helion. But it was you who refused to have guards from my sector. I warned you that these Infinati will not be slowed down by the governments finest." He was calling the minister himself, the adoptive father of Ansoni. "Yes I advice you and the cabinet to stay where you are. No safe zone will be able to keep them out." Gaunt said this, though he himself wondered why he or any member of the government house had not been attacked yet. "Trust me. The less you know, the better of you are." He shut off the phone and tried R-tech HQ again. _"What are the Infinati waiting for? They got to everyone else.."_

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Helens LP: 7400

"Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand has a special effect." Ansoni clarified what was about to happen, as Powerhand(2100/1600) geared up its drills. "During his attacks, it negates all effects of a dark monster that apply on the field." The core machine fired off a drill missile which plowed through the King of Skull Servants(0/0), whose powers were sealed. "Oh no! But wait.." However the hole in the wight King healed up quickly. "His effects in the grave can still be used." Helen had banished another Skull Servant to revive the King(5000/0). "Yes. But now it is weak enough." Gaia Plate(2800/1000) threw a bunch of rocks from its body at Helens monster. Its effect halved the attackpoints of it(2500/0). "Is not!" However she flipped her trap card, Next to be Lost. "Ergh?" She could discard a monster from her deck, if it had the same name as the one she controlled. "I discard another King of Skull Servants!" Dead Wightkings also powered her monster up, so now even with its power halved (3000 atk), it could repel the stone blocks, and send them back to Gaia Plate. "Pride of the Weak activates!" Thanks to her spell, Helen could add two new cards to her empty hand. "I feared as much. I will reveal Koa'ki Meiru Barrier in my hand again, to keep Powerhand on the field." He ended his turn doing that.

Ansoni's LP: 7800 Helens LP: 5300

"Okay. I can attack... But if I attack your monster, mine will be powerless. Hmm what to do, what to do." Helen looked over the cards in her hand. "Maybe this one?" She summoned the Mystic Piper(0/0). "I sacrifice it to draw a card!" The piper played its flute song and drew a Skull Servant from Helens deck. "Yay. Because I drew a level 1 monster, I can draw again!" She gained a spell. "That card?" Ansoni had seen it before, which added to his theory. "Oh! And this one!" Meanwhile the girl played another continuous spell, Pyramid of Wonders. It powered up the King(6200/0) even more. "And now this one, Opticamouflage Armor!" She equipped the King with an armor that made it invisible. "Level1 monsters can attack directly!" Sarah cried out. Just as Ansoni took a hit in the back from his unseen foe. "Argh!" His uniform was torn and blood seeped out. "What just happened?" Ian saw the injury, which should have been impossible to inflict. "She can turn the visuals into real life threats." Nathan knew this was just like with Thursday.

Ansoni's LP: 1600

"You mentioned a nanny, Helen. Tell me, was she a duelist too? Did she use level 1 monsters too?" He was sure by now, who Helen referred to. "Oh I am not telling." Yet she did not play along. "Now keep playing! Don't interrupt the fun with talky bits!" She laughed. "If that is how you want it.. My turn!" Ansoni's deck now gave him a spell card. "I equip Core Blaster to Powerhand." Powerhand took out a futuristic bazooka. "If a Koa'ki Meiru monster uses it in a fight with a dark or light-type monster, it will be destroyed right away!" His monster locked on to the King and fired a shot of energy from the Buster gun. "Bzzzt! Wrong!" But the shot impacted against the walls of the Pyramid she had activated. "Pyramid of Wonders can take the hit for any zombie, heehee." Her continuous spell shattered. "But it does not stop the attack itself." Ansoni retorted, as Powerhands shot continued. The core monsters effect then became applicable and it weakened the King(0/0) a second time. Of course this 'death' it(4000/0) recovered from instantly too.

Helens LP: 3200

Helen placed a card down and then pointed at Ansoni. "Now I will attack directly again and.." But she did a double-take when she saw her King(5000/0) no longer had its camouflage armor equipped. "Oh, whoops." While the King revived itself, the spell could not be revived along with it. "Oh. Oh.." Now she had to attack Powerhand, even though it still had Core Blaster on hand. "Foolish Burial! I bury Mezuki!" Helen sent a horse zombie from her deck to the grave with a spell. "Then I use its power!" Mezuki could be banished, to resurrect another zombie in the ground. "I special summon the Lady in Wight!" Madam Wight(0/2100) was brought back. "But that means Core Blaster can't affect the Skull king anymore." Nathan knew by now that The Lady made lowlevel zombies immune to spells and traps. "Don't worry, monster effects still work." Sarah was sure Powerhand would never die, as long as it could negate the Kings effects. "I activate the spell, Smashing Ground!" But that certainty flew out the window fast.

"Spiritual Earth Art!" Fortunately Ansoni could use his trap to save himself. "I sacrifice Powerhand and special summon Koa'ki Meiru Boulder from my grave!" He had discarded the Boulder core monster(1200/1000) earlier when she played Card Destruction. "Awww." Helen had to settle for killing it in battle, even though it had been called out in defense mode. "When Boulder is destroyed, another Koa'ki Meiru monster will be summoned." Ansoni summoned Koa'ki Meiru Urnight(2000/1500) from his deck. "That is okay. I can draw again." Pride of the Weak gave Helen another two cards, as her level 1 monster had killed something again. "I place one monster card down and end my turn." Ansoni then started his. "By revealing an Iron Core in my hand, Urnight can special summon a core monster." Urnight looked at the Core spell in Ansoni's hand and used its power to call forth a Koa'ki Meiru Tornado(1500/1200) from his deck. "Tornado can send an Iron Core in my hand back to the top of the deck, to destroy all special summoned monsters!" The Tornado grew in size and swept away both the Wight mistress and Wight ruler who had both been called back from the dead. "I attack!" Tornado destroyed her set, another Skull Servant(300/200) and Urnight attacked her directly.

Helens LP: 1200

"I can not believe it." At that time people barged into the control room. "What the..Jason?" Nathan saw the aces, Urizen but also Jason. "Guys, why did you bring him here?" He was not handcuffed or anything either. "Because he had something to tell us all. But.." Urizen saw her too now. "It is her." There was the girl he could have sworn had been a figment of his imagination, dueling even. "Helen!" Jason yelled at her. "Yes?" And as it was the name she used for herself too, she responded to it. "Then it is you. But how.." This girl was not supposed to exist. "What is going on?" Ian yelled, desperate to make some sense of all this. "Tell them what you told us." Kein ordered Jason. "Yeah I like this story too!" Helen skipped up and down. "..She even sounds the same." Jason shook his head. "She should not be real. My sister had a doll that looked just like her."

He took a deep breath and continued at a calmer pace. "It was when Callisto was still young and had only just begun to see visions of the future. She started to lose her mind, so we sent for a special therapist. That person tried to show her what was real and what was not, and she started by giving her objects to cherish. The first thing would be a ragdoll with long black hair." Jason glared at Helen. "When my sister found out what this treatment was based on, she knew what kind of name to give the doll: Helen Keller." It was the story of the girl who had become deaf and blind, yet had learned to adapt to her illness. "But here is where it gets sad." Helen sighed as she rubbed her left arm. "... Yes. The therapy did not work, her visions only got worse. Eventually she tore up everything he had been given by that woman, she called it all fake. Then she sewed what was left back together, and called that what was real. After that the Dresden academy became our only hope." But that did not work out either. "That was when I stopped being Helen Keller, and just became Helen." The girl sounded cheery once again. "But that does not explain how you are here, Helen. Where did you come from, who sent you?" Urizen demanded to know more. "Was it her, was it Callisto!"

"Ehh, yes? When was it not her?"

Everyone's eyes widened. "Then it is true, she is..still alive." Kein knew it was too much to hope that the Castles had not survived a trip to wherever they were going. "She is learning. Teaching herself what is real and what is fake. She made me, but even I was not real enough yet." Helen looked back to Ansoni. "She made the one that gave you the name Thursday, but he still had connections to the fake world." Macbeth flinched. "What do you mean, she? Richard is a human like us!" He did not like what the kid was implying. "No. Thursday is just a hiccup. That is what she said. But she wants him back, we had to get some things for her. She can not begin until we return." Ansoni placed a card down. He also discarded another Iron Core of the Koa'ki Meiru to the grave to keep Urnight on the field. "The gods is it? She was missing two and sent you to get them back." At the same time he equipped Tornado with the Core Blaster. Core Blaster returned to Ansoni's hand because the spell was programmed to do that whenever its wielder left the field.

"But I defeated Thursday, so one is mine, right?" Nathen eyed the Cusillu card on the rooms table nervously. "..Maybe." Helen shrugged and started her turn. "One for One. I discard a card and summon a level 1 monster." Helen discarded another Wightmare and brought out the third King of Skull Servants(7000/0) from her deck. "I am sorry." She also activated an equipment card, Phalanx Pike. Which added 900 attackpoints to the King of Servants(8800/0) for each king in the grave as well. "Can I win now?" The King targeted Urnight, the monster without the Core Blaster. "I am sorry too. But it looks like you never looked closely at the trap I showed you." Ansoni activated Koa'ki Meiru Shield. "I have two iron Cores in my graveyard! I can destroy your attacking monster in this case!" The King crashed into a forcefield and the impact sent its bones all over the room. "Ahhh.. I did forget that." The girl slapped her forehead. "Get her, get her now!" Urizen shouted at Ansoni to end this game while he could. "Nah that is okay." Helen dismissed her cards, she had given up. "I knew you had to be strong. You were the one that defeated Malcean. Guess I will have to leave without Thursday." Ansoni deactivated his dueldisk too. "Then you will honor your promise?"

Helens LP: 0

"Of course! I am a good girl!" She had promised to answer his question, and so she would. "Where is she now? Callisto I mean. Is she in the other world?" He looked her in the eye. Helen tilted her head. "Well she is where everything is real. You want to see her? I do not know if you can go where she is now. But I could ask her if she wants to come to you. But she does not know if you are real yet." Her head bobbed from left to right as she spoke. "I think you are though, as real as I am at least." The girl laughed. "I want to know something too." Urizen approached her. "if she made you then, why did I see you before Callisto entered the other world?" Urizen was sure Helen had followed her even before Battle Garden took place. "And was she the one that gave me this mark? Why, why me?" Helen gave him one quick sympathetic look. "Oh. You still go through the days the old way. I did not mean to confuse you, I was just steering you in the right direction from time to time. And the mark.. Callisto did not want to do that, she had to. The choice was made before she found the right place, because you helped defeat Malcean too." Helen looked around the room. "By the way, sorry about your friend." She snapped her finger and the head scientist suddenly woke up. "Who-what how?"

He had not just been knocked out, but put to sleep. _"Just like me." _Jason saw it, Helen had psychic powers too. "But I am sorry for what I am about to do." She suddenly became timid, looking away and held her arm behind her back. "What are you.." And then she jumped up on top of the table and snatched the Cusillu card away. "Hey!" Nathan yelled at her. "I am not that good a girl. I lied when you asked me if this was yours." She let the card disappear into her black hair. "Thursday would have won the duel against you, had it gone on. Callisto saw that, she saw the future as it should have been. And because of that, it was decided that he rightfully claimed Cusillu after all." Then suddenly a the girl started to sink into the table as if it was made of quicksand. "She will tell you, where to meet her. But until then, bye bye!" Helen waved them goodbye. "Not so fast!" Kein reached out and grabbed her by her other arm. "I can not let you.." Yet she turned her head and for a brief second Kein stared right into her left eye. Or rather into a gaping black hole where here eye was supposed to be. "Gyah!" And then she pushed him into the air with a simple kinetic burst. Helen was gone._ "My sister, made that. How much power does she have now?" _Jason shuddered to think about it.

"There, again! His brain is becoming active I am telling you!" One of Richards medics pointed at the monitors. "You may be right. We should call this in. We may need to improve security if.." This last hour Thursday's body became increasingly 'alive' again. Until. "Lincoln!" He jumped right up from his bed, startling both doctors. "He is awake, call in now!" One ran off, while the other carefully came near him. "Ehrm. Good morning sir. Is there anything I can do for you?" Richard turned around and gave him a vacant gaze before he inspected the rest of the room. "Lincoln..why did I.. why did I scream out his name?"

(To be Continued in Mark 082: Speak no Evil)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Tornado<p>

-  
>Core Blaster<p>

-  
>Koa'ki Meiru Shield<p>

**New Cards used by Helen**  
>Mystic Piper<br>Mezuki

-  
>Opticamouflage Armor<br>Pyramid of Wonders  
>Foolish Burial<br>Smashing Ground  
>One for One<br>Phalanx Pike

-  
>Next to be Lost<p> 


	82. 082: Speak no Evil

**Mark 082: Speak no Evil**

Somewhere, in a room where the light of day could not reach. "You sent for me, Grand Cardinal." Demistria bowed solemnly for man in tall robes, who wore a mask with three infinity symbols rather than one. "Yes, agent Demistria. It has come to our attention that there has been a leak in the circuit of memories." Demistria looked up. "That is possible?" She sounded surprised, this was the first time an event like that happened. "The vessel from which it was taken, it appears it had been kept isolated from the passage of time. This allowed some residual data to flood back into the source, remnants that lingered within the Meklord of Agent Lincoln to be exact." He turned away. "Does the matter require the Reapers?" She asked the cardinal. "That dispute will settle on its own. Another agent has already been sent." The man touched the sides of the wall, circuitry embedded within started to light up. "We have a greater concern now. One that threatens the whole of design. Every extrapolation ends the same way; the chaos architect is coming."

Back at R-tech, Jason gave a more detailed explanation of what just happened. "Before Callisto just took parts of people's personalities and twisted them around, or even hiding them away in places." Ansoni and the others had seen cases like that, Nathan dueled Siren whose mind had been implanted with an alternate mind. Ansoni dueled his own guard who had been taken over by the remnants of a nanny. "But now she apparently can create new life. This Helen behaved exactly like how Callisto pretended she was, she even talks like her." This was before she had gone completely of the deep end, when there was still some honest innocense to her. "I would almost feel sorry for her, if I could be sure that she was not threatening the world." Urizen grumbled. "She is doing the same thing Malcean tried to do, gather all gods and then what?" He saw nothing good there. "And what about Richard, did she remake him too?" Macbeth did not think this would happen to those that were 'eaten' by the gods. "Actually.." The head scientist interrupted.

"I just got a message, it seems the subject has woken up.."

A minute later all three Aces were at the emergency ward. Though most kept their distance. "Wasn't he restrained?" Kein saw Richard was standing already, looking around the room. "He ripped himself free with ease. Do not ask me how." One doctor gulped. Most were still pretty rattled. "This is crazy. That is Richard out there." Macbeth fumed and stepped inside the room. "Wait, Mac.." Kein tried to stop him, but Richard already noticed the ace. "Tobias Macbeth." He stated his name, his full name."You remember me?" Macbeth was happily surprised. "I was told of every possible hindrance before I started this mission." Yet the way he spoke left few hopes undashed. "It still is Thursday.." Nathan heard that tone of voice before. "It appears my master sent someone else to finish the task." He did not sound disappointed or mad, it was all just indifference. "Yes. She returned to Callisto. That is who your master is, right?" Nathan thought that was obvious. Though Thursday apparently still did not feel like confirming it. "I am surprised you have not just gone back to her already." Kein guessed if Helen could teleport, so could he. "No. Not yet. There is something I can not explain." Thursday touched his head. "I saw things, that I have not been there for. Memories.."

"What?" Macbeths eyes widened. "What kind of?" A little bit of hope returned. "I saw the threat, the other threat. Infinit..argh!" He pulled his head back. "This..is..pain?" He recovered, but he was clearly shocked by the experience. "They hurt me, the Infinity machine. But I never.." Macbeth raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like, something Richard went through." What he saw must have been the last thing Richard saw, before he was killed. "I am not Richard. She made me, gave me a name, there is no me before that!" The man snapped back, shouting for the first time since he could remember. "Some part of what you were came back to you. Doctor, when did his mind start to show activity again?" Kein inquired, as he had a hunch. "Here is the chart sir." The doctor handed him the brainwave readings. "Half past ten?" The Ace thought back to what happened that time last night. "Wait. That was when..I dueled Lincoln." And in that duel he destroyed the same Meklord that had taken Richards life. "Could it be? That its destruction freed Richard?"

"Listen anything you could tell us about her would help a great deal. You want to help us, dont you?" Macbeth tried his chances with him again. "I do not know, anymore. She gave me purpose, yet I had purpose before her. I can not accept it, yet I can not deny that." Thursday struggled, more images from an unknown past came to him. They were just shards, yet he knew they were real. "I do not know why, but I feel like I should help you." That was just the word Macbeth had been waiting for. "I know why. It is because we used to be friends. Callisto may have given you your new life, but we intend to give you back your old.."

Elsewhere, with both Aces occupied, Ansoni took over the interrogation of Dean. "So that's a reaper?" There in a holding cell, tied to a chair, was the first of his kind that Sarah saw in person. "Wasn't the reaper that Lithium guy?" Ian recalled someone else entirely. "They all call themselves Reaper. To spread fear under the guise of one." Urizen told him. "I still say you should be in there with him." He turned to Jason to snarl at him. "Give me a break, Artani. I caught this man myself. I only ran away earlier because your friends the Aces were going to kill us all." Jason was not entirely pleased with this arrangement either. He had more freedom now, but he knew he would not be safe out there. "It's no use." Ansoni stepped out of the chamber where Dean was being interrogated by two guards. "He keeps claiming he does not remember what he did in Infinati. He can not tell us who he worked with, what his other targets were going to be." He shook his head. "Of course, we do not believe him but.. We at R-tech do not have the authority to push him harder."

"Actually. I would not be so sure about him lying." Jason spoke up. "What? Why wouldn't he be?" Urizen yelled at him again. "Because I may not be able to mess with people's memories and minds like my sister could. But having seen her tricks often enough does allow me to sense when something is not normal in someone's head." He pointed at Dean. "That person had his mind tampered with. It took me a while, but I can definitely feel it now." And he could pinpoint the moment when it happened too, because he was there when it happened. "What are you saying? He deliberately forgot about the Infinati? Like a suicide pill, except with amnesia instead of death?" It sounded unbelievable. "Maybe they did not make him forget, it feels more like it is locked inside. He knows he was part of the Infinati, so he did not lose all memories. It must have happened when I defeated him and destroyed his Meklord card, he did not take that all too well." If it was locked or erased was the question. "Then we need a psychic who specializes in cases like this." Ansoni had a solution, on paper. "I think that is another reason why they ransacked the dresden academy. They killed the staff, but we may be able to get help from some of the older students." It was their best bet at the moment.

"Ha!" However at that time, Dean nearly fell out of his seat. "No!" As he started to flail about as much as his restricted limbs allowed him. "What happened, what did you say?" Ansoni rushed back into the interrogation room. "We.. We just asked him some general questions about his life and he started doing this." One guard replied. He was as weirded out as everyone else. "No. No. Noo.. this is wrong. This is not how it should be." Dean was rambling to himself, his head jerked from left to right. "Dean. What is wrong, can you tell us?" Ansoni grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to get him to calm down. "You do not see. You.. why did I not forget.. you do not see!" But nothing seemed to get through to him. "He talked nonsense before. Not like this though." Urizen would call this actual madness, it did not seem faked. "She is here, she is here. She is taking all the strings for herself, and making a mess out of it!" The reaper sounded like he was crying and laughing at the same time. "Who is, who is here?"

All went dark. "What now?" The lights turned off, the machinery shorted out, even people's watches stopped. "Is it an earthbound immortal?" It was a blackout like they had seen before. "You mean this happened before?" Ian cried out. "Whoever did this. He hit the whole city!" He was looking out the window. It was still early in the morning, yet he did not spot a single speck of light on the horizon. Not even one in the shape of an animal. "No geoglyphs.. If this is not a god, what is it?" While they were left clueless, Dean just continued to howl. "You do not see. She is here.. she is." And then he freaked out again. "Here, here, here!" He was not the only one to see it. One screen in dimmed out room was still on, or rather it turn itself on while nobody was looking. "!" And soon a figure revealed herself on that screen, a figure in shadows. "Ca..llisto?" Jason however could never mistake that figure for someone else. The girl in dark said nothing, she only waved her left hand once, slowly. And then the image disappeared from the monitor.

"What..who was that?" For Ian this was the most paranormal experience yet. "That was her." If Jason recognized her, Urizen had no reason to doubt it. "Callisto. She sent us a message, Helen said she would. But what the hell was she trying to get across?" Then all the lights and machines powered back on. Inversely, Dean had exhausted himself with his freak-out and was back to his numbed state. "Everything is back to normal." The capitol city's lights turned back on as well. "If she wanted to get our attention, she got it." It was hard to miss, though Sarah wished she would not have gotten the citizens involved. "Can not imagine how the people will react to this now. They already associate power outages with terrorist attacks." Then the phone went off. "Oh. It's Gaunt!" Ansoni saw who it came from and did not hesitate to respond. "Hello sir. Did you land safely?" He was glad to hear from him. "Yes the blackout was unexpected, but nobody got..wait sir. How did you know..." But the topic then became grim. "It happened there too?"

"The whole world." Gaunt looked at a map of the globe. "She took power away from the whole world. Every last thing in contact with the earth just shorted out." Only objects in motion like cars, planes and satellites remained free of this effect. "This is the same as with the previous god emergences, everything bound to the earth in any way gets hit with electromagnetic pulse. I fear that it happened this time too. You said that all seven gods have been collected, this must be related." he turned to Ansoni and the others in the conference room. "Ansoni, you are not to blame for any of this. Neither are any of you. If she has become as powerful as it seems, she would have gotten her way eventually." The others said nothing yet. "And because of you, she deigned us worthy enough to see her face." Gaunt caught the questioning eyes of his son. "Yes, I saw her too, Urizen. On a random screen inside the airport. She wanted us all to see her. To come and see her. And I believe she has told us where we can find her as well." Gaunt then showed a photograph of the southern continent. "This was taken just before the blackout." They saw the nazca lines, the original nazca lines. The seven which represented the gods had all lighted up. "The first loss of energy was recorded there. It appears she wants us to go the source of it all."

"Wait. If Callisto did this to everyone she met before.." Nathan flinched as he realized he had forgotten something. Or someone. "Ali, Ada! They may have seen her too." The blackout hit North city too after all. "But shouldn't we leave her out of this. It's dangerous isn't it?" Sarah said, halfway realizing she started to talk like her own mother. "We have to know for sure if she was contacted. If Callisto greeted her too, she may demand her presence at the location too. At the very least I gotta call her to explain her what happened." Nathan felt they owed the girl that much. "I will not stop you." Kein shrugged. "Thanks." Nate moved to make the call. But Ansoni suddenly placed his hand on the telephone "Wait! Something is not right here." He removed his hands. "Sorry. I do believe we should tell her. But.. I just made a connection. It is about Ali.. and Richard." He waited for it to sink in. "You do not think." Gaunt already knew what Helion was getting at. "Exactly. A boy who disappeared during the ritual of the gods, his body absorbed while his mind was not there. And now he is back with no memories at all." That did not at all sound unfamiliar. "It's just like with Richard. But then.." Ansoni nodded to Nathan. "There is no telling how he will react to this. We have to warn her about him!"

"I know. Dad. I know." Ada was in the north city hospital, talking on her phone. "I know the stuff is brand new. It was not the fault of the store. Everyone's lights went out. It happened to the whole world!" Her home had been hit as well, and her father was panicking like the best. "I will be home soon. Just relax. I am not going to leave my friend alone until he is safe either." She hung up and turned to Ali. He lied in his bed, looking at the news on a TV-set. "Thanks for letting your mother give me this second shot." She told him what she already told him many times. Had it not been for his kindness, his mother would never have let him visit her here again. "You did not see it did you." Yet all that kindness was nowhere to be found or heard in his words. "What?" Not anymore. "She said hello. And you were not even looking." Ali's eyes turned to her, the look in his eyes gave her a fright. "Ali? What is wrong?" She took a step back. "How many times do I have to tell you? I am not Ali. My name was Xavier." He got up from the bed and looked out the window. "And she has called for me. I have to go."

(To be Continued in Mark 083: The Vice Versa)


	83. 083: The Vice Versa

**Mark 083: The Vice Versa**

Ali remembered her, yet what he was saying and doing did not put her at ease. He got up, put on his clothes and repaired to leave the building. "Before I leave, Ada, I will want the taken cards back." He said coldly and extended an open hand. Not to take her hand, but to take what he really wanted. "No. This can not be you." If anything he sounded even less like the Ali she knew and cared for. "And what do you mean, you are going? Where will you go?" None of this made sense to her. "You refuse to understand. I am not him, I am reborn. And now she needs me, and she will get everything from me." He did not wait for her anymore, he just pulled the backpack from her back and pushed her aside. "I know you never leave the house without it. The cards you and he put together to form what you called a deck." He took her dragunity deck out and flipped through it. "But not all were earned the right way." He tossed most aside, keeping only various synchro monsters like Stardust Dragon. "And he.." But he also kept Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The card Ali had bought with the credits he won on the Day of Games. The card she had called a foolish thing too buy. "And he.. earned more than you." He then turned away, towards the exit.

"Ali.. Ali! What what is going on?" She cried out after him, but he ignored her and left the room. _"Why is this happening? What did he see on that..Wh..what?"_ But at that time she noticed that her ringtone went off. Her special ringtone. "What is happening?" Desperate, she just started shouting at whoever was on the other line. If anyone knew what to do, it was those people. "Calm down Ada. We wanted to warn you about what was going on, the blackout hit the whole globe. Did something bad happen to you?" Nathans voice on the other end was like a tranquilizer, she managed to compose herself quickly after hearing him. "How can I be calm?" Quickly enough. "Is it her? is that callisto girl back? Because she did something to Ali! He wants to go, he wants to back to her." And that was the last thing she wanted to happen. "I am afraid to say it's true. She has turned others to her side as well. But we can help. Just try to keep him there for as long as possible. We will send a division from North City to you." She hung up afterwards. _"I..have to stall him? How am I.."_

"As I feared then." Ansoni said once Nathan put down the phone. "Xavier was brainwashed by Callisto too?" Sarah could not imagine what ada was going through. "We have troops stationed there, but they may not be enough. We need to get over there quickly." Ansoni stood up. "Helion. We can not all afford to go there." But Gaunt shot his plan down immediately. "What are you suggesting, Gaunt? that we leave here there so we can watch how this new Xavier acts and duels?" Urizen did not like the sound of whatever plan he thought he had in mind. "Nothing of the sort. But with a crisis of this scale, it would be unwise to spread our forces out too much. There is not enough time for us either way." To get to North City would take hours, they would be lucky if she could keep Xavier busy for even one hour. "I will go. I am the Ace of that section after all." Nathan offered. "Very well. Report back here as soon as possible." Gaunt turned back to the map of the world on the screens. "Meanwhile we have to decide who responds to Callisto's invitation."

...

Ali walked towards the elevator, but would not reach it before she called out to him. "Xavier!" Ada yelled, the use of the first name alone was enough to get him to slow down. "You forgot one!" He turned and saw her holding a synchro card, Shooting Star Dragon. ".. How did you get that?" It was the card that defeated Callisto when she dueled her. "You do not know? I heard your voice, Xavier, when I found it in my extra deck. Not even she predicted that." Stardust dragon and the likes were kept in her deck, but a special card like Shooting Star she kept separate. "That card is an anomaly. But not like the Infernity series and the Earthbound Immortals where humans do not even know of their existence." Ada then tucked it away again. "Callisto did not know that Ali took it, she did not know why the visions never told her about it. She wants to study it..." This would be her bargaining chip. "You can not force me to stay, or keep it away from me." Xavier turned around, his back to the exit. "Do you wish to fight me then, Ada?" He took the cards he had taken and mixed it with other cards that faded into sight. "I do not want to. But you are not giving me much of a choice. I want to get the Ali back." She took her dueldisk from her backpack. "So I will do whatever it takes!"

Ada's LP: 8000 Xaviers LP: 8000

"Ladies first." Xavier used a phrase Ali liked to use as well. But with the harsh way he spoke the words, it might as well have been an insult. "If you are not him, do not act like him." She snapped back at him. "I activate Dragon Ravine! I discard Dragunity Levatyn from my hand to add Dragunity Brandistock to my hand." After that she placed one monster card down and ended her turn. "Already you are showing fear." Xavier drew his card. "It is not fear! It is strategy. Never show your opponent an opening if you do not have to!" She quoted the Art of War again, allthough she was sure she mangled the line. "You excuse every action in that manner, Ada. That _is_ a fear. And it will not last you." He placed a card down. "I discard Blue-Eyes, a level 8 monster, from my hand to special summon Hardened Armed Dragon." A bony dragon(1500/800) was summoned from his hand. "By sacrificing a dragon, this card can be called out." The skeletal armed dragon was exchanged for a larger metallic dragon(2800/2400). "RedEyes Darkness Metal Dragon. This monster can summon dragons from my hand or grave. And you know what I will choose." The black dragon used his powers to revive the white dragon, Blue-Eyes(3000/2500) appeared. _"His favorite dragons.."_ Ada did not feel good about this.

"I attack." RedEyes breathed out a bullet of flames. "My facedown is Masked Dragon!" The dragon destroyed a facedown dragon(1400/1100) with a mask. However from the explosive dust another just like it appeared. "I do. When it is killed, another weak dragon can be summoned from your deck." He ordered Blue-Eyes to erase the second one from the field with a stream of energy. "As if they can compare." After the third Masked Dragon(1400/1100) replaced the second, he ended his turn. "..I use Dragon Ravine again." Ada discarded Dragunity Dux from her hand to add a Dragunity Pilum to her hand. "I set one monster and one trap. And I switch Masked Dragon to attack mode." And this was all she did with her round. "You say you want to fight me, you even moved to that stance. Yet you did not try to attack. Is my power too great for you?" He had no dragons he wanted to summon right now with RedEyes, so he entered the battle phase already. "Or is this just an extension of your fear? You need to show anger, to survive!"

He activated a continuous trap card, Dragons Rage. "No!" Ada knew what that did. "Blue-Eyes." All dragons could now inflict piercing damage. "Half or Nothing!" But she flipped her trap as well. "Ah, that card. If I choose Nothing, this battle ends. If I choose half, my monsters are weakened." He looked directly in her eyes. "I choose Half." And the attacks continued, the 'halved' White Dragon pierced(1500/2500) blasted through her Masked Dragon. "I special summon Delta Flyer." So she could bring out a different dragon whose attack was lower than 1500 points, a feather-winged wyvern(1500/900). "Hmph." Red-Eyes(1400/2800) could not kill that as it was now, so instead it pierced the facedown monster of her with a fiery blast. Dragunity Pilum(1400/1000) was burned to a crisp. "I know what is really playing here. You are stalling for time so that your friends can come and help you out. Do not take me for a fool!" He placed two more cards down. "You can not afford to stand still. Fight back or get out of my way. That is your choice to make."

Ada's LP: 7500

"Alright." Ada began her turn. Again she discarded a Dragunity through the Ravine, Brandistock this time, to take Dragunity Darkspear out. "I summon the Darkspear." And next to the wyvern the spearhead dragon(1000/1000) appeared. "Synchro summon huh." Ali guessed that was her way of countering his raw power. "Yes. But both are tuners. Therefor I activate the effect of Darkspear." He could tribute any dragunity dragon to revive a winged beast. "I tribute Darkspear himself, to revive Dux!" She chose to revive the winged fighter(1700/1000). "Then Delta Flyer increases its level from 4 to 5!" One star was added to the four Dux already had. "Synchro summon!" Ada no longer had Stardust Dragon, but she had more level 8 synchros in her deck. "I summon Dragunity Knight Barcha!" The three stars of the Delta dragon and five of Dux became the eight stars for the green dragon rider(2000/1200). "He can equip as many Dragunity dragons to himself as possible And gains power for each one!" Barcha took out Pilum, Brandistock, Darkspear and Levatyn. The four were wielded as weapons and gave him(3200/1200) considerbly more strength. "Because it wields Brandistock, It can attack twice!" Barcha used all of its weaponry to cut the Red-eyed and Blue-eyed dragons down to size.

Ali's LP: 7400

"How was that?" She smirked. "I was not defending, I was setting up the field and grave." Ada felt pretty good about herself. "Is that true? Then I underestimated you. But.." Yet suddenly Dragon Ravine broke down. "Now I can be serious." He had played a new field spell, his field spell. "Malefic World" The walls of the hospital turned dark purple, the sky outside the windows turned hauntingly yellow. "What is that?" It was a field she had never seen before. "And wait. Why is..." But the environment alone did not change, the people did too. The nurses and doctors moved slower, and slower, they appeared to not be moving at all. "Now that I know you are honest about this, we can set aside your flow of time." Xavier smiled. "You did this? You stopped time?" This went beyond the fantastical elements she had already seen. This also meant she could not buy anymore time. She had to win the duel at any costs now. "This world represents the depravity and vice that you will drown it in, if you are to continue as you are. Callisto will heal the world."

He showed her a card. "This is my anomaly, handed to me by the new creator; the Malefic spirit." In his hand was a Redeyes Dragon, yet it looked different. "When I control a field spell, I can banish RedEyes Black dragon, to special summon Malefic RedEyes Black Dragon!" Redeyes(2400/2000) appeared on the field and was given dark armor. "But it is not stronger than my monster!" Ada protested. "Raw power is not _my_ only skill." Xavier flipped a trap card. "Malefic Claw Stream. When I control this Malefic monster, one monster on the field will be destroyed." A stream of dark energy tore through the area, and ripped Barcha to unrecognizable shreds. "Direct attack." The Malefic dragon released a flame ball at Ada, which hit her and singed her coat. "Gah!" For a second she thought she had been set on fire. "I held back. There is no need to incapacitate you, this fight will see its victory achieved fairly." Xavier explained. "Thanks a lot." She rasped. "But I do not want any kindness from the you that you are right now."

Ada's LP: 5100

"You know I knew it all along." Ada started her turn again. "I knew that deep down Ali never came back. Even before you started talking like that." She special summoned Garuda, the Wind Spirit(1600/1200) from her hand by banishing Dragunity Darkspear from her graveyard. "Your grades were too high, you never forgot anything, you even lost your sense of humor." The doctor had said it himself, his changes were drastic even for an amnesia patient. "Did you even really forget who you were? Or were you Xavier all along?" She also summoned a tuner monster, Influence Dragon(300/900) "I was trapped. I could only reach for the surface of this world when this body was endangered." Like the time Dean had attacked Ali and Ada. "I guess it was a dumb question. The answer never mattered anyway."

She tuned to two monsters together. 'Influence Dragon makes my other monster count as a dragon type! So It can fulfill the need for the synchro summon of Explode Wing Dragon!" From the extra deck came the monster(2400/1600) who normally required two dragons as its synchro materials. "It attacks your Redeyes!" Their attackpoints were equal. However Explode Wing could not be destroyed as a result of battle. Thus as the two dragons bombarded each other with flames, only the Black dragon took damage from them. "When Explode Wing attacks, the monster is destroyed and the controller loses lifepoints equal to its attackpoints!" The fire ripped through Xaviers Malefic monster and surrounded him as well. "I do not know if you hold back for yourself as well. But I hope you do!" He was burned by them, but only slightly. "I understand why you would." He dusted off his coat. "You do not wish to harm this body. However, I am your opponent." He drew a card again. "If you do not come at me with your all. You will lose everything."

Xaviers LP: 5000

Around the same time, in a place where time was moving at the standard speed, Richard was approached again. "You said you wanted to help us. And you probably also want to leave this place." It was Gaunt, he came to see the man who used to be his Ace of Clubs. Right now he was detained in the emergency ward. "I could leave whenever I wanted." The man replied. "I know you can, but I was not talking about that. I was talking about your feelings and memories." Gaunt had been told about Thursday remembered events Richard had experienced. "I can not reconcile those." Thursday replied in earnest. "We do not ask that of you. But you will feel more at ease if you tell us what we want to know, that is a feeling you have.. right?" Thursday pondered it for a moment and nodded. "But I can not tell you what would endanger her objectives." He added with a firmer tone. "Good enough. Now my first question is this. How many of you did she revive, how many did she make?" In short; how many people served Callisto right now. "I ..do not know. I did not even know about the one you call Helen until she finished my task." Gaunt then showed him a photograph of Xavier Ali. "What about this man?" Thursday looked at it. "Xavier Ali? He is a servant of her too? But that can not be.. that man is .."

"...dead."

(To be Continued in Mark 084: Dragonslayingdragons)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Masked Dragon<br>Delta Flyer  
>Influence Dragon<p>

**Cards used by 'Xavier'**  
>Hardened Armed Dragon<br>RedEyes Darkness Metal Dragon  
>Redeyes Black Dragon<br>Malefic Redeyes Black Dragon  
>Malefic Stardust Dragon<p>

-  
>Malefic World<p>

-  
>Dragons Rage<br>Malefic Claw Stream


	84. 084: Dragonslaying Dragons

**Mark 084: DragonslayingDragons**

Ada's LP: 5100 Xaviers LP: 5000

"This is the power of my field spell, Malefic World." Xavier started his draw phase, but did not draw from the top of his deck. "I can take three Malefic monster from my deck, and you decide which one is added to my hand." He skipped the draw and took out three cards: Malefic Blue-Eyes Whte Dragon, Rainbow Dragon and Stardust Dragon. "What? I.." Ada was overwhelmed by the amount of Malefic monsters he had in his deck. "They are all the same?" Her finger pointed at the left card, Stardust Dragon. "Malefic monsters can all be special summoned by banishing their regular counterpart from the deck." Xavier removed the original Stardust from his extra deck, and called out the dragon(2500/2000) in black armor. "But they can only survive while a field is active, only one can exist at a time as well." He directed his monster towards Ada's Exploder Dragonwing(2400/1600). "You have only experienced the tip of the power scale so far." His dragon destroyed hers with ease. "I know what cards you have, you can not keep up."

Ada's LP: 5000

"I will try!" She summoned a Dragunity from her hand again. "Dragunity Partisan. When this dragon is summoned, it can equip itself to a Dragunity monster in my hand." The Partisan(1200/800) turned itself into a weapon for a Dragunity to hold. "I summon Angusticlavii." And she let the winged archer(2100/1000) have it. "Not enough." Xavier replied. "I know that! But I can revive my Dragunity Leyvaten, by sacrificing a Dragunity monster who is wielding a Dragunity weapon." The red featherwinged dragon(2600/1200) emerged from the grave, tearing throughy Angusticlavii. "He equips himself with a dragon in my cemetery too." Levyaten took out the Brandistock, so it could attack twice in one battle phase. "It attacks Stardust and then you directly!" Levyaten slashed once through the corrupted Star dragon, and prepared a second slash. "Uhn.." But Ada was hesitating, she waited to call out her second strike. "Can you do it? Attack this body, I mean?" Xavier asked her. "Shut up. If I win you will give Ali back!" She finished the attack.

Xaviers LP: 2300

"You see me as an enemy, but you you do not see far enough." He reactivated the effect of Malefic World, this time the choices were Malefic Rainbow Dragon and two Cyber End Dragons. _"Now this?" _This time she could not even pick a weaker one from the lot, they all had 4000 attackpoints. So she just let him take Rainbow Dragon. "You think Ali will come back to you. But I have no knowledge of his presence inside me." He banished Rainbow Dragon from his deck and special summoned its Malefic side(4000/0). It immediately attacked and destroyed Leyvaten. "You are lying. You have to be!" She quickly entered her turn and countered by summoning her Dodger Dragon(1900/1200). "He can not be gone!" She then activated her spell, Dragons Gunfire. "Oh?" It could destroy any monster whose defense was lower than 800 points, like his Rainbow Dragon. "And I will not lose to you, no matter what you say!" Dodger Dragon released two blasts of fire. One to destroy the Malefic one, the other to hit Xavier directly with. "Close.."

Ada's LP: 3600 Xaviers LP: 400

"I can see how.. you defeated Callisto that time. Not just the cards, your emotions give you strength." Xavier said as he activated the effect of Malefic World again. Taking the two Malefic Cyber End Dragons and one more Malefic Stardust Dragon as the picks. "Are you saying emotions are useful to you too?" Ada was wondering about that, this Xavier did not sound emotion-rich at all. "It is not emotions that lead to corruption, Ada Wolfram. Emotions are real. Emotions lead to creation." He then took the Stardust card, as that was the one she chose. "It is only that which is not real, that has to be erased!" He summoned a new monster, but it was not the dragon. It was a gear machine(0/0) "Malefic Parallel Gear. When this tuner is used for a synchro summon, the other material can come from my hand." He sent the level 8 Malefic Stardust to the grave. "From the hand?" And the level 2 Parallel Gear went as well, the two Malefics formed one synchro monster. "Malefic Paradox Dragon." A level 10 dark and halfmetallic dragon(4000/4000) was the endresult. "When Malefic Paradox Dragon is synchro summoned, a synchro monster from your cemetery joins my side." Exploder Dragonwing(2400/1600) was returned to the field. But only on his side instead of hers. "Not another." She could not endure this.

"You were not ready." He ordered both dragons to attack. Exploder Dragonwing destroyed Dodger Dragon while Paradox Dragon hit her directly with a blast of black flames.

Ada's LP: 0

Malefic world disappeared once the duel concluded, although time itself did not speed up yet. "Now." Xavier had won and he extended his hand to collect what was due. "...Just take it." She tossed the Shooting Star Dragon card at him, but did not look him in the eyes. "Your assistance was appreciated." He said to her as he placed the card in his deck. "What are you and her even going to do? To us, to the world?" She cried out, as he started to move for the exit once again. "If you wish to know, ask your friends. They must have seen her invitation, so just go where they are going." He opened the door. "I will all be explained there." The doors opened. "Ali..." She called out to him one last time. ".." And then he was gone, he became one with the light of dawn. "He can not be...gone." And she just crumpled to the floor, struggling to hold back the tears. Nobody else in the building knew what had just taken place, they had not seen what happened to her friend.

"They were too late." Kein heard the bad news from Nate, who heard it from their people at North City. "So now she has Xavier to replace Richard. Or more likely, Xavier was on her side all along. The amnesia was either faked or a forced cover." This was Keins assumption, though he did not know what purpose it served. "Is he like Thursday..ehr Richard then?" Sarah said while she confused about which name to address him with as both he and the two other Aces were in the room. "Neither is my real name. But as I feel less like Richard, Thursday will do." Thursday groaned, it still pained him to even glimpse back to Richards past. "But you do not know when or why she brainwashed Xavier Ali?" Ansoni inquired. "I never felt the need to ask her anything. I only existed to help her." He answered, rather iimpassionately. "I was given a task and the means to perform it." He showed off his wrist. "I received the blood of the signed. So that I could bring the gods themselves out of hiding."

"I see. That would explain the mark of the claw. She gave you her fathers blood." Rather than him being a seventh signer, it was more like he was using one of their talismans, except in liquid ingested form. "My father? Does that mean.. is he still alive?" Jason interrupted with a matter he found far more important. "I have not seen or heard from the one that created her. But then she has no need for creators anymore." He did not hear what he would have liked. "Then.. he is dead?" Jason knew his father as on deaths door, but he had hoped something on the other side would have been able to save him. "The man tried to twist the very shape of the world. Are you really that upset he is gone, or are you just sad that you did not get to follow in his footsteps instead of your sister?" Urizen scoffed at him. "He was going to save the world!" Jason lashed back at him. "Even if he did not do it for the sake of power, it sounded to me like he planned to become a god. No THE god. No man should have that much power!" Urizen yelled back even louder. "Guys, calm down! We have bigger problems now!" Sarah pleaded. She could barely be heard above their shouting, but they broke it off regardless. "I guess I can agree with you on one thing. I would rather see you in that position than your sister.." Urizen said.

The next instant a voice spoke to them over the speaker. "Sir. We found a psychic." Gaunt took the call. "Good. Have an officer escort him to the detention center." The man obeyed and hung up. "Well, first things first. Urizen, Ansoni.. and Sarah." He looked at each of them. "It is my belief that Callisto wants us all to go meet her. We are like her, maybe we can get through to her. I do not demand this of you." He knew he at least was going to go the the southern continent. "I will be with you sir." Ansoni did not need to think twice. "I think I can manage, if I can convince my folks." Sarah smiled. The whole world was unsafe right now, so she thought it did not matter where she went. "You are not leaving me behind." And Urizen was in as well. "Excellent. We will take some men with us. I leave you in charge here, Kein. See to it that our guests are properly taken care off. The rest of us are taking the next flight out." He turned to Ian. "I hope you do not mind, staying here a while longer." The mans response was to shrug. "I am already fired by this point anyway. But wait, what about that Ada girl?" He heard Nathan was brining her here. "I can not let her come along. But we will do everything we can to get her friend back to normal." He said, with the memory of what Thursday said in his mind.

_"Callisto's servants are already dead.."_

A while later, after the signers had left the building, Jason and the aces, including Thursday, were back down below. "Here we are. Safe and sound." A police officer escorted their newest ally into the building, a pale young man with grey curls. "Wait a second." Kein recognized the kid. "Siren?" It was the classrep from the Dresden academy. "You were the psychic that volunteered for this?" Siren flinched a bit, but nodded. "Yeah. I was the only one, everybody else I know was too scared." Thursday took a long look at the kid. "This is someone from your past?" He felt a curiosity, which was a first for him. "Siren was one of the people we met at the psychic school. Before it burned down. But are you sure you want to do this?" Kein had second thoughts, specifically because of what had happened to him in the past. "I know why you say that. But that is fine, that part of me no longer exists." He put his bag on a table and took out a big pack of books. "After that accident I took up several classes in defenses against mental manipulation. I may be able to help you."

But then he saw the man in his cell, Dean the Reaper. "Is that him?" His tone changed, he could not stop glaring at him. "One of them, yes. We do not know if this is the same one that attacked your school." Kein could sense where his feelings were taking him, not a good thing. "Again, you do not have to do this." It had only been three days ago at most, this was too soon for the boy. "I can handle this. I just need to focus." He started flipping through pages. "Ugh, books like those make me remember the lesser parts of the academy." Jason sighed. He never did do too well in his classes there. "Well either way, it is probably for the best that we brought him here. No offense." Macbeth told the officer. "Ah, there we go. How to detect and remove external influences within your mind." He started reading. "Well kid, think you can take care of the rest from here?" The officer tipped his hat at the boy and winked. "Yes sir. Thanks for everything." Siren answered. "Perfect.." He grinned... It was not a pleasant grin.

"Then I know enough!" A metal blade suddenly cut through his uniforms sleeve. "What the hell?" It was a dueling disk, one whose core was glowing a fierce red. "You?" It was the infinity symbol. "Look out!" Macbeth quickly pulled Siren away, away from him. "Take him down!" The other guards in the detention area were quick to react. "No wait!" Kein tried to stop them before the inevitable happened. "Thanks for being such idiots." But their bullets, the few they could fire, were deflected by a barrier that came from his disk. "I really can not be bothered." And he retaliated like any reaper had done up until now, one bright flash of energy was all they would see before their lives left their bodies. "No!" Kein and Macbeth both rose to their feet. "He.." Thursday was just shocked by the display, yet did not budge. "When, how.. why?" The two aces surrounded him. "You still have to ask the why? Tsk, that should have been obvious from the get-go." He tossed his hat away. "When my superiors uncovered what you planned to do with agent D here, they activated me to put a stop to it."

"Activate? You mean you were just an ordinary police officer until today?" Jason saw no other way to interpret that sentence. "You catch on quick, too quickly.." He laughed. "But you would have figured this out anyway eventually. What makes us Reapers different from the rest of Infinati." He activated the dueldisk and then placed cards in it. "The best undercover disguise is the one you do not know you have. But make no mistake, I was an Infinati first and a man of the law second. I just could not be awakened until the time was right. Until I was lucky enough to step foot into this higly secured building." That sounded familiar to the Ace of Spades. "I see. The Infinati can make people forget or remember parts of their past as well. Dean was only a Reaper up until the point where the Meklord card was destroyed. Then he again became Dean the student." Though it seemed some residual information remained. "Jason was never supposed to survive yesterday. Looks like I am going to have to clean up his mess all in one go. Guess you can call me the Reaper Reaper." He chuckled some more. "You think you can clear out this whole building on your own?" Macbeth did not think highly of this guy's odds. "Infinati do not think. They know." Come at me, both of you at once if you wish. I heard you Aces were already fodder for other agents, you are definitely no match for me then."

"Wait. Don't!" But then Siren got back up again. "Get out of here kid!" Kein yelled at him. "No. I can not.. I can not leave you like this. And.." His eyes narrowed in on the Reaper. "I can not let him get away with this." He took a dueldisk from his bag. "You came prepared." Siren fully got his attention. "Sir Schiver, sir Macbeth. I can not let you duel him. I know what kind of deck he is using. Only I can keep up with him." He drew his cards. "Heh. Interesting. Then again I was going to kill you anyway." He drew his cards too, and he drew them faster than Siren could, so he would start the duel. "The name is Clark, kiddo. And I would love to see what you have in store for me." He played a spell. "Graceful Charity!" A rather infamous spell. "What the.." It allowed Clark to draw thrice and then he had to discard twice. "But that spell is banned!" Kein protested, as they had moved that card to the restricted list ages ago. "Nobody ever said we had to play by your rules?" Clark laughed. He discarded cards like Tribe Infecting Virus and Change of Heart. "Those.." His entire hand was full of banned cards. "I know your dueldisks have been coded to reject banned or multiple limited cards." Clark knocked on his device. "But ours have no such limits. Still think you can beat me, kiddo?"

(To be Continued in Mark 085: Cheaters Never Win)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Dragons Gunfire<p>

**New Cards used by 'Xavier'**  
>Malefic Stardust Dragon<br>Malefic Rainbow Dragon  
>Malefic Parallel Gear<br>Malefic Paradox Dragon

**Cards used by Clark**  
>Graceful Charity<p> 


	85. 085: Cheaters Never Win

**Mark 085: Cheaters Never Win**

"That's odd. Kein is not responding to any of my calls." Nate said to Ada, as the two were driven towards capitol city. "Guess he is busy interrogating Dean." He shut the phone off. "Did he say anything yet?" Ada asked him. "Not as far as I know. He really thinks he was just your student all this time. Those reapers have some screws in their head loose." He said, while Ada sighed. "Oh. Right." Nate realized she knew someone else with memory problems. "Look, we will have this all sorted out soon. Okay? You just have to trust Gaunt and Urizen that they will fix this. Meanwhile we will wait at R-tech. The safest place in the country!"

Clarks LP: 8000 Sirens LP: 8000

"Tsk. No wonder you are so sure of yourself." Jason and the aces saw Clark was a duelist who sued nothing but cards on the banlist. "But if you could get in this easily, why even wait?" Kein asked their. "You askin' me? All I know is that no order was given to attack this place directly until today." He placed one monster down and two trap cards. Yet despite this disadvantage, Siren did not show signs of fear.

"I summon Reborn Tengu!" He summoned a Tengu warrior(1700/600). "Ho. That is an annoying card." Clark frowned, as even his deck would need time to kill that thing. "It attacks your set monster!" Tengu took out a knife and stabbed the hidden monster, a mechanical pod(900/900). "Cyber Jar!" Another banned monster was flipped. "Now all monsters are destroyed and we draw five cards!" Reborn Tengu and the Jar shattered. "We summon any level 4 or lower monster from those five cards!" Clark brought out a Sangan(1000/600) and a Witch of the Black Forest(1100/1200). "I have not seen that card in a while, but I know how it works." Siren drew and could special summon three monsters. "I summon Psychic Hushed Cleric, Serene Psychic Witch and Psi-Beast!" A cleric(0/2100) and beast(700/500) showed up in defense mode, the Witch(1400/1200) was in attack mode. "Hm?" Clark wondered why he did not put them in attack mode, when. "Reborn Tengu's effect activates! I can summon a second Tengu from my deck, if the first leaves the field!" A second Tengu Warrior(1700/600) joined them in attack mode. "My witch attacks yours!" The Serene one wanted to destroy the Black Forested one.

"Mirror Force!" Clark revealed a barrier that destroyed all attacking monsters. Reborn Tengu and the Witch were both destroyed.. "Tengu is reborn again!" But Siren was allowed to call out a third Reborn Tengu(1700/600). "Also when the Serene Witch dies, she can banish a psychic in my deck. That psychic will be summoned during the next turn." Siren banished a Esper Girl from his deck. "I attack!" This Tengu did manage to slay the witch. "But when she dies, I can add a monster with 1500 defense points or less to my hand!" He added a Magician of Faith to his hand. "I knew that too." He entered his main phase 2, letting the Cleric banish one monster in his grave after he discarded it from his hand. If the Cleric were to die, that monster would return to the field. "Then I play Psychokinesis!"Siren attempted to use a spell. "Do not let that one hit go to your head, kiddo!" But Clark flipped his other trap, Imperial Order. "No! All spells are negated!" Kein cried out as the Teleport card fizzled out. "You have had all the fun you will find." As the turns passed again, Esper Girl(500/300) was summoned to the field. "Now it is my turn." Meanwhile Imperial Order was destroyed because Clark did not pay the 700 lifepoints it asked him every standby phase.

Clarks LP: 7400

"Monster Reborn!" Clark activated another spell that was once banned, but now only limited. "I revive Tribe-infecting Virus!" He brought out a hardly visible monster, the species-slaying virus(1600/1000). "I can discard one card to wipe out all monsters of a certain clan!" He discarded the Faith Magician in his hand. "Psychic." And the disease infected the PsiBeast, Esper Girl and Hushed Cleric at once. Yet the latter two got to activate their effects. "The Cleric banished Caam, the Serenity of Gusto. So I can revive it." A wind elemental magician(1700/1100) took his place. "Esper Girl banished the top card from my deck when she showed up. And in her death she allows me to add it to my hand." Siren drew a monster card. "Get as many cards as you wish, it shall not save you." Clark chuckled as he took one card out. "Nothing can save a duelist from this." He banished Magician of Faith and Witch of the Black Forest from his graveyard. "No, don't say it is so!" Kein recognized those moves. "A chaos summoning?" Light and darkness were fused. "I special summon Chaos Emperor Dragon!" A gigantic black dragon showed up, the Envoy of the End(3000/2500).

"What is this?" Even Thursday was amazed by this monstrocity. "The ultimate banned card. Its power is so great it just eradicates all cards on the field and in your hand! At the mere cost of a thousand lifepoints!" He first played another banned spell, Last Will, which would let him summon a monster with 1500 attackpoints or less from his deck if a monster on his field died. "Here it comes!" The Chaos Emperor then released its breath of fire across the room. "And the player shall take 300 damage for every wasted card!" Tengu, Caam but also Sangan and the Tribe Virus; they all were consumed by the flames. And Clark and Siren were forced to throw away their hands; both discarded five cards. In total 14 cards were counted and Siren had to endure 4200 points of damage. "Last Will's effect activates." A D.D. Warrior Lady(1500/1600) was summoned. "But here is the kicker, kid." Sangans effect activated too. "I can add a monster with 1500 attackpoints or less to my hand." He took out Yata Garasu, a spirit monster. "No!"

Clarks LP: 6400 Sirens LP: 3800

"You guessed right!" He normal summoned it, a small crow(200/100). "The Yata Lock. If that monster inflicts damage, the opponents draw phase is skipped." Macbeth was horrified to see this combo in action again. "The nightmare of any duelist." Clark eagerly entered the battle phase, and sent both his monsters to strike. Siren was hit by swords and talons. "Yata Garasu returns to my hand every endphase." The crow disappeared. "You are through, kiddo." Sirens turn started, but he had to move straight on to his standby phase. "Ahaha..heh?" Yet during that phase, a monster appeared from a portal: Caam, the Sernity of Gusto. "WHAT?" It was the same one he thought had been destroyed by the Dragon. "How?" Even Jason, Kein and Macbeth were confused. "He must have overlooked it. But I had used a Time Escape just before he used the dragons effect." Clark twitched. "Time Escaper?" It was a monster Siren could discard to remove his monster on the field for one turn, he had used it on Caam. "One monster is enough to break your lock!"

Sirens LP: 2100

"Especially since Caam can do this." He used her effect, sending two Gusto monsters in his grave back to the deck to draw a card. Gusto monsters which had been discarded from his hand by the Envoy of the End. "Draw!" He added a monster to his hand. "I summon the Silent Psychic Wizard!" And what he gained was the Wizard(1900/0) himself. "Double attack!" Caam attacked first. D.D, Warrior Lady countered with her own ability, banishing herself and the attacking Serenity wizard to another dimension. But the Wizard meanwhile scored a direct hit on Clark. "You planned all this. Getting out Caam, reducing the number of cards on the field. How?" Clark was stunned to see anyone come back like this. "I should have warned you. But since you were using your own method of cheating, I did not see the need to disallow my own." Siren tapped his forehead. "I did more than study mental selfdefense. I took classes in sensory detection as well. I can see what you can see, if I focus hard enough." He could literally look into his mind.

Clarks LP: 4300

"So now here we are. Both reliant on whatever card we draw next from our deck, because you emptied our hands." Clark spat as Siren ended his turn. "You are a fool! My deck still has an advantage over yours, there are no dead draws in this deck!" Clark drew again and activated Raigeki immediately, summoning thunder to wipe out the Psychic Wizard. "And you can not prepare for my cards, when I use 'em just as I draw 'em!" It would be a cinch to restart the Yata lock, by letting Yata Garasu attack directly now. "So you say, yet you are not even paying attention to my cards the normal way!" But the Wizards death triggered an effect too, Siren could summon a psychic from his grave, which the Wizard had banished as he was normal summoned. "Ggh." Again appeared the Serene Psychic Witch1000/400) was returned. "Damn it." He ended his turn. "Heh. Holding on to Yata Garasu eh?" Jason mocked him for choosing to leave himself wide open, by not setting Yata down as a defense. "Silence. You are next, Castle!" Siren then entered his battle phase again. "Direct attack." The witch slashed at Clark with her daggers. "I set a card and end my turn.".

Clarks LP: 2900

"Maybe with less complexity within our turns, we can discuss you more thoroughly?" Siren did have a lot of questions for this man. "Screw you! I did not spend four years as a run of the mill cop just to lose on my first day as myself!" He snapped. "You really head your memory modified then. Yes I can feel it now." Jason sensed the same mental artifacts within his mind, as he did within Deans. "I did not sense any within Lincoln though, when I worked with him. Is he even the same as you?" He asked. "That loser?" This question Clark did feel like responding too. "No, he was an active infiltrant, one that reported back daily to our superiors. He just lost that rank when he showed his face to you." Clark drew a card. "I will not however be demoted! So look at this spell, why don't you? Pot of Greed!" Clark played a card that let him draw two cards for no cost whatsoever. "Hahaha. This will show you! I remove Sangan and Magical Merchant from my graveyard!" He performed another chaos summoning. "And call out Black Luster Soldier!" This time he brought out the Envoy of the Beginning(3000/2500). "I use his first ability!" He attempted to banish the Witch from the field. Not even she could use her ability in that situation. "Telekinetic Power Well!"

Siren revealed his facedown spell card. "I special summon as many level 2 psychics from my graveyard as I can!" The spell brought back Time Escaper, Esper Girl and Psibeast. Siren then took damage equal to their combined levels, times 300. "Ungh. Those little pests." Nevertheless Clark could not finish a direct attack now. "I set a trap and end my turn." Yata Garasu returned to his hand once more. "..Draw." Siren looked into his hand and smiled. "Now what is so funny?" Clark hissed. "Just this. It is time to perform a synchro summon!" Esper Girl was a level 2 tuner, together with the Psibeast and Time Escaper they formed a level 6 synchro monster. "Psychic Nightmare!" He summoned the nightmarish psychic monster(2400/1800). "It gains power if I can guess what type of card is in your hand. For this I do not even need to use my empathic abilities!" Siren already knew the only card in his hand was Yata Garasu. "No you will not!" Clark however flipped his trap. "Ring of Destruction!" A ring of grenades attached itself to the Nightmare. "Sorry to tell ya, but you're toast!" The ring would explode, taking Sirens synchro down with it. And both players would lose lifepoints equal to its attackpoints. "Ahahaha!" Clark was ready to see the end. "A-Huh?"

Sirens LP: 300

Yet the trap never went off. "Lifeforce Harmonizer?" He saw his opponent discard another Psychic monster, which turned the ring into a dud. "Harmonizer negates an effect that does damage." He explained, before he used Psychic Nightmare's power. "The card in your hand is a monster." He guessed right and his powered up synchro(3400/1800) killed Black Luster Soldier. "Grrr. This is not over yet by a long shot!" Clark expected to draw another helpful card from his deck. However in this case he drew a very good card, at a very bad time. _"Witch of the Black Forest?" _Another monster was the last thing he needed right now. "...Damn it. This is not supposed to happen to me!" He placed the card down. "...You know I do not need to look into your mind to see what those cards are, right?"

Clarks LP: 2500

"If you could have prevented it, you would have done so. The fact that you placed just one card down means. The card in your hand is a monster too!" Reluctantly, Clark revealed his Yata Garasu again. Psychic Nightmare(3400/1800) gained the boost a second time. "Genetic Woman." And when he normal summoned the panther-woman(1700/1200), his victory was assured. "I do not have to hear much from you, Reaper. Just tell me this, was it you that attacked my school?" Clark let out one last grin. "Listen to you kid, all confident after you fooled death." He lowered his head. "Do it. You will not get the retribution you want here. Even if I did know who hit Dresden, I would not tell you." Siren closed his eyes. "That will do." He sent his psychics to attack, Genetic Woman clawed the Black Forest Witch away and Psychic Nightmare attacked Clark with pure terror energy. "Heh. Til next time." Clark then disappeared, warping away into a screen of light.

Clarks LP: 0

"Gah. I hate when they do that." Macbeth cursed. "We will get some technicians in here to inspect this place." Now at least they knew what their personal teleportations looked like. "You had a lot of guts taking him on like that." He then turned to Siren to congratulate him for his win. "I do not feel proud about it. Or much happier. And I am sorry i could not save your men." Siren looked at the guards Clark had drained of their lives. "...That is." Thursday took a closer look. "This is what happened, to the one before me. Is it not?" He could place it now, the memory of Richards death looked just like what had happened with these guards. "We will save them. Just like we will save you." Kein said to him. "Either way that guy could have done a lot worse." Jason was just glad they still had Dean in custody. "Tsk. Look at him, he did not even wake up from all that." That reaper was still resting. "He did help me in a way. I think I now understand their powers better, these Infinati." Siren picked up his book again. "This is just a theory. But I believe that what they take from us is not just our soul. The way they can modify memories, store it and then release it.." He closed the book. "I think what they took from those people is knowledge. What you experienced, what you learned, what you do and do not know you can do."

"Without that, your brain can not even tell the body to stay alive..."

(To be Continued in Mark 086: Like a Million Oracles Cried Out)

**New Cards used by Siren**  
>Reborn Tengu<br>Caam, the Serenity of Gusto  
>Lifeforce Harmonizer<p>

-  
>Telekinetic Power Well<p>

**Cards used by Clark**  
>Magician of Faith<br>Cyber Jar  
>Sangan<br>Witch of the Black Forest  
>Tribe-Infecting Virus<br>Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End  
>Yata Garasu<br>D.D. Warrior Lady  
>Magical Merchant<br>Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

-  
>Graceful Charity<br>Monster Reborn  
>Last Will<br>Raigeki  
>Pot of Greed<p>

-  
>Mirror Force<br>Imperial Order  
>Ring of Destruction<p> 


	86. 086: Like a Million Oracles Cried Out

**Mark 086: Like a Million Oracles Cried Out**

"So you have failed." The high cardinal of the Infinati addressed the reaper who recently returned to their hideout. "Bah. That kid cheated me out of a victory." Clark took a groveling stance, but his voice did not reflect his position. "It was you that denied the assistance, agent Clark. You could have prevented mental contamination of your duel flow if you had not gone alone." The cardinals voice meanwhile betrrayed no hint of disappointment, even if his words did. "Then punish me if that's what you called me here for." This was the first time he was allowed in here, the superiors altar. Reapers only got called here if they were about to rise in rank.. or the opposite. "I am affraid it has been decided that you must take the ultimate price for your failure." The cardinal stepped to the left. "Wait. No!" Behind the man a red light started to shine, and throbbing sounds filled the altar. "I can erase my tracks, you can change my identity even if you want. But do not.." His pleads fell on deaf ears however. And soon he too fell. He slumped to the floor like a lifeless doll. "The outcome of your continued assistance has been tested by design, and only further failures were detected. You are of far more use to Infinity, this way." The Cardinal said solemnly, as if someone in the room could still hear him.

Elsewhere, at an airport, "So what happened at the tower?" Sarah asked Gaunt who had just spoken to Kein on the phone. "It appears another Reaper tried to attack the building. But he was driven off. He was after Dean, but would have taken the lives of everyone else too if nobody had stopped him." Gaunt was not happy, souls were lost in the struggle still. "I make it a habit to never hire people who have families, children and wives. But there are always relatives." In the end there was always someone he had to lie to. "I still do not regret coming here." Sarah replied. "He knows that. And we know who is at fault." Urizen rasped. "But since the truth can not be told, someone has to take the blame." Urizen wondered for how much cover-ups they could keep making before it all crumbled down. "I never believed our building was safe from them, but still." He shook his head. "There was nothing you could do, sir." For once Ansoni had to reassure Gaunt. "As much of a problem as the Infinati are, we could not ignore the one that is waiting for us."

"Yes. We should be close to where she wants us to be."

The four signers traveled to the deserts of Nazca, the blackout's starting point was located there. Officially nobody knew what started it, as there were no major electrical facilities in that region. You would not know where to look unless you had a specific place in mind. Gaunt knew all too well which place he had to visit. "We're here." They had arranged for transport, to take them to one of the temples located in the region. They kept their guards outside. "This is where the nightmare ended for the people from a thousands of years ago, and where it began for us." They stood at the steps of the pyramid which had held the sealed gods. "..I expecting something bigger. Not this.." Urizen said, as this did not even look like a regular incan pyramid. It was a square hole in the ground, an inverted pyramid. "That was exactly why it took so long to find. It apparently took a year before this place was dug up. And it took generations before they even narrowed it down to this area." Of course, they knew who was behind the expedition that found this place.. "Before the Castillo's found it."

"Yes. Even if Malcean was the one that deliberately tried to free the gods. His predecessors tried to find the temple, so they could at least keep tabs on it. Their family was the only one who did not forget about the existence of the marks." Gaunt started walking down the stairs, all four sides of the inverted pyramid led to a hole at the center. "Didn't anybody put warning signs down?" Sarah thought it was a responsibility for the ones that built the temple in the first place. "They must have deteriorated over time, along with the culture." The four reached the hole. A metal ladder had been nailed into the opening for visitors to climb down from. "Follow me." They went down and ended up in a large dark hallway. "Here." But Gaunt found a light switch and various lamps hanging from the ceiling turned on. "Aw. I thought we were going to get torches." Sarah sighed. "Sorry. The End syndicate helped us secure and maintain all of this after the first incident with the gods. Just to keep unwanted attention away." Ansoni explained and they went on their way.

"Where exactly are we going?" Urizen had this question after they walked through a dozen similar tunnels. "To the tomb. It should not be far now." They came across a larger area, a chamber. "This was where the expedition ended." They saw it clearly now, the immortals resting place. There were six slabs along the wall, each of the smashed open. They could also see that glyphs had been carved into the wall, but time itself eroded them from the stone. "So. If this is the actual prison, what were the lines for?" Urizen had to ask. "Those were the scars they left behind in the earth, as they tried to escape. Or so the myth goes." Ansoni thought it sounded right. "Were you going to put the gods you captured back here?" Sarah wondered if that was even possible, considering the gods were in card form now. "We had no idea. The cards seem to hold them." Not that they had held on to them long enough to test that. "Well this is a dead end unless this is where she wanted to meet us." Urizen did not think it would take long. And indeed, the silence did not last. "Hey." One by one the lamps shattered. "She is doing this?" But a new source of light illuminated the catacombs, a light of many colors. "The slabs!" Ansoni gasped as he saw the six slabs themselves give off the light.

"Greetings." A mans voice spoke out from behind the slabs. "Who is there?" Ansoni asked, even as he felt like he had heard this man speak before. "Merely those that live to serve her." From the shadows came a man in grey robes, a formal looking fellow with a mustache and goatee. "Hey. Doesn't he look like.." The facial hair was new, but the face itself.. "Wait. You are that butler from Malceans place!" Sarah snapped her fingers as the memory came to her. "No he is not!" But a cheerful echo refuted her. "You know what day it is, it's Saturday!" Helen bounced into the room from the shadows of a formerly solid wall. "I see we get to meet you again too." Urizen grumbled. "Saturday will do as a name for now. I am the lady's third creation. I aim to please her, and as such I aim to please you gentleman today." He bowed for them. "Then you can tell us what the hell is going on here first." Urizen snapped at the man. "Most certainly. But first I must regrettably inform you all that lady Callisto herself shall not be joining us for the ritual. She does not want to come back here.. yet.."

"Ritual?" The signers already knew what they wanted cleared up first. "No, not that one. Not the one that messed up daddy Malcean." Helen flicked her finger. "An even better one. One that will give her everything she ever wanted." The temple started to shake. "Then what does this ritual do? is it something she needed all seven gods for?" Since this whole process did not start until Helen had taken Cusillu away, Gaunt assumed that was the case. "You would be correct. But you are needed as well." Saturday pointed at the four. "This ritual is an in between step that will correct the flaws of her fathers failed ceremony." Their marks all started to glow. "So she is just as mad as her father eh? Trying to become god too." Urizen did not know whether to laugh or not. "God is not real. Urizen Artani." Saturday said with a sudden nuance of sadness. "What?" They could not make anything from that statement. "No mortal can contain the power of all seven immortals. That was his mistake. But she can make a being that _can_ hold it."

"But what does she hope to gain from all this? If her father is dead, why is she continuing his plan?" Ansoni was the next to inquire. "It is not her intention to rule the world or anything as boring as that." Helen replied, rolling her eyes. "She just wants to make this world like gods world. So that both worlds are perfect and free of nasty things like death and crime and diseases. But also.." Helen used her harsher tone of voice again. "Those freaks like psychics will be no more. They will become just like the rest of them." Before she closed her eye and just grinned goofily. "A paradise is what that sounds like." Gaunt thought it was to good to be true. "Well it's what is real, that is what matters. Everyone that is real can join her and live happily ever after... Even hiccups like Thursday and Saturday here." The robed butler frowned. "We live only to serve. As long as she is there, even the gods must answer to her wishes." The slabs moved again. "Whoa." They actually started to levitate, the crushed halves and the rubble as well.

"Is she.. rebuilding them?" Gaunt saw the pieces come together at a rapid rate. "Aslla Piscu, Ccarayhua, Ccpac Apu, Chacu Challhua, Cusillu, Uru." The stones were whole again. "And the seventh." Even though they were several feet under the ground, sunlight started to seep in through the ceiling. Soon it looked like they were not inside at all anymore. "The sun itself, Wiraqocha Rasca!" Saturday and Helen welcomed the light with open arms, a shining sphere of golden flames descended into the tomb. "Behold the vessel!" Then the flames spread out and covered every chunk of stone, drawing them within their own core. "It can not be. She is.. fusing them?" The combined energies started to tear the place apart, walls crumbled and sand turned to glass. "Run!" Ansoni shouted, as the four made a break for the exit. "Hey, you are missing out on the best part!" Helen cried after them. The signers managed to reach the exit in time. And they paused to catch their breath. "That was.. something alright." Urizen said while panting. "But what did she create, down there?"

"Why don't you took a look for yourself?"

They were not alone up there. "Great.." Helen and Saturday waited for them at the edge of the pyramid. By now they were not even surprised that these people could catch up to them like that. "Like I said, you should not miss this." Helen giggled and pointed to her left. "Is that it?' A ray of light was shooting into the sky, it ripped clouds to a fine mist and reached all the way into the upper atmosphere. "Wait, what is it?" Yet as the four came back to ground level, they could see nothing at the source of the beam. "You see nothing yet. But what she has made is the immortal unbound and united." The lightray split up into several rays which moved throughout the sky. "Are they drawing something?" Sarah saw them cut the air, leaving red lines in their path as if they were using making the air bleed. The sky itself turned a dark shade of red. "It's the mark of the condor." Gaunt was the first to recognize it. "And yet." But the symbol they painted had seven heads instead of one, each earthbound god's head was placed on the condors body as well.

"All done!" Helen clapped. "Now you can be judged!" Urizen flinched. "Judged? That is what this is all about? We are being tested?" Saturday nodded. "Indeed. It was Wiraqocha's essence that your marks were created from. Now the seven travelers from gods world have become one to see whether or not you deserve to keep that essence." He raised his hand. "Six marks, six challenges. One after the other." He held up four fingers. "I see. four of us are here, so we each take turns." Gaunt expected a duel was forthcoming, he even had his deck with him. "What about Demistria? You are short one mark." Urizen referred to the signer who was on the side of Infinity. She was probably not going to accept this ultimatum, even if she was here. "She will be visited eventually. Your worthiness does not depend on her." He bowed again. "Now then. Those that wish to go first, come forward. You have all the time in the world, this judgment takes place outside of time." Saturday explained why they did not need to fear outside interference. "So it is just like with Ada then." Xavier had used a similar time freezing effect during their duel. "Alright!" Sarah rose up before any of the others could even get a word in. "Let me do this guys. I want to see what this being is like in a duel."

Nobody denied her this, as they figured each of them had to face this thing today anyway. "Yes!" She pumped her first and walked up to the light. "Now what do I do?" She stopped right in front of it. "Go through it. You will see what happens." Helen smiled. "Well okay, here goes nothing Sarah." She dove in head first, and came out the other side without a mark on her skin to show for it. "That was it?" She said, before she realized something _did _happen. "hey, that is..me?" She looked behind her and saw a girl with blonde hair, black and yellow clothes, blue eyes. "What is going on?" There stood a perfect duplicate of her. "The god of gods lacks a host, so he will draw from the body that has drawn from him." The second Sarah raised her wrist and revealed the wing tattoo. "Oh!" She quickly checked if hers was still there. Luckily it was. "This duel can only end one way, the winner keeps the mark and the loser loses it!" Helen helpfully explained. "I guess that's fair. Oh well. Let's do this then, me." She activated her dueldisk.

Sarahs LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 8000

"Yes, we will." Wiraqocha finally spoke. "We draw." And he or she, or whatever it really was, took the first turn. "Mausoleum of the Emperor." And it played a field spell Urizen know at heart. "That card huh. Now it can tribute summon by paying lifepoints. So that means.." He knew what he always used that card for. "We summon the Me that filled the oceans." Rasca paid 1000 LP twice to tribute summon a level 10 monster. "Chachu Challhua." The fake Sarahs eyes gained a purple hue, as did the outlines of her hair. "the whale.." And swimming though the ground was the killer whale god, Earthbound Immortal Chachu Challhua(2800/2400). "Wow. I guess you use all god cards instead of just one." Sarah hoped she did not have to deal with all seven of them. She had not even seen half of them in action. "The order in which this goes does not matter. There are seven of us, and four of you." The immortal one placed a trap card down and ended his turn. "If you do not slay all seven of us. Then we will reclaim what was once ours..."

Wiraqocha's LP: 6000

"And then we will gave it to her, the key to the world."

(To be Continued in Mark 087: Seven times Eternity)

**Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Earthbound Immortal Chachu Challhua<p>

-  
>Mausoleum of the Emperor<p> 


	87. 087: Seven times Eternity

**Mark 087: Seven Times Eternity**

"They are doing what right now?" Ada gasped in disbelief as she heard the full story from the Aces. "They were invited to the place where it all started, to meet with Callisto." They had told her already that the future-seeing girl had been responsible for the global blackout, but ot that she had literally beckoned the signers to come towards the nazca desert. "But can you see what is going on there, or have you heard from them?" Was her question, one to which they could only shake their heads. "Communications could not be established, we only get static. Furthermore while we usually have at least one satellite to cover that area, something shorted it out just a few minutes ago." Kein knew something was taking place there, but they were not allowed to watch. "You think A..Xavier could be there?" Since he had spoken about reuniting with Callisto too, she figured he would be there. "And.." Yet at that point she finally noticed who else was in the conference room. "Aren't you?" She looked at a most certainly breathing Richard. "And wait. He is here too?" She saw Jason sitting in a corner. "What is going on here!" She was so confused she could scream. "It is a long story.." Thursday said.

...

Sarah's LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 6000

"So she gets to remake the world when you win? Are you okay with that?" To Sarah it sounded like a bad deal; this god would get nothing while she got everything. "We owe her this. We made this world, yet she allowed us to return to ours." Was all that the one mirroring her body said. "It was the least you could do huh? Well I guess either way we end up with a destruction-happy lord." She summoned a Wattgiraffe(1200/100) to the field. "Pop, Direct attack!" Since right now she could do anything about the Earthbound Immortal(2800/2400) on the field, she ordered the Giraffe to attack around it. "Roar of the Earthbound." But the Wattbeast never made it passed the whale. "What?" Chacu Challhua let out a howl, the soundwaves of which crushed the Giraffe. "It's a continuous trap?" Ansoni saw it, Wiraqocha had played a card that destroyed all monsters that dared to attack while they were weaker than the god. "Agh. And it damages me too." Sarah lost lifepoints equal to half the attacking monsters attackpoints. "There goes half my strategy.."

Sarah's LP: 7400

"But I will seal your attacks! Swords of revealing Light!" Sarah played a three-turn lasting spell, swords rained down on the opponensts field which prevented its monsters from attacking. "Your move." Even Chacu Challhua was bound by it. "No, Sarah wait!" But Urizen knew what abilities the killer whale had besides its standard powers. "Huh?" The god dove into the desert ground. "If it is in defense position, it can inflict damage equal to half its defense points!" Urizens warning came too late, as the whale's fin came up behind her and slashed passed her. "Yowza!" Half of 2400, meant she lost 1200 lifepoints in that turn. "I can not even keep him at bay?" After that strike Wiraqocha placed one trap down again and ended his/her turn. "It's even worse. As long as that god is in defense mode, you will not be able to declare attacks at all." Gaunt explained. "If I could even do that." Sarah was low on options. Her hand had direct attacking monsters, but nothing that could get rid of the Immortal or the continuous trap. "Gah. I set a monster."

Sarahs LP: 6200

"D2 Shield." And as soon as she ended her turn, Wiraqocha revealed its second trap card. "The defense booster?" Ansoni recognized the card as one that doubled a monsters defense points. "But that means." Sarah let out a cry of exasperation as Chacu Challhua's(2800/4800) defense rose. "Yep yep. It will hit twice as hard!" Helen clapped as the killer whale submerged once more. It coursed through the sand like a shark and hit the blonde dead on. "Aaaah!" She jumped out of the path of the fin just in time, but still took all 2400 points of damage. "Oh come on. I have not even hit you once!" At this rate she would not be able to make a a contribution at all. "..." Yet her opponent neither mocked nor commented on her frustrations. It placed another card down before it ended its turn. "Does he or she even have monsters besides the immortals?" Urizen noticed it had not summoned anything else once Chacu Challhua hit the field. "Not like it matters. I have the field shut down." Sarah got up and brushed off her knees. _"Come on Sarah, comeback time!"_

Sarahs LP: 3800

She drew her next card, and it was exactly what she needed to put it all in motion. "Get ready for the big guns!" She first flipped her facedown monster, the Microcell Batteryman(100/100). "Mike's effect summons a Batteryman from my deck!" She called out the Batteryman AA(1000/0). "Then I summon a battery charger from my hand, Dynamico!" Batteryman Charger(1800/1200) was tribute summoned, after Mike the Micro-cell was tributed. "He gains 300 attackpoints for each battery monster on my field, and can bring out another from my deck." The Charger charged up a second AA Battery, so a second Batteryman AA joined the first. The two(2000/0) powered each other up, and their Charger(2700/1200). "I think I know what is coming." Urizen smirked as he had seen her use it before, the spell she took from her hand. "Short Circuit. Since I control three Batterymen, all cards on your field are destroyed!" The batteries joined forces and unleashed a fierce thunder storm that blew away the Earthbound Whale god. The Mausoleum and Earthbound Roar trap were scattered across the sands as well. "You got him!" Ansoni cheered. "Yeah, Ada, Aaron, Dynamico: Triple charge him!" The three thunder monsters ran up to the fake Sarah and zapped her with their powers.

Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 0

"Yes I did it, I did it!" Sarah jumped and down frantically, celebrating her victory. "I..but.. What in the what?"

Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 8000

"Hey. What gives?" Sarah saw the godfusion standing up as if nothing had happened. Even worse, it had regained all the lifepoints it lost, even the ones it used for the Mausoleum. "I won, didn't I?" She did not get what was going on, and Wiraqocha Rasca was not talking. "Its.. eyes.." But Ansoni saw that something had changed, the fake Sarahs eyes had gone from a purple to a red color. "I am dreadfully sorry to inform you." Saturday spoke up again. "But you allowed yourselves to be deceived. This is not a judgment in the way you expected." Urizen turned to him. "What do you mean?" He snapped at the butler. "Wiraqocha is not just one foe you must overcome. Lady Rain vanquished only one immortal." The sealed card of Chacu Challhua floated down to the ground. "So, this is what it means to face him? I have to destroy six more of them?" She could not believe this. "You tricked us!" Urizen cursed. "No no no. We never said it would not be like this." Helen laughed. "Now continue the game, six more lives remain!"

"Z-ONE." The fused god spoke again, revealing the card he set down which had also been destroyed by Short Circuit. "Oh. That spell triggers when it is destroyed while set!" Sarahs destructive combo helped the god as well, as Z-ONE allowed it to take a field out of the grave and back into its hand. "Oh boy." Sarah saw her mirror self take back the Mausoleum of the Emperor. "Not done yet!" Before she let her turn finish, she placed a card down. "Red color.." It did not take a genius to figure out what earthbound was coming next. "We summon the me that weaves the threads between souls, Earthbound Immortal Uru." The Mausoleum field spell returned, and again two sets of 1000 lifepoints were paid so that a level ten monster could be summoned without tributes. Then the opponent placed a card down and then activated one. "Field Barrier." It was a spell that prevented field cards from being destroyed. "Earthbound Whirlwind." And then the enemy played a spell card which required the presence of an Earthbound Immortal. "Ah!" One that wiped out all of Sarahs spells and traps, her swords and set card were taken away. "We attack." Uru wasted none of its time on squabbling and immediately fired a stream of webs at Sarah.

Sarahs LP: 800 Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 6000

"Sarah!" She should have survived such an attack, yet it looked devastating physically. "I'm alright. I think she is taking it easy on me." She coughed. "The only thing that changes every time I get hit.." Everyone could see what had happened, she was not injured, it was the mark that suffered. "I lose some of this." The wing sign had nearly completely left her arm. "But I am not gonna let that get me down!" She shouted before she drew a card. "Since I control two batterymen or more, I can special summon this one from my hand." Sarah called out the Fuel Cell batteryman(2100/0). "Meet Electromite! With all of the fuel from another battery, he can return one card on the field to the opponents hand!" And while Uru was the obvious target, she saw the glaring weakness that each earthbound god had. "Your Barrier stops me from destroying fields, but not from returning them! I return the Mausoleum!" The Fuel Cell tributed Batteryman Charger, and she sent the field spell back to Wiraqocha's hand. Uru would destroy itself as soon as the field was gone. "Way to go." The others were amazed, she could knock another life off of the god now! "Messenger of Truce." Yet Uru was not destroyed. It instead disappeared from the field. "Hey, where did it go?"

Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 3000

_Wall of Concealing Light, Continuous Trap_  
><em>Return one monster on your side of the field to your hand and pay lifepoints equal to its defense points. Negate all damage done to you, which is less then the lifepoints paid.<em>

"No way." The trap he/she had played right now, saved Uru and prevented her from finishing him off, all at the same time. "Aw. Too bad. You did well. But of course..the ones who take point are the ones to fall first." Helen knew she had lost, there was almost nothing that could stop the god now. She could not even damage him anymore. "..I set a monster and trap card down." And she could not place much hope in her sets either, they were not something that stopped attacks. "We, the seven, find you unworthy." Wiraqocha Rasca drew a card and reactivated the Mausoleum spell field. "Return, Uru." They paid another 2000 lifepoints to normal summon the spider immortal(3000/3000) from their hand. "I am sorry guys. I did not expect this." Sarah sighed and braced herself. "Return to us. Wing of the creator." Uru fired another shot of webs, destroying Batteryman Fuel Cell and depleting the last of Sarahs lifepoints. The mark on her arm faded completely, while the mark on the fake Sarah glowed brightly. What once made her special was now no more.

Sarah's LP: 0 Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 1000

"Damn it. This is not fair at all. Let me take care of this bastard." Urizen had been forced to sit by and watch until now, he could take little more. "Calm yourself Urizen. We must not go at this opponent unprepared." Gaunt tried to stop his son. "how can we prepare for this? This is insane!" He yelled back at his father. "Well you better pick soon." Helen told them both, as the light that cracked through the ground started to spread. "It is gaining power?" Sarah's duplicated form disappeared, as the radiance moved towards the Artani's. "No. I will be your opponent!" But it was Ansoni who activated his dueldisk and crossed the path of the energy first. "..." And then from the divine rays came Ansoni's double, this form too carried the crimson eyes of the spider god. "We accept you." His arm glowed with the mark of the heart. "Sir. I think I know how this works." Ansoni said to his chief as he started shuffling his deck. "Uru attacked Sarahs monster instead of Sarah herself last turn. I wondered why he would fear her monster, unless..."

"Look at his field." Gaunt and Urizen realized what was still towering over the desert, the Immortal Uru. "The field is not reset?" The Mausoleum of the Emperor was still there, as were Sarahs two set cards and three Batterymen. "This is like a gauntlet duel?" Just like the time against the Reapers, which Urizen guessed was at least better odds then one against seven. "And your god does not regain his first life either, does he?" Ansoni looked at Saturday. "Consider it a gift. The deception hid more than disadvantages." He stated flatly. "Even so, it is still four against seven." Both sides were down one member. And even if Sarahs field had the advantage in numbers, Ansoni could do nothing with those. "But I will not let your duel go to waste Ms. Rain." He took her cards and placed them on his disk. "I believe in you." She said back to him. "And if I am to lose.." He too believed that Urizen and Gaunt would not let him down. "I am ready. Wiraqocha Rasca. To be judged by you." He drew six cards and started his turn. "You are the embodiment of everything I have been trained to fight against, It is time to see how much I have learned!"

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 1000

"Oh that reminds me." Helen whispered something into Saturday's ear. "Oh. But of course. It shall be done." He bowed and then vanished. "What? Where do you think you're going?" Urizen did not now what they were going to do, but it could not be anything good. "We just have a couple of errands to run, Artani. We will be back soon! Bye bye!" Helen waved her hand before she too disappeared by slipping into the shadows on the ground. "..."

Back at R-tech...

"So if you could get back your memories, maybe Ali can get them back too?" Ada had just been informed on Thursday's whole deal, and it gave her new hope. "It is hard to tell. We know Ali was not attacked by the Infinati." Macbeth feared that this case was not the same as Richards. "I know. But what she did do, it was so unreal." She recalled how Callisto trapped Xaviers soul in a card, or so she said. She did not know where that card ended up. "If everything you say is true. Than both my body and his had to be consumed by the gods, and the ritual. She did not create me.."

"But she did give you purpose." A polte voice addressed his statement. "Who?" Ada, Thursday and the Aces turned to their left. "Hey. It's.." There they saw Saturday emerge from a crimson portal which closed behind him. Ada recognized his face as well. "That butler from Malceans place?" He was another person they had thought to have lost to Aslla Piscu. "Who are you?" Yet the man played no part in Thursday's or Richards memories at all. "I am your successor, proper. You called yourself Thursday, I am Saturday." He bowed to them as well and extended a hand. "But Callisto is everything including forgiving. Thursday, you can rejoin her now.. if you wish.."

(To be Continued in Mark 088: Unwritten in Blood)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Batteryman Charger<br>Batteryman Fuel Cell

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Earthbound Immortal Uru<p>

-  
>Z-ONE<br>Field Barrier  
>Earthbound Whirlwind<p>

-  
>Roar of the Earthbound<br>D2 Shield_  
>Wall of Concealing Light<em>


	88. 088: Unwritten in Blood

**Mark 088: Unwritten in Blood**

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 1000

"Here I come, Wiraqocha Rasca!" It was Ansoni's turn, and this was the duel he had been training all his life for. "I summon Maximus of the Koa'ki Meiru, by banishing the Iron Core of the Koa'ki Meiru from my hand!" The core was absorbed by a alien-like dragon of metal(3000/2500). "This monster can destroy one card on the field every turn!" Field Barrier still shielded the Mausoleum, but Ansoni could now just target the god directly. "I destroy Uru!" The steel dragon fired a redhot laser from its eye, targeting the spider(3000/3000). "Shifting Geoglyphs." Yet a trap card of the opponent was played to put a stop to that plan. "What?" He saw the redness leave his doppelgangers eyes for just an instant, but it soon came back. "But I.." And while the Immortal was indeed destroyed, another one just like it(3000/3000) emerged from the burned corpse of the first. "His trap?" He noticed it now, a continuous trap called Shifting Geoglyphs. "Every time I destroy a god, he can summon another from his deck?" He could not believe his eyes.

_Shifting Geoglyphs, Continuous Trap  
>Once a turn, when a face-up 'earthbound immortal' monster you control is destroyed by a card effect your opponent controls, special summon an 'earthbound immortal' monster from your deck.<br>This card's effect and activation can not be negated._

"Ugh, who even made them support cards?" Urizen protested. "I already said that we do not know." Gaunt replied. "Some cards just are not accounted for, it is as if certain people have the ability to create whole new cards that immediately get accepted by our technology." He did not like it, but had no way around it. "But everyone, have you noticed?" During his endphase Ansoni had to discard a monster from his hand to keep Maximus on the field. But he was taking one bit of solace from this setback. "This is the third time by now, that he summoned a god without absorbing the souls around it." The others gasped. "Hey that's right. That heart beating thingy never appeared." Sarah usually saw the heart of a god appear before it could take solid form. "Have you reached a stage where you no longer even need mortal souls to sustain your true forms?" Gaunt asked Wiraqocha, but he did not respond. "We attack." Instead he sent uru to bombard the unfortunate Ansoni with its webs. "Ugh. I do not think he will converse much, sir."

Ansoni's LP: 5000

"The heart." Ansoni saw his mark fade from his arm too, a direct result of his lost lifeforce. "..Well. Let us try this again." Ansoni said to the god as he drew a certain spell card from his hand. "I target Uru!" Maximus fired another laser, which pierced the spiders second body. "Even you have to follow the limits of the fight, you can only use each body three times. But also..you can only use the effect of that trap card once a turn!" A second destruction effect could not be stopped. "We call the me that moves the skies with its wings." Yet instead of a third Earthbound Immortal uru, the Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu(2500/2500) was summoned from its deck. "What? It can go from one form to the other willingly?" The fake Ansoni now had orange irises and an orange aura, it was assuming the symbol of the hummingbird. "Damn it. If Aslla Piscu leaves the field in any way." The duelist oversaw his own field, besides Maximus he had three of Sarahs monsters left, a set card and two AA Batterymen(2000/2000). "I will lose all my monsters and take 800 damage for each destroyed card." 3200 lifepoints was what he could lose. "Oh no. I did not mean to.." Sarah flinched, her own deck was helping the enemy kill Ansoni. "No. Do not apologize Sarah. You are not to blame, this has to be done.."

"First I play Koa'ki Meiru Initialize! I sacrifice a Core monster to add an iron core to my hand!" Maximus was tributed so that its own core could return to spell card form. "Now that I have a core in my hand, I can activate this spell! Koa'ki Ring!" It was a card the gods would do well to remember. "It destroys one monster and inflicts 1000 damage to both our lifepoints!" Last time it forced him and his opponent to draw with each other, this time the spell would only defeat one side. "I do not fear you!" The ring was attached to Aslla Piscu. "Wait. His wall is still up!" Urizen warned him about the Wall of Concealing Light. "I know. But Sarah left me a trap too." Her eyes widened. "Oh..yeah I did!" And Ansoni revealed the set trap. "Trap Stun! All your traps are negated, god!" The Concealing Wall became thin enough to bypass. "So take it!" And then Koa'ki Ring exploded, taking down the hummingbird and hurting them both. Aslla Piscu in return used its effect to devastate Ansoni's field and inflict damage for all three monsters that perished.

Ansoni's LP: 1600 Wiraqocha Rasca 2's LP: 0

"..." The other Ansoni did not budge, or move from his spot. "Agh." The real one was forced back a fair bit by the destruction, but managed to remain standing. "Two lives down." He grunted, as he saw a card float down besides the already fallen Chacu Challhua. "But not Uru." Because Aslla Piscu had been the god at the time of its second death, that was the one he captured. _"To think that this is the first god I ever sealed too." _Had it been two months earlier, he would not have thought it would have been that hard. His deck had been built up from the ground to counter any possible effect and especially counter beings of the darkness.

Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 8000

"But I have not shown you every move yet." Ansoni had not even normal summoned his turn. "I call out Koa'ki Meiru Doom." A wind devil(1900/1600) was his choice. "As long as I control this card, light and dark monsters can not be special summoned." It was not much of an assist against someone who kept normal summoning his dark gods, but any discouragement could help. "For now I will attack directly with him!" Drago roered and let out blast of flames to douse Wiraqocha with. "..." But it still did not give an inch. "It's like dueling a wall." Heck, he could only get in that one hit because he had stunned his concealing wall this turn. "I discard the Iron Core from my hand to keep Doom on the field. And I end my turn." During the endphase, the Concealing Wall could negate all damage below 3000 points once more. "We.." The god drew again, and placed both cards in its hand down. "..Do not act." And he let his turn move on to its endphase. "Huh? I guess he had to run out of god cards to draw eventually." Urizen chuckled.

Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 6100

"Not that I can take advantage of that. Unless I can get rid of his two traps." Ansoni drew again. _"No.." _Yet he gained a card for which he had no use. The trap Automatic Laser, which could not be activated right now and would not even bypass the Geoglyph Shift. _"..I think. This is as far as I go." _He sighed and placed the card down anyway. "I activate Iron Core Armor." Drago was given a chestplate. "During the endphase, he can offer the equipment to keep itself from being destroyed." The dragon discarded the armor, so it could escape the death it usually would suffer during an endphase. _"I can only hope. That he does not draw a god in his next turn." _And so he waited for the next turn, and at first his wishe seemed to have been granted, as Wiraqocha's eyes remained grey at the start of his turn. "Magic Planter." And yet, he should have been less hopeful. "Ah!" The god fusion activated a spell that destroyed a continuous trap, but in return they could draw twice. "We select, the Concealer." Their dark wall shattered, and two cards cme from its deck.

"We summon the me that controls the reach of the trees." Their eyes turned yellow, and 2000 lifepoints were again fed to the Mausoleum of the Emperor. The monkey Cusillu(2800/2400) was brought unto the field. "I am sorry sir. I could not do more for you." Ansoni was done for sure. "..We attack." And the monkey raised its hand, before slamming it into the ground. "Helion!" He was flung from his spot by the force of the blow, even though his body remained untouched. "Gah." Ansoni landed back on the sand harshly. And he quickly saw that the mark of the heart was gone. "That's two down." Besides Sarahs sign of the wing, Wiraqocha Rasca now held the mark of the heart on his chest. "Four remain." He abandoned the form of Ansoni and took on a form of light once more. But by now the others could clearly see that Wiraqocha was gaining from his victories, wings of light and a beating chest could vaguely be made out within the beam. "Did he just say four?" Yet the enemy did not move on to the Artani's.

Ansoni's LP: 0 Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 4100

Back at R-tech...

"What I am saying is that your transgressions are a thing of the past, Thursday. You can not be hold accountable for the contamination of your mind." Saturday was still extending his hand. "Contamination? Are you talking about.." Macbeth caught up to what he was talking about. "His memories, his past as Richard Marshall?" But Saturday just rolled his eyes. "Yes and people keep calling me a butler to the lady's old man. But I know that not to be true." He withdrew his hand and placed it on his chest. "Whatever you think he was, whatever you think I am. None of that is reality. Callisto has given us our true names, and a new purpose. Tobias Macbeth, you could ask for your true name as well." The Ace of Diamonds was taken by surprise by this odd comment. "None of that was real?" Yet now Ada would have none of it. "Are you saying that is also the case with Xavier? That his life with us was fake? That he did not exist until he became a slave of her?" She hated every last word that came from his mouth. "How sad..."

"You define your own existence by the values of others. Perhaps you have no true name after all." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Saturday." And now his predecessor at last spoke with him.. "I know her well, lady Callisto. She gave me life and she would never abandon me. Yet the things that awoke inside of me, the feelings this Richard had for these people here. I sense they are every bit as real as my affections for the lady. If not stronger.." Saturday raised his head. "Those are dangerous words." He did not have an approving tone. "I do not wish to stand against her, but I do not wish to see these people harmed either. I am certain that we can arrange for something that leads to a peaceful coexistence?" Thursday spoke with a passion Saturday apparently did not expect, as the servant had a bewildered look on his face. "Truly your are different. Yet it is not up to me to decide. We will take this desire to her. But first.." Suddenly he directed his gaze towards Jason Castle. "I must finish an errand." He smiled.

"What, why are looking at me like that?" Jason did not like this at all. "You are related to the lady by blood, am I not correct?" Saturday asked, and Jason nodded slowly. "Then you can come with me. I fear our ladys invitations have been misinterpreted." He paused for a second, enough time to let it sink in. "She requested her brothers presence as well." And the brothers response was to jump up from his seat. "She does what? Why?" And to start yelling. "You must not have been aware of it, but the legitimacy of all signers is being questioned right now." He pointed a finger at Jason. "That includes you." Everyone flinched. "Him? He is a signer?" This came as a shock, since they had never seen a mark on his body. "Are you mad? She was the one who inherited her fathers mark!" He protested, showing off his bare wrist as evidence. "Nobody ever said she inherited it, usually it is the elder who receives the father or mothers blessing. And Callisto, at the time, could not control the flow of gods blood. She could see, but not touch."

"I will summarize: You possess part of the whole, one finger of the condors claws. The lady inherited enough to pass on her blessing to us." Saturday revealed part of the claw mark on his wrist, and Thurday's mark was glowing as well. "Tch. I should have seen that." Only now did Kein realize Thursday's mark only had two nails instead of the three Malceans sign had. "Then, why did I never.." Jasons arm still showed nothing. "It is dormant. As long as either sibling has part of the claw inside, they hold each other back. So.." He extended his hand once more, to Jason this time. "Jason, you are to be judged along with the others." Jason walked towards him. 'I can not just say no, can I?" He grumbled. "If you do, you forfeit the mark right here and now." Saturday smirked. "Over my dead body. If my sister wants it, I have all the more reasons to keep it from her." He grabbed Saturday's hand. "Very good. I will take you there, and tell you how the challenge works on the way.." He then spared his 'associate' a quick glance. "Thursday. if you wish to help both sides. I'd suggest you go back to your other captive. After all, all signers have to face the judge today. Even the ones that stand on the side of infinity." And then he placed his other hand on Jasons, and the two disappeared in a flash of dark flames. "He was talking about.. Demistria?"

The Next thing Jason saw was the Nazca desert around him. The next person he heard was Urizen. "How the.." Jason saw them, and then he saw what the geoglyph of Wiraqocha in the sky. "So this is what you had to stand up against." And as he stood in front of the beam, it moved right across him. "Gah!" A second later there was another Jason. "Okay. That's new." He took a few steps back. "Wait. Why does it want to duel you?" Sarah scratched her head. "Believe it or not. But dear sis says I have part of fathers sign inside me. And she wants it." Jason took out a pack of cards. "Well she can send as many gods as she wants. I am not running from her." He drew six cards. "Though if she wanted to invite me, she did not need to shut down the whole globe." He scoffed. "You people can travel great distances at random, and take others with you too. Why could she not be straight forward about these invites?" He waited for a reply, but Saturday was not giving one. "Heh. Of course, I am talking about her after all. She never was one for logic."

Jasons LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 4100

"And I see I get to keep what you left me." Jason took over the field. "Yes. You will need it." Ansoni gave him his trap card and his Drago core monster. "I will not decline it. And now whatever you are.." Jason added six cards to his hand. "I will take your god down in the blink of an eye! I summon the tuner monster, Trust Guardian!" A level 3 fairy(0/800) was summoned. "I equip it with Vylon Core!" He gave the guardian a golden sphere to hold. "Then I combine it with the level 4 Koa'ki meiru Drago to synchro summon Seven Swords Warrior!" The endresult was a level 7 golden armored knight(2300/1800).

_Vylon Core, Equip Spell  
>Equip only to a tuner-monster. The synchro monster that used the monster card equipped with this card as a synchro material monster counts as a "Vylon"-type monster while it is face-up on the field.<br>If this face-up card is sent to the Graveyard, you can add 1 "Vylon" Spell Card from your Deck to your hand._

(To be Continued in Mark 088: Black Sheep of the Black Family)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Maximus<br>Koa'ki Meiru Drago

-  
>Koa'ki Meiru Initialize<br>Iron Core Armor

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu<br>Earthbound Immortal Cusillu

-  
>Magic Planter<p>

-  
><em>Shifting Geoglyphs<em>

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Trust Guardian<br>Seven Swords Warrior

_-  
>Vylon Core<em>


	89. 089: Black Sheep of the Black Family

**Mark 089: Black Sheep of the Black Family**

"Where did they go?" Ada asked Thursday, as she believed he was the one who knew most about this whole thing. "The land of Nazca I assume. To where Gaunt and the others are as well." Kein said. "Yeah but. How? How can they even move that fast. Can you do that too?" She asked Thursday again. "Yes I can. I simply will myself to be in a position on this world and I shall end up there. My lady explained it to me like this; since this world is not real, the distances between one point and the other can be as long and short as you want. Though it takes effort and energy." As such thursday could not show it off right here and now. "But you could take me there as well, if I asked?" He nodded. "Ada. We do not even know if Xavier is there." Macbeth tried to discourage her. "I also recommend staying here. Whatever the signers are dueling, they have to do it on their own." Thursday knew that batter than anyone too. "Okay. But I still want to help." Ada sighed. "Could I at least see what happened to Dean? I heard you were interrogating him." _That _could be arranged.

Jasons LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 4100

"Seven swords Warrior: Every time it takes out a weapon, you take damage!" He equipped the Seven Swords Warrior(2300/1800) with the Vylon Filament he added to his hand when Vylon Core had been sent to the cemetery, and Wiraqocha took 800 points of damage. "Wait. I thought a Vylon weapon can only be used by Vylons." Urizen protested. "Why are you complaining? Anyway, because Trust Guardian had Vylon Core equipped to itself, my Seven swords Warrior is now a Vylon monster as well." So Vylon Seven Swords Warrior could equip any Vylon spell it wanted. "Once per turn, it can send an equipment it is wielding away as well. And when one of its equipments falls into the grave, a monster on the field is destroyed!" The warrior tossed away the Filament, sending it flying at the neck of Earthbound Immortal Cusillu(2800/2400). The monkey's head came clean off.

Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 3300

"As I said, your god is destroyed in an instant. And.." However his joy was shortlived. "Why is that there?" A new god emerged from the body of the fallen Cusillu, the lizard Ccarayhua(2800/1800). "It is his trap card: Shifting Geoglyphs. As long as he controls it, he can switch out a dying earthbound for a new one from his deck." Gaunt explained as he saw his most hated of immortals take solid form. "That's bothersome." Jason cursed, he was forced to end his turn. "We have summoned the me that crawls and carves the surface of the earth." The Jason double extended his hand. "We attack." But Jason discarded a card from his hand before the main phase ended. "Not so fast! I discard Effect Veiler to negate your monsters effect! " The Veiler would prevent the Lizard god from attacking him directly for one turn. "..We attack." But Wiraqocha maintained his stance, he simply targeted something else. The lizard and knight exchanged blows. "In your dreams." But both survived. "Trust Guardian has an effect on its synchro monster. It allows Seven swords to dodge death in battle. But in exchange it gives up power." His warrior(1900/1800)'s swords were cracked. "..." Wiraqocha did not respond. He placed two trap cards down. "Tch. You are not one for talking are you?"

Jasons LP: 7500

So far the enemy only spoke to declare attacks, summons and activations. "Earthbound Linewalker." Just like right now, when it summoned a non immortal monster from its hand, the Linewalker(1100/1900). "That card?" Urizen had used that one before when he was possessed by a god. "It prevents his immortals from dying in case their field blows up." He told Jason. "Ah. I know what he wants." Jason realized his synchro monster could destroy Ccarayhua, but that would be more than useless. "Ccarayhua. If I wipe it out, the whole field will go down as well. Except for his damn field spell." He noticed a Field Barrier was put in place as well, he could not destroy field cards as long as that was active. "But that will not be enough to stop me, Callisto!" He drew a card. "Wherever you are hiding, I know you can hear and see me! So watch this!" He equipped his synchro monster with another Vylon Filament, which he had added to his hand last turn when the first was sent to the cemetery. "I will start with this!" The enemy took 800 damage again.

Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 2500

"I send Vylon Filament to the grave!" Seven swords tossed another weapon away, but he aimed it at the Linewalker instead of the Immortal. It was destroyed, and Jaosn could take one more Vylon spell out of his deck thanks the the Filaments effect. "I take Vylon Matter!" He played that card immediately too. "By sending three equipment cards in my grave back, one card on the field is destroyed." He returned Vylon Core and the Filaments. "I choose the Barrier!" And the shield surrounding the Mausoleum field spell broke into pieces. "And now for the field itself." Jason normal summoned the level 4 Trident Warrior(1800/1200). "Trident Warrior can summon a level 3 monster from my hand." Jason chose to summon a Vylon Stella(1400/200). "I tune the two together." The stelloid tuner and trident wielder were used as materials for the summoning of a level 7 dragon. The Ancient Fairy Dragon(2100/3000). "Remember this Callisto? It was once your favorite dragon monster! You called it your counterpart to my Powertool Dragon!"

But there was still no response, from his enemy or his sister. "I fear your pleas will remain unanswered, Jason Castle. She will not enter this world yet." Saturday was the only one who spoke up. "I was not talking to you." Jason snapped back at the butler. "This is typical. I guess she likes her new world too much. I should have been part of that too, and now she wants it all for herself." He would never let that happen. "Ancient Fairy Dragon can destroy a field spell of my enemy, and give me a field of my own!" He shouted as the angelic dragon basked the desert with her radiance, erasing the Mausoleum from the ground up. "I add the Divine armory to my hand!" Jasons lifepoints were also restored by a 1000 points by the ancient one. "Now, without your field.'" Ccarayhua withered away, it was destroyed by its own effect so it could not wipe out the field. "And Shifting Geogyphs does not work on Earthbounds that are destroyed by your effects either." The continuous trap could not replace the lizard with another god. "Double direct attack!" Seven Swords and Ancient Fairy Dragon struck at the defenseless Wiraqocha Rasca, swords and flares reduced his life to nothing. ".." And this time the green aura dissapated, the Lizard god was sealed in its card form once more.

Jasons LP: 8500 Wiraqocha Rasca 3's LP: 0

_"You can not win.." _

"What?" At that point Jason heard a voice. "Callisto, was that you?" He looked around but did not see her, he could not even tell where the voice came from. "Answer me damn it!" While he was shouting at the air.." Jason, what are you doing! The duel is not over yet!" Urizen yelled at him to pay attention at his opponent. "Huh?" Wiraqocha arose once more, back at full health. "But I..I won!" Jason saw his life go down. "This guy has seven lives, Jason." Sarah quickly told him. "Seven? Don't joke around!" But they were not kidding him, and he soon had to accept that too. "No way." Now he saw the three sealed god cards in the sand. "Four lives left? Eheheh. Easy." He placed the Divine Armory on the field and was about to end his turn. "You can not win." Yet the enemy repeated the words he heard before. "Revival of the Immortals." Then the god flipped one of his face-down cards, a trap that brought back an immortal from the grave. "Cusillu." He chose the monkey(2800/2400), and the fake Jasons colors shifted to yellow once more. "Ggh. End turn." Then the enemy started its turn by playing a new field spell to replace the Armory already. "Light from Worlds Scar." The spell cracked open the Divine Armory and also the ground underneath the desert, sending more beams up into the clouds.

Wiraqocha Rasca 4's LP: 8000

_Light from Worlds Scar, Field Spell  
>You can summon monsters, ignoring the effects of any "Earthbound Immortal" monsters you control. 'Earthbound Immortal' monsters you control can not be destroyed as a result of trap cards.<em>

"Does that mean, he can summon as many gods as he wants now?" Normally only one Earthbound Immortal was allowed on the field. That part of their effects were negated now.. "Monster Slots." Then they activated a spell card. "Wait. That lets him draw a card. And if it is a monster with the same level as a monster he controls..." Gaunt was familiar with that spell, it was quite recent. "He can summon it?" Wiraqocha drew, and gained an Earthbound Immortal. "We summon the me that overshadows the natural darkness." All the Earthbound had the same level, so when it was drawn it could be summoned: Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu(3000/2500). "Not that one." And this one was Urizens least favorite. "We attack." Cusillu killed Ancient Fairy dragon with one swipe. Its effect inflicted additional damage equal to the dragons attackpoints. "Wait. When a monster with Vylon Stella is attacked, the monster is destroyed at the end of the battle step!" While his Ancient Fairy did die, the stelloid Vylon lashed back at Cusillu and cut it down. "Shifting Geoglyphs." Yet this just allowed the enemy to exchange the first Giant for another Giant, a second Ccapac Apu(3000/2500). "That just made things worse." Sarah cried out.

Jasons LP: 5500

Then Cusillu struck out at the Warrior. "Trust Guardian!" Again he used the effect of the guardian to save the knight by weakening him(1500/1800). And because Cusillu had been revived by Revival of the Immortals, it could not inflict battle damage anyway. "But that effect is once per turn only." Jason said to himself, as the second Ccapac Apu brought down his hand, crushing the golden warrior with an open palm. "And the damage.." Jason lost 2300 lifepoints, because those were the original attackpoints of the slain synchro. "He would have done less damage had he just made two direct attacks." Ansoni noted, even though it did little to help. "Is this all.. eheheh." Jason entered his turn and summoned the Concentrated Light(0/0) "Is this the best you can make, with all your powers..sister?" This fairy would prevent any Dark-type monster from attacking and also negated any damage he would take from a battle involving that monster. "You may have abandoned the light for darkness, but my light destroys that darkness!"

Jasons LP: 1700

His deck had many counters to dark type monsters, it was only natural. "I remember the day we first started playing. Sister. We both thought we had to use light-elemental decks because we were both children of blessed families." He ended his turn. "I could never beat you, of course. And you always apologized. But this.. this is different. This is just another puppet of yours. Like Helen. But even turning god himself into a puppet will not let you win!" The enemy drew a card, but did nothing with it. "Out of options?" The turn passed back to a happy Jason. "Do not let your guard down." Gaunt did not think Jason was in the clear yet. "I know! I know. But.." He looked at the card he drew and smiled. "I only needed a little more time." He summon a Vylon Cube(800/800). "I also activate the continuous spell card: Court of Justice. When I control a level 1 fairy monster, like Consecrated Light. I can special summon any fairy monster from my hand." From a golden transporter in the sky, a Nova Summoner(1400/800) came.

"Level 3 and level 4!" He combined the tuner cube with the halo angel. "I synchro summon, Powertool Dragon!" And he brought out with it, the mechanical tool dragon(2300/2500). "Not a Vylon monster?" A choice the others did not see coming. "No. I just estimated that I have only one equip card in my deck that can put us on an even footing." He used Vylon Cube's effect, taking an equipment card out of his deck as the Cube had been used for a synchro summon. "Only Powertool can equip it!" He equipped the dragon with a chainsaw/drill combo. "Double Tool C&d! This card negates all monster effects that apply on the field, when the equipped monster strikes!" And that included the gods effects. "And there is more!" He used Power Tool's other effect as well, letting it select three equip spells from his deck for his oppponent to choose from. "Brealk Draws!" Jason showed Wiraqocha three Break Draw cards, so there never really was a choice.

"Heheh." One was kept and placed on PowerTool, the others were returned. "Now then. Double Tool also bolsters my machine's powers when it does battle." He entered the battle phase, and his synchro(3300/2500) gained attackpoints. "Attack Ccapac Apu!" The dragon cut through the giants god with his drilling tool. "One down. One to go." Thanks to Break Draw, he could draw a card too. As that spells effect activated whenever the equipped monster destroyed a monster. "I set this card down and switch my other monster to defense mode." He felt safe and secure now. With Consecrated Light, the opponent still could not lay a hand on him. "End turn." He said with more confidence now. "...Time, you said?" And then the god fusion spoke to Jason directly. "You speak about it, as if you can see it." Jason flinched. _"Ggh. Those words. That sounds less like a god and more like.. is she speaking directly through him? Or is it speaking for her?"_

Wiraqocha Rasca 4's LP: 7700

"Mine Field Driller." A drilling tank suddenly showed up. "Minefield..an earth monster?" It was a field support machine that also happened to not be a dark type monster. "But then.." And before he could even say it, the mine driller had dug its way into the ground and caused a cave in of sand underneath the Consecrated One. "It's okay. Cusillu can not inflict damage." Ansoni assured him. "We attack." But that was not its target. "Ah!" Cusillu punched the Powertool Dragon. "But.. I can save Powertool by destroying an equipment card he carries!" Jason sacrificed Break Draw to keep the dragon alive. "But..wait." However this also triggered Double Tools passive effect. "When a monster attacks a double tool wielder, it will be destroyed at the end of the battle step. Oh no!" Cusillu was destroyed by a counterattack from C&D's saw. "His Geoglyph card will.." And Shifting Geoglyphs responded by special summoning the third and Final Earthbound Uru(3000/3000) from the gods deck. "We attack.." And it struck the dragon, taking Jasons life down by 700 points. "Callisto!" It could only survive by sacrificng the Double Tool, which also prevented it from counterattacking the spider.

Jasons LP: 1000

"I am still standing! You should have attacked directly!" He laughed. "You will not be.." Wiraqocha activated the effect of Uru. "Ugh!" It sacrificed Minefielddriller, to take control of Powertool Dragon. "But you already attacked!" He did not see the use. "Vengeful Servant." But that changed when he saw what was equipped to the dragon this time. "No." It was a spell that activated when control of the equipped monster changed. "By your own hand, you will fall. Brother." During the endphase Uru's webs around Powertool dissolved, and it returned to Jason. And the servant would inflict damage equal to its attackpoints to his old master. "No!"

Jasons LP: 0

(To be Continued in Mark 090: Godbye)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Ancient Fairy Dragon<p>

-  
>Court of Justice<p>

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua<br>Earthbound Linewalker  
>Earthbound Immortal Ccpac Apu<br>Minefielddriller

_-  
>Light from Worlds Scar<em>  
>Monster Slots<br>Vengeful Servant

-  
>Revival of the Immortals<p> 


	90. 090: Godbye

**Mark 090: Godbye**

"So. What were you going to do, once you won that duel?" At R-tech, Ada found the time to speak with Dean, in between Sirens sessions of mental detections. "I swear Ada, I do not know what you are talking about." But from what she heard, she inferred Siren had not made much progress at all. "It's even worse in fact. He does not even remember anymore. Before he was at least revealing shreds of his life as a Reaper." Siren said. His words only freaked out Dean more. "But I am not a reaper. You know me, Ada!" As loathsome as he sounded before, that was how desperate he sounded now. "Dean. I want you to concentrate. Think back to that day. I just want to help you remember." Siren figured that Dean would have some gaps in his memories and he tried to focus on those. "But..that day.. but I..was just going to duel her and then." Dean did have all memories for those periods of time. "But I.." Yet when he tried to find the details, they escaped him. "No.." His eye widened "Oh god, it is true." He said to himself. "Gah!" And then Siren recoiled.

"What happened?" Macbeth rushed into the room as well. "I received something, a flash." For a brief instant, Siren had felt pain from and hatred of something he could not describe. "I can not..I can not remember this. I do not want to remember." Siren started to trmble in his chair. "Calm down Dean. I will not push father if you do not want to!" Siren quickly told him. "I do not want to be that man again!" He screamed back at them all, before he passed out yet again. "I am afraid this step was too soon for him." Siren shook his head. "And this is a problem. I am not sure how to proceed." Kein glared at him. "Why not?" He after all wanted to find what was hidden inside Deans head. "If I break open the mindlock, he will revert to his reaper persona. But I am not sure what is going to happen to the Dean that Ada knew more. He could disappear forever. From his point of view, it might as well be death." Siren did not want to go that far. "But..I did make an opening just now, into his past. Perhaps I can extract the information directly.." He was after all, a mindreader.

"Then do it." Kein said. "We do not have much time, if what that Saturday guy told us is true." They had to find Demistria, and Dean would know how. "Okay." Siren sat down in front of the unconscious Dean and closed his eyes. He tried to see the images again, the ones that were flashing past Deans subconscious. "I think I can distinguish experience from expectation.." He saw glimpses of what Dean had done, and what he was planning to do. "I see.. a school.' That had to be Ada's. "A house." That one was Jasons. "This place. Some dark rooms.." He could not figure out the latter. "And.. a caste?" The final image he did not recognize.

"A castle you say?"

Meanwhile..

Jasons LP: 0 Wiraqocha Rasca 4's LP: 7700

"My own.." Powertool(2300/2500) had come back, only to strike at his own master. All because of the Vengeful Servant spell card. "Blood.." He was not hurt, and he did even get to see the sign that was taken away. "..." But the fused god showed what it gained, two claws now emerged from the beam of light. "It is getting closer to his true form." Gaunt feared the worst, it was already at half its power. "Why.. why will she not accept me." Jason punched the ground. "... I can not believe you." Urizen stepped besides him. "After all this, you still want to join her side? Or did you just want all the signs for yourself?" He activated his dueldisk. "Get out of my sight, Jason. You had your shot." He spat and turned to the enemy. "You can take me next. Do not even think about going after Gaunt there." He activated the dueldisk he had with him. "Urizen. I.." Gaunt did not feel good about this. "Do not worry, Gaunt. I know this is not about sacrifice. I have no intentions of losing." Wiraqocha assumed the form of Urizen. "Not to this damn faker!"

Urizens LP: 8000 Wiraqocha Rasca 4's LP: 7700

"Draw!" Urizen added his cards to his hand. "Tch. You did not even leave me much, Jason." The brother of Callisto had left Urizen three cards. Powertool Dragon was useless since Urizen had only 2 equip spells in his deck, and the set trap was a card that required equip cards. And Court of Justice was a dead weight since Urizen had no fairy monsters in his deck. "Just more cluttering up of the field." Ansoni had left behind his Automatic Laser too, which he could not use either. "But. I already know how to get rid of that spider." He had to kill Uru(3000/3000) quickly, before it restarted the Vengeful Servant combo. "Gods can not be attacked, that is their power." He activated the spell, Book of Eclipse. "So I shall simply hide their power from the field!" The book flipped all monsters face-down, the spider god and the machine dragon. Because of this, the Vengeful Servant could not find its host and shattered.

"And now to remove that nuisance. I special summon Trap Eater by getting rid of a trap on the field!" The trap devouring Tuner monster(1900/1600) showed up to eat Shifting Geoglyphs."No more of that god shifting nonsense." He then normal summoned a Steelswarm Gatekeeper (1500/1900) "Synchro summon!" The two level 4 monsters united into one level 8 Synchro. "Red Dragon Archfiend!" The former Kings ace monster(3000/2500). "I attack now!" The dragon released its hellish breath of flames that surrounded Uru as it was flipped face-up again. "The fact that your defense is equal to my offense means nothing. As Red Dragon Archfiend destroys all defending monsters when it attacks!" The demon dragon fired a meteor blast to finish off the Earthbound for good. "You are fortunate in one regard, immortal. I can not discard all the cards in my hand, otherwise I would have summoned Ramirez's dragon instead." Doomdragon could have killed Uru straightaway and allowed Jasons monster a direct attack. "Set trap card, end turn."

"..." Wiraqocha Rasca had gone back to its quieter state it seemed. "We do not act." It placed a card down in the monster zone, and that was it. "That's right. I have you right where I want you!" Urizen summoned a Lancer Archfiend(1500/1600). "And I will not ease up!" The Lancer allowed the Archfiend dragon to inflict piercing damage this turn. "I switch Powertool Dragon back to attack mode and Attack now!" The first to strike was the red dragon, whose fist burned straight through a facedown Treeborn Frog(100/100), inflicting 2900 points of pierced damage. "And again!" Powertool lashed out with its tail. "And.. again!" Then Urizen flipped his trap card, Lineage of Destruction. "Because I destroyed a shield monster on your side of the field, I can let one level 8 monster attack one more time!" The Lineage trap affected the Red Dragon. "Strike him one more time, end him!" Red Dragon Archfiend released another crimson blast and doused the fake Urizen with hells flares.

Wiraqocha Rasca 4's LP: 0

But Urizen had one attack left, and as the fuse god went from its fourth to its fifth life, he let Lancer Archfiend stab his double with its lance. "Heh. That's how you do it." He smirked as the fourth god, Uru, was sealed and fell into the sand.

Wiraqocha Rasca 5's LP: 6500

He was done with his turn, and felt pretty pleased about himself. "Do you regret it now, Callisto? You should have kept the mark." If there was one thing he did not like, it was that his opponent never changed its expression. "Feh. I can not even see if your sister is mad at me or not." He sneered at Jason, who could at least understand that sentiment. "Beginning of the End." Instead the fused god banished five dark monsters from the grave, as his graveyard held as much as seven different dark-type monsters. "We banish these of ours." Aslla Piscu, Uru, Ccarayhua, Chachu Challhua and Ccpac Apu were banished. Cusillu was left alone. "?" And then the god was allowed to draw thrice, and it played one of the drawn cards right afterwards. "Monster Reborn." And everyone gasped as he could revive anything it wanted. "Damn it." The god chose Cusillu, the monkey god(2800/2400). "Why that one?" After that it normal summoned a Sangan(1000/600). "Wait. Cusillu has an effect too." It just occurred to Ansoni that they had never seen that particular immortal use its ability. "Then what is.." And they were about to, Cusilly directed its hand.. towards the Red Dragon. "What? But it is stronger?" The dragon and monkey clashed with each other, and neither took fatal damage. "Arghh!"

Urizens LP: 4000

Except Urizens life was abruptly cut in half. "How did he do that?" Sarah did not understand. "Cusillu can sacrifice another monster to keep itself alive when it is fighting a superior monster. And in return it halves the opponents lifeforce instantly." Saturday was the one to explain it. "I am so glad we asked." Urizen grunted sarcastically, as he shook off the pain coursing through his body. "So you will not do physical pain, but mental is just fine eh?" Again his inquiry was ignored. Wiraqocha merely responded to the death of Sangan, by adding a Hardened Armed Dragon from his deck to his hand. "Wait. That card." It could be added because dying Sangans fetched any monster with less than 1500 attackpoints. However the monster itself was what surprised Gaunt. "That card was used by.. Xavier." Or so he heard from a rapport he received while on the plane. "And Treeborn Frog too." The frog was a card that Chacu Challhua himself was using. "Either his deck was shuffled very oddly, or he changes decks every time he loses a life too." Either way the enemy was changing tactics rapidly. "I am not helping him." Saturday quickly denied whatever accusation they could throw his way. "Can you same the same about Callisto?" But Urizen figured it was not his doing, but hers.

"Whatever. It is dead!" Urizen drew a spell and activated it. "Scarlet Security! When I control a Red Dragon Archfiend, I can destroy all spells and traps my enemy is using!" The dragon flew up into the air and sweeped across the other field with its claws. The field spell, Light from Worlds Scar, was sliced into ribbons. And without that energy surrounding the field itself, an Earthbound Immortal could not exist. "Time to seal Cusillu too!" He shouted as the monkey god crumbled into dust and became one with the desert. "Triple direct attack!" Lancer Archfied and Power Tool Dragon charged the enemy. Yet only two reached their target. "Book of Moon." Powertool and Lancer finished their attacks, but the Red Dragon was switched to a face-down position by the gods quickplay spell. "He must have activated that card before you destroyed it." Gaunt explained. "Argh. If I had not been so hasty." He missed his chance, the two monsters could not deplete hits lifepoints on their own. _"Just when I was picking up steam..."_

Wiraqocha Rasca 5's LP: 2700

".. We summon." With more more cards in its spell/trap zones, Treeborn Frog(100/100) could be revived from the cemetery. "We summon." They also brought out the Hardened Armed Dragon(1500/1000), special summoning it by discarding an Earthbound Immortal Cusillu from their hand. "Two tributes? Does it think it can summon a god?" Urizen had destroyed the Light from Worlds Scar, it should not have been thinking about getting out a god before getting out a new field card. "No.. wait." But he figured it out too late, and both the summoned monsters were sacrificed. "A monster that the Hardened dragon sacrifices itself for can not be destroyed by card effects!" And that included selfdestruction effects. "One that remains." They brought out Earthbound Immortal Ccpac Apu(3000/2500), the third and final one in his deck. "We attack." Instead of attacking directly, it destroyed Power Tool Dragon with a swipe from its hand. Urizen suffered battle and effect damage, as Ccapacs ability went into effect when the synchro was killed.

Urizens LP: 1000

"Ugh. One more hit and I am done eh?" Urizen drew a card. "Then let me ask you one thing, before I fall as well." He placed a monster down and a trap card. He also switched his Lancer to defense mode. "Why me? Why did I have to be the one to inherit this mark?" He asked either of Callisto's servants, though of course only Saturday answered. "As we said. She did not yet have a say in.." Urizen cut him off though. "I got to that part already! I want to know why she picked me. Ever since I got it, it has been..helping me.." In his last two duels he always drew a key card he needed to win a duel. "Why do I have this power, and they do not?" He had never seen Gaunt or Ansoni pull miracle draws out of their deck. "Oh? Your mark has developed that far you say?" Saturday started to chuckle. "What is so funny?" Urizen snapped. "Oh. Pardon me, the lady had to laugh. When she laughs we all do." Even the fake Urizen was showing off a grin. "He does not know, she says. You were not told yet, why it had to be you."

"It will all be clear once you see her paradise come to life." Wiraqocha started its turn. "We attack!" Ccapac Apu was about to crush Lancer Archfiend. "You can tell me now. Because guess what!" Urizen flipped his trap, Magic Cylinder. "I was not intending on dying yet after all! I did just draw another keycard from my deck with this damn thing!" He unsleeved his coat and showed off the brightly glowing head sign. Even with this much of it taken by the enemy already, it still helped him. "Ho.." The Cylinder in turn, redirected gods attack back to its master, and Ccapacs Apu's elder sibling suffered 3000 damage. "You see it as a curse." Wiraqocha was on his sixth life now, and since Ccapac Apu was still on the field, it was Cusillu who ended up in a sealed card. "It is not a blessing to me. Everyone else I can understand, but I want to win with my own skills." Though he was willing to let his pride slide in life or death situations. "It is a blessing in more ways than that one. It is not just gods but also the previous signers will that blesses your draws.."

Wiraqocha Rasca 5's LP: 0 Wiraqocha Rasca 6's LP: 8000

"What? The previous..signer?" Just then Gaunt came forward. "That is enough. Do not talk about that man so lightly." He knew the one they spoke about, it was the signer who had fallen in the fight against the gods two years ago. "Well, what would you do about it?" Saturday asked him. "I will not stand by anymore." He took a look at his son. "What are you up to, Gaunt? Are you trying to save me from knowing something?" Urizen expected an ulterior motive from his father. "I have no secrets, but I can not allow anyone to speak ill off that man. And I am doing what I should have done from the beginning. I am going to duel too." He activated his dueldisk. "This is a judging of signers, but as far as I see, we should be judged together!"

(To be Continued in Mark 091: A Son, First and Foremost)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Scarlet Security<p>

-  
>Lineage of Destruction<p>

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Treeborn Frog<br>Sangan  
>Hardened Armed Dragon<p>

-  
>Monster Reborn<br>Beginning of the End  
>Book of Moon<p> 


	91. 091: A Son, first and foremost

**Mark 091: A Son, First and Foremost**

"Hey hey hey. That is cheating!" Helen suddenly returned to the scene, flailing her arms wildly as she saw Gaunt join the duel. "You can not just help him!" She yelled at both Artani's who were more confused by her arrival than annoyed by her comments. "Well, is that for you to decide?" Gaunt replied,m looking Saturday and Helen. "The lady will allow it." The butler replied. "Or rather, she has already seen this would happen and let it happen." Jason flinched. "Seen it? I thought she did not get visions anymore in that world!" He figured that was why she did not return to this world. "I never said that, Jason Castle. The simple fact is that she has freed herself from this worlds chaotic flow of time. Where she is, she does not need to see to know what will happen next. Your reactions alone are predictable enough." He sounded okay with it all, but Helen was still fuming. "But don't think she is cheating this way either. We do not know who will win and how, this judgment is completely fair." But Gaunt was at least allowed to join Urizen.

Gaunts LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 1000 Wiraqocha Rasca 6's LP: 8000

"Why are you helping me?" Urizen thought it would be better for the last player to keep being the last player. "I am beginning to understand why you received the mark, Urizen. And why it works differently for you. It is not unreasonable to assume that the soul of a signer remains attached to its mark, the mark itself has been said to influence their signers fate and fortune, but I have never heard of a reaction as strong as yours." This was the first time a mark was transferred to another mortal through means other than family inheritance. "But do I even know this guy? Why would he care about me?" Urizen was still in the dark about the former owner of the head mark. "I do not know. The legends say that it is the creator himself that is manipulating your fate like this. But.." They were dueling the supposed creator of the world right here and now, the same creator that the Infinati had called the destroyed. "Either way. I now know that you are the best chance we have against this thing, I should have gone before you."

"But together, we stand a bigger chance. Would you not say so?" If his son had already discarded pride, he could discard his as well. "And I could not let these people continue to mock the memory of my friend. It is enough that they defiled his grave." He drew six cards. "You say that. Yet you do not even mention him by name." Saturday felt Gaunts word lacked emotion. "Of course you can not even fully understand what the connection between that man and your son is. You have only seen what is not real." He chuckled. "That is enough! We are here to duel, not to talk." Gaunt played a spell from his hand. "And I will show you how much I prepared for this day, I play Hall of Honorable Combat!"

_Hall of Honorable Combat, Continuous Spell  
>Battle Damage to the controller of a Warrior-Type monster from any battle not involving that Warrior-Type monster becomes 0.<br>As long as you control Warrior-type monsters, non-warrior type monsters can not be destroyed as a result of battle._

"Sir?" Ansoni had never seen him play that spell before. "This is a card I recently created to combat the earthbound, should they ever come after my company again." Gaunt was glad he got to use it one last time. "Wouldn't it be better if you just made a god kill card?" Sarah was thinking of something like an Earthbound specific Raigeki. "Like I said before. We have to keep the scales evened. The more support we invent, the more they can use as well." This card was at least not too specific. "I summon the Elder of the Six Samurai! And play the Asceticism of the Six Samurai!" The level 3 elder in his carriage(400/0) appeared, and the Ascetics spell allowed Gaunt to summon a Samurai from his deck, who had equal attackpoints. "I special summon Kagemusha of the Six Samurai!" He used it on the level 2 samurai tuner(400/1800). "I Synchro summon Shi En!" Gaunt used the two as materials for the Legendary synchro Samurai(2500/1400). "Once a turn he can negate a spell or trap effect." He explained before setting a card and ending his turn.

"Evil Hero Infernal Gainer." In the enemy's turn, a new demon(1600/0) was summoned. "Feh. That one too?" The fake urizen banished the Evil Hero, which allowed another demon to attack twice in every battle phase. "We attack." Of course it chose the Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu(3000/2500). Hall of Honorable Combat prevented damage as long as warriors were avoided, so direct attacks were pointless. "Shi En.." Yet whil Shi En had been summoned in defense mode, Ccapac Apu could still use its secondary ability to cause damage. "Agh." Gaunt suffered damage equal to his monsters attackpoints, when it was smashed by the giant. "I activate the trap card, Shiens Scheme!" But he was not going to leave Urizen wide open. "I special summon two samurais from my hand, when one is destroyed in battle!" He called out the Legendary Samurais, Mizuho(1600/1000) and Kizan(1800/500). "Now the Halls effect is re-applied!" So even if god wanted to, it could not attack Urizen directly or destroy any of his monsters. "Then we attack.. Mizuho." Wiraqocha was unphased as usual and used the second attack of the Immortal to lay waste to the fiery Mizuho, before she could use her effects against it. "Already at half.." Again Gaunt had to take damage as his warrior died.

Gaunts LP: 4000

The god then played a card down and passed the turn to Urizen at last. "You did not need to put yourself on the line like this." Urizen grumbled. At this rate his father really would lose before him. "And you.. why are you still using my body?" He snapped at the opponent, who still looked like Urizen even though another player had entered the duel. Of course that Urizen was as silent as the grave. "Have it your way." Urizen placed two cards from his hand down. "Morphing Jar!" He then flipped his face-down metamorphic jar(700/600). "All players discard their hands and draw five new cards!" The three had no cards in their hand at the moment, but they did not decline the draws. Especially Urizen liked his hand. "Heh. I sacrifice the Jar, to bring out Caius!" He tribute summoned the Monarch of the shadows(2400/1000). "Caius can banish one monster on the field, and inflicts an additional 1000 damage if that monster is a dark type!" The defintely dark-elemental Ccapac Apu was sucked up into a black hole summoned by the black Monarch.

Wiraqocha Rasca 6's LP: 7000

"I know you summoned it with Hardened Armed Dragon, but that dragons protection only goes as far as to stop destructive effects." Banishing was an entirely different category. "I suppose it does not matter what you look like as you die, just that you die is enough!" Urizen flipped Red Dragon Archfiend(3000/2500) back to face-up attack position. "Triple attack!" The dragon, Caius and his Lancer Archfiend(1500/1600) all lunged forward and unleashed their full fury on their enemy. "Tsk. You barely hung in there eh?" In the end Wiraqocha was left with 100 lifepoints. "I end my turn." Urizen could have done more damage, if he had been allowed to sacrifice Gaunts monsters for the Monarch instead of his own. But for some reason he was not allowed. _"The fact that we have two sets of lifepoints. I guess this is a battle royal..Only one of us can get all the gods and marks." _But he did not care about that, he had after all decided to go before his father for a reason. _"If that time comes, Gaunt can have it all. My mark too."_

Wiraqocha Rasca 6's LP: 100

"We.. do not act." Despite its handsze of six cards, the god only placed a card down and kept the rest. "This looks too easy." Ansoni saw no reason why the enemy would leave himself open deliberately. "I know. But I shall have to spring his traps. First I activate Unity of the Six Samurai." He played a continuous spell that amassed Bushido counters. "Then I special summon Enishi!" He attempted to call out the holy swordsman(1700/700). "Bottomless Trap Hole." However they quickly banished that one from the field with their pit trap. "That is one down." Gaunt had one trap left to contend with. "I summon the Six Samurai - Yariza!" Gaunt instead normal summoned a samurai of the newer generation, the archer Yariza(1000/500). The Unity spell gained one counter. "They attack you directly!" Kizan jumped into the air and attempted a vertical cut. "No." But he was stopped by a forcefield. "Offering to the Immortals." Wiraqocha Rasca used its trap now, one with three effects. "We summon two ceremonial tokens.." The second was to start the ceremony, two tokens(0/0) appeared. "And we add the me that crosses the immortal with the mortal!" The third effect was to let the god add any Earthbound Immortal card to its hand, and it selected the condor; Wiraqocha Rasca.

_"Damn Even if I destroy the tokens, he can get more tributes." _Gaunt saw Treeborn frog in the enemy's cemetery, and Infernal gainer in the banished zone. "Yariza can attack directly, when I control another samurai!" Instead he shaved off another life from their foe, Yariza shot his arrow straight into the Gaunts fake son. "Then, you have slain all six once more." Saturday congratulated them with a slow clap. "But here the fun begins!" Helen started to dance around. "Indeed. We will continue to watch this duel from a safer distance." Then the two servants vanished. "Hey where do they think they're going?" Urizen saw his double disappear, the entity floated back into the light. "We.." Gaunt had placed one cards in his hand down and ended his turn. "No.." The next turn the evil Hero was returned from his self-imposed banishment, and Treeborn Frog(100/100) could be revived because there were no spells on its field. "I.." It also placed a card down and played another Field Barrier face-up. "I will summon this me." And it activated a new field spell card, Pseudo-Space, to go along with it. "Myself!"

Wiraqocha Rasca 6's LP: 0 True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 8000

And then the two tokens were offered to the condor god. And its wings emerged from the light, blacking out the desert with its shadow. "Damn it. I just realized why this was a bad idea." Urizen looked up and saw the condor in its full form(100/100). The monster and duelist had become one and the same. "That thing will force us to discard as many cards as he returns to his deck." Wiraqocha sent three cards back to its deck; the Evil Hero, the Frog and its set card. "Then we have to discard everything?" Gaunt had to throw away the two cards in his hand, Urizen three of his four. "I knew this was coming. But I could not play any more cards from my hand." He cursed the fact his spell/trap zone was filled already before he flipped his jar. "And it gains 1000 attackpoints for each discard." Ansoni remembered that effect from their duel too. "Then.." Wiraqocha Rasca(5100/100) could kill either player with one shot. "I attack.. the son." Wiraqocha Rasca flew down towards Urizen. "In your dreams!" But one of the cards he had discarded from his hand could be used to stop the attack. "I banish Necro Gardna, to negate an attack!" The necrotic one halted gods descent. "...I accept." Wiraqocha Rasca ended its turn. "Thanks Urizen." Gaunt knew without his son, he would just die next turn.

"No. I should thank you." Urizen drew a card again. "For being in charge of R-tech." He activated Destruct Potion, one of his face-down trap cards. "I destroy Caius and gain his attackpoints as lifepoints!" Urizens life went up by 2400 points. "And then I tribute summon the Puppet Master." Urizen sacrificed his Lancer Archfiend to bring out a puppeteering demon(0/0). It's effect allowed Urizen to revive 2 demons in his cemetery, at the cost of 2000 lifepoints. "I think it is time I showed this guy the card you made for me. Right Gaunt?' Gaunts eyes widened as he saw what urizen called from his cemetery. He summoned the level 3 Flare Resonator(300/1300) and level 1 Stygian Security(100/600), both were tuner monsters that had been discarded from Urizens hand in the previous turn. "That card? The kings trump card?" There was a synchro in Urizens deck, which he had never called out before. Urizen had abandoned his rle as Game King before he could show it to the public. "I synchro summon the Red Nova Dragon!"

Urizens LP: 1400

He tuned the two tuners together with his Red Dragon Archfiend. "What, two tuners at once?" Sarah had never heard of such a thing. "It's like my ultimate card?" Jason knew of only one card that had such requirements, his Vylon Omega. But this one looked more like a specific upgrade for the Red dragon. "Behold!" On the field now was the demons dragon stronger than ever(3500/3000). "Red Nova gains 500 attackpoints for each tuner in my graveyard. And also, it gains 300 attackpoints as Flare Resonator is one of its materials." The Nova dragon(5300/3000) powered up in a sea of flames, becoming stronger than Wiraqocha itself. "But.. it can not attack." Ansoni pointed out that the condor was still an Earthbound, and as such not targetable for an attack. "So what?" Urizen placed one card down and ended his turn. "It has more abilities than sheer power." He smirked. "I attack." Wiraqocha tried to test that by flying closer to the ground again. "Like this one!" But Red Nova Dragon got in its way. "Once a turn my dragon can banish himself until the end of a turn, to negate one attack!" The synchro monster disappeared into the void, but the condor was once again forced to abort its strike. "One god, all gods in one, it is all the same to this monster! Callisto!"

Elsewhere..

"This is unexpected." Hidden within a forest, were three individuals. They watched over the former mansion of the Castle family. "They decreased their security?" One wore a mask that hid half his face. "As if any security helps." The other was not masked at all. "That is not the problem. That they altered their behavior at all.. is a thing that should not have happened." The third had a mask to cover her entire face with. "Do you think he talked, that guy that they captured." Lincoln did not care much for Dean, but he did care that Dean was causing them trouble. "Twice even." Lithium meanwhile looked forward to another encounter with the soldiers. "That is the likely cause. Another Reaper agent failed to eliminate his targets, and left Dean open to their investigation. Dean knew about the plan involving this location.." Demistria was not shedding any tears for their lost agent either way. "They should know they can not stop us, but now they are just giving away that they know we are coming. It is such an obvious trap, I bet Macbeth was behind it. He always did care more for his own troops than tactics." Lincoln shook his head and sighed. "But it is a trap we have to walk into." Demistria replied. "That house must be erased, and everything within will have to be erased as well. It is not part of the design.."

(To be Continued in Mark 092: Negative Stigma)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Morphing Jar<br>Puppet Master  
>Flare Resonator<br>Red Nova Dragon

-  
>Destruct Potion<p>

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Six Samurai - Yariza<p>

_-  
>Hall of Honorable Combat<em>

-  
>Shiens Scheme<p>

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**  
>Evil Hero Inferno Gainer<br>Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca

-  
>Pseudo-Space<p>

-  
>Bottomless Trap Hole<br>Offering to the Immortals


	92. 092: Negative Stigma

**Mark 092: Negative Stigma**

Gaunts LP: 4000 Urizens LP: 1400 True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 8000

"Well what do you say to that? God?" Urizen rather liked his new synchro monster. Red Nova Dragon was their latest weapon against the gods. It could negate attacks by removing itself from the field for one turn, even Wiraqocha Rasca(5100/100) in its true form was unable to get around that ability. "... I activate Pseudo-Space." The condor god used his field spell, which allowed him to banish one field card in his grave and use its effect. "Mausoleum." He removed the Emperors Mausoleum, so he could pay lifepoints when he needed tributes. "I summon Dominion Gardna." 1000 lifepoints were paid to bring out a crowned knight(1000/2000). "He will unite himself with me." It was a union monster, and when equipped to the Earthbound he turned into a crown of flames. "From now on, all those below me are rendered helpless." The Gardna sealed the effects of all monsters with a level lower than the level ten Wiraqocha Rasca. "Oh yeah? But my Nova Dragon is above you!" Urizen shouted as his level twelve dragon(5000/3000) reappeared.

_Dominion Gardna, 5/1000/2000 Dark/Warrior/Union  
>Once per turn, you can equip this card to a monster you control, OR unequip it to special summon this card in face-up attack position.<br>While equipped to a monster by this effect, the effects of all face-up effect monsters with a level lower than the equipped monsters level are negated.  
>(A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union Monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, this card is destroyed instead.)<em>

True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 7000

"I place three cards down." Three traps waited below it, as the turn passed back to Gaunt. "So the effects of my samurais are removed." Gaunts did not even have a level 10 or higher monster in his deck. "In that case." He flipped his face-down card, Double-Edged Sword Technique. "Sir?" Also known to Ansoni as the trap that caused Gaunt to selfdestruct two duels ago. "I have a plan." He assured the duelist as he used the trap to revive Mizuho(1600/1000) and Kagemusha(400/1800) of the Six Samurai. "Since I control more than three samurais right now. I can activate the spell card: Six Strike - Triple Impact!" Mizuho, Kagemusha, Yariza(1000/500) and Kizan(1800/500) crossed their weapons. "This spell destroys either all monsters or all traps and spells on your field, Wiraqocha!" And he decided to target the spells, even if the Field Barrier would save the Pseudo-Space card, Dominion Gardna would be destroyed and Wiraqocha would be left wide open to Mizuho's own ability. "Ground Wave." Except he never got to that stage.

"!" The ground moved and split open, fissured in the desert swallowed yup the samurai's weaponry. "A counter trap?" Wiraqocha Rasca had countered with a trap that negated any effect as long as an Earthbound Immortal was on his field. "Agh, a card like that was inevitable." He switched Yariza and Kizan to defense mode, and then took measures to prevent the damage his Double-edged trap would normally cause him. "I tune Kagemusha and Mizuho together." He combined the level 2 tuner with the level 3 fire swordswoman to form another Legendary Samurai Shi En(2500/1400). "Then I use the effect of my Unity of the Six Samurai spell card." He could tribute his continuous spell and draw twice, as it had two Bushido Counters on it by now. "...I set a card down." Now he had two traps as well. Even if his offense failed, their defense was stronger than ever. "You think you can hide." The god started his turn again. "But I am not one." He used the effect of Pseudo-Space again. "One you might endure." He banished the Light from Worlds Scar, sending more light to emerge from the cracks in the earth. "This you can not." And then he revealed his second trap card, Return from the Different Dimension. "Oh no!" At the cost of half his lifepoints, he could summon all his banished monsters.

True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 3500

"Banished monsters? He used Beginning of the End for that reason too!" Ansoni gasped, as she remembered he had removed five of his six brothers earlier to fuel his drawing spell. "But we sealed those gods!" Urizen objected. "I am the one who is all. I can undo the seals whenever I wish." Wiraqocha took four of the six god cards from the desert floor and placed them on the battle field. "Come to me, my brothers!" He special summoned the Earthbound Immortals Uru(3000/3000), Assla Piscu(2500/2500), Chachu Challhua(2800/2400) and Ccapac Apu(3000/2500). "Impossible.." Five gods now surrounded the two Artani's. it was because of the Light from Worlds Scar card that they could exist all at the same time. "Red Nova can not stop them all!" Sarah cried out. "It shall not even stop us once. Uru, use your power!" The spider was the first to strike. "Aslla Piscu, sacrifice yourself so that we may control this meddlesome fly." One god was tributed and uru attempted to take control of Red Nova Dragon. "Trap card." But Urizen had his counter traps too.

"Dark Illusion! I stop an effect that targets my dark-type monster and destroy the one who sent the effect!" The webs shot through a mirage of Red Nova, which then struck back at Uru with a fiery punch. "But Light From Worlds Scar protects my brothers from all traps." Wiraqocha Rasca explained, as Uru deflected the illusions flames. "And because Aslla Piscu was removed from the field, his power is unleashed!" The hummingbird was next, it would destroy all monsters on the field and inflict 800 damage to the players for each lost card. "Perish!" Lightning broke out as Gaunt lost his three samurais and 2400 lifepoints. "But Red Nova Dragon can not be destroyed by card effects!" Urizen exclaimed, as the synchro monster shook off the lightning. Only Urizens Puppet Master(0/0) was destroyed and Urizen merely lost 800 lifepoints. "But you forget the ability of Chacu Challhua." Next up the Whale skipped its normal attack to inflict damage equal to half its defense points. And Urizen did not have enough life left to withstand that.

Gaunts LP: 1600 Urizens LP: 600

"Think again!" Urizen flipped the other card he had set. "Spell of Pain! I redirect the damage I take to someone else!" The whale swam through the sands, yet dove back up where Wiraqocha Rasca was positioned. "Yes!" The others cheered as Urizen dodged defeat again. But he was out of traps to use. "Very well, we will end this by direct contact!" Chacu Challhua could no longer attack, but Uru and Ccapac Apu still could. "Return of the Six Samurai!" However Gaunt played his trap instead, to return the Samurai Shi En from his graveyard in defense mode. "With a warrior back on my field, Hall of Honorable Combat will prevent damage from direct attacks!" This was his last ditch effort. "But effect damage.." Yet Ccapac Apu would destroy Gaunt if his fist managed to take down the Samurai. "I discard Shiens Squire from my hand!" But a small squire got in the giants way. "By doing so, a monster I control can not be destroyed as a result of this battle." Ccapac Apu had to retract its punch. "...Uru." The spider had to be the one to finish off the attack. "I attack." Wiraqocha said, but it already knew its attack would not land. "Then I banish red Nova Dragon one more time!" Urizens synchro monster could negate its attack this turn too. "Looks like you were wrong, we can endure five gods as well!"

True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 2300

"You did." They had somehow managed to survive all that, but even now the god did not look or sound annoyed. "Once." But he revealed that he had activated a third trap in his main phase as well. "Trap Reclamation?" It was a trap that allowed him to reclaim a trap he had already used this turn. "Damn." Of course he reclaimed and reset Return from the Different Dimension. "A card had to be discarded to activate Trap Reclamation." Ansoni saw what he discarded, another Light from Worlds Scar field spell. "That means he can do that all over again?" Sarah was horrified. "Indeed. The miracle of just now, shall not take place again." Wiraqocha ended its turn. During the endphase the four gods were once again banished to a different dimension, were they waited for another trap to free them. "Tch. If only we could just do some damage to him." Urizen cursed as his turn came up again. "Draw!" And he took out the card so quickly, he never even noticed whether it was sheer luck or something else that allowed him to get this card.

_"This is.."_ It was one of the few equip spells in his deck. _"But Jasons facedown card was.. wait! _I activate Darkworld Shackles! This spell seals the equipped monsters attackpoints and his attacks as well." The shackles appeared on the field and flew up into the air. "Even if you chain me down.." Yet the Darkworld spell was not equipped to Wiraqocha Rasca. "What." Red Nova Dragon(100/3000) was. "What are you doing, are you blind?" Jason shouted at him for targeting the wrong monster. "You should know, Jason!" Urizen smiled and flipped the trap card, Equip Shot. "Oh!" Jason recognize it instantly. "Now he can send an equip card from one monster to another!" The shackles left Nova Dragon and chained down the condors by its wings. "You.. are binding me?" Wiraqocha Rasca(100/100) was back to its original power. "There is more. The monster who gave away his spell and the monster that accepted it. They do battle now. This is not a standard battle, no other effects can be activated during this clash!" The two monsters flew towards each other. "Not even your Gardna!" The Dominion warrior could not give its life for its master. "There is nothing you can do!" And Red Nova plowed through the condor like a blazing comet shooting through the skies. "Then I am.." Wiraqocha shrieked as it saw its wound. "I am.. not endless?"

True Wiraqocha Rasca's LP: 0

"Incredible." Ansoni and Sarah stared at this display with open mouths. Wiraqocha Rasca's destruction was a brilliant cascade of stars and flares that sprinkled down over the desert horizon. The sevenheaded geoglyph in the sky merged with the blue air and disappeared, while the divine energy of the fused god crawled back into the ground. "We did it!" Sarah jumped into the air for joy. "I knew you two would pull through!" Ansoni ran up to the Artani's, equally excited. "Thank you, Helion. But you and ms. Rain were no less critical to this victory." Gaunt oversaw the barren battlefield, the enemy truly was gone, the immortals were now once and for all trapped. "And you were a great help too, Urizen. No.. son." He smiled at his child for the first time in a long while. "Heh. Do not get soft on me now, father." Urizen almost showed the same expression, but he did not feel fully relieved yet. "If this is over though. I have one question. What heppns to it all?" He rubbed his wrist. "The marks, where do they go now? Or do they cease to exist?"

He did not expect an answer from Gaunt or anyone else, but he also did not expect a flash of light to suddenly shoot down from the clouds. "What now/" The beam hit the sand, causing it to melt down. "Hey.." And when the light dimmed a little, they could see a stone slab in the middle of the energy. "That is the sealed god?" On the stone was the image of a sevenheaded bird, all seven gods were defeated as one, so they shared one single prison now. "I guess that is better than a plastic card." Urizen chuckled. "Looks like Callisto put all her eggs in this basket and lost it. Wherever she is now, I assume without the gods on her side she can not manipulate this world anymore." Ansoni felt like the worst had passed in that regard too. "Our troubles are far from over, we still have the Infinati to deal with." Gaunt was of course pleased about this victory, yet he could not forget the other threats. "But for now. This is enough." he turned to Jason. "You too. You have earned some of my respect for what you did today, Castle.."

"..."

But Jason was not responding. "Hey! If Gaunt is complimenting you, you'd better answer him!" Urizen snapped at the man. "Hey. Is he even moving?" Sarah walked up to Jason, who had been sitting in the sand for the last few minutes now. "Jason? ...Wait, aaah!" But as she closed in, his image disappeared from sight. "Jason!" He was not there, he had not been there for the last few minutes. `What are you doing!` Instead they saw him standing in front of god slab, placing his hand on the rock. `Ahahah. You remember don't you? I can not make you see or hear things that you have never seen before! That was why I kept quiet for so long!" He had tricked their minds with his psychic abilities, he literally forced everyone to see a loop of him in that position while he was in fact in front of the slab. "What did that accomplish?" Urizen shouted. "You do not understand what this is, do you?" He tapped the rock, touching five spots on it. "It is not a prison, it is a treasury. The condor is made from your marks, they are in here too!"

The rock began to glow, as he placed both hands against it. "Saturday told me about this. I do not know why he did, but I thank him nonetheless!" The marks were erased from the slab. "He who defeats the fused god can inherit his powers!" The wings, claws, head, tail and heart of Wiraqocha Rasca reappeared on the chest of Jason. "Well it was you that defeated him yes, and all of you together contributed. But I feel like I deserve it the most. After all it was my card that allowed you to deliver the final blow!" He turned to face them, showing off the condor symbol. "You knew we would never agree to that! That was why you tricked us!" Ansoni would never have let him go near that rock on his own. "Heh. Too late now. If you think you can contend with me now, go ahead." Jason looked up into the sky. "Ah, here it comes." He spread his arms and then his body was set ablaze with golden flames. "Yes! This is the power my father yearned for, this is.." His eyes turned to the east. "No. I am still missing one, arent I?" He then gave the former signers one last look. "You should be happy, I got rid of those 'curses' for you. And now I am going to make sure my sister does not get her way... See you later!" And then he flashed away, not even leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

"What..the hell. That bastard got away with it." Urizen could not believe he got fooled like that. "This is bad, right? This can not be good." Sarah would have panicked a little, if she understood what exactly happened just now. "It would seem Jason has succeeded where his father failed. And he is probably going to target Demistria next." It did not matter whether she was an enemy or not anymore, if her sign were to fall in his hands too it could be the end of the world as they knew it. "We have to find that woman before Jason does." If they even could do that would be nice, as Jason sounded like he already had a good idea as to where she would be.

(To be Continued in Mark 093: Where there's Smoke..)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Spell of Pain<p>

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Six Strike - Triple Impact<p>

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Equip Shot<p>

**New Cards used by Wiraqocha Rasca**_  
>Dominion Gardna<em>

-  
>Ground Wave<br>Return from the Different Dimension  
>Trap Reclamation<p> 


	93. 093: Where there's Smoke

**Mark 093: Where there's Smoke..**

Two months ago, once Jason had been taken to his new home and every other member of that family line and their aides had gone on to the other world, R-tech took control of their stately home. The building had been cleaned out, and kept under constant surveillance ever since. Yet they did not think anyone would show interest in it again, they were sure there was nothing left. But apparently the Infinati were making a pass at the place as well, which was as much as they could learn from the Deans extracted memories. "It is happening." And the workers at HQ soon realized the time for their attack had come, when one after another camera installed in the castle shut down. Any an all electrical connection they had was terminated, even their satellite froze up. "I shall inform the Aces." One man left the room. _"Hey. An incoming call?"_ The other noticed a blinking light on the switchboard. "Yes?" He answered it. "Sir Gaunt?" And he was happy to hear from his boss. "You want to speak to Kein? Well, I am affraid he is a bit tied up at the moment."

"_Too _easy." Lithium yawned as he and his partners in crime walked into the Castillo castle, through the front door no less. "They will eventually come. They can not resist throwing their lives in our way." Lincoln sighed. "You might find that entertaining, but I am starting to lose interest in crushing them if they keep escaping." He did not think he would ever lose to the other aces, so any duel was just a delay. "You know what you must do. You know what you came here to find." Demistria cut off the argument before it got too loud. "Go now. With as many places as they have turned over, the few remaining secrets should be easy to locate." Lithium nodded and headed off into the east wing. "And if it can not be found at all?" Lincoln stayed behind to ask her one more question. "We burn this place down to the ground regardless. If we can not find it, nobody will." She turned to the front door again. "Now go. I shall stand guard." Lincoln just shrugged. "I liked you more when you did not order me around." And he ran off too.

".. You can make your move now." Demistria waited until her partners had left the main hall, before she started speaking to the walls it seemed. "You will miss your moment if you hesitate." And as she spoke, the house itself began to rumble. Iron walls fell down along the doors and windows, barring all exits. "Of course.." Demistria was sealed inside the room, but she was not alone. "How long did it take you to install this?" She asked the one who now stood at the top of the stairwell, Nathan Ashworth. "I would not flatter yourself. These security measures were put in place by Malcean himself. We merely moved the trigger to the outside. Though I did not think you would fall for it either way." he smiled as he walked down to her. "This was never in our intell, Lord Malcean at least made sure to keep the Infinati at arms length when it came to his private businesses. And, like your tower, this is not on the original design." She turned to face him. "Ah yes, i was wondering about that. That guy Clark did not just teleport into R-tech, and you had to walk in through the doors too. Looks like there are some places you can not just walk into. Yet once you are inside, there is not much that can keep you there." Clark got out of the tower a lot easier than he got in. "I have a theory.."

"Please, do tell." He had her full attention. "Well okay, the tech department came up with it. But they basically said that you can only go from and towards locations that are 'connected'. They investigated the two areas you 'warped' out of, Jasons house and the detention area. In both cases they measured a power surge taking place at that exact moment, a surge running through electrical cables." He pointed to the floor. "The wifi network, that is what you are using. That was the system they tracked the energy signatures to. What is just a hotspot for a gamer, is a trainstation for you guys. Do not know how it works, but you can do it somehow. So what do you say to that theory?" He was done. Whatever her reaction was, the mask hid it. "That is a cute theory. But knowing that, why do you try to trap us?" They could easily leave whenever they wanted. "Heh." Or so they thought. "I see." She checked her dueldisk and found out what was different. "Just now. You disconnected this castle from the net, shut off all cables." Nate grinned. "You might say Malcean failed to pay his electricity bills!"

"Interesting. You sever our ties to technology, and enclose us physically. Yet you forget one hole in the wall." She took off her robes. "The disk itself is technology." On her arm was a disk, and Nathan had one with him as well. "You Aces have a setting that allows you to connect to the wifi network remotely." Nathan looked at it. "Oh yeah. The same one we gave to Urizen. Guess that was how Lithium could ambush Urizen at that abandoned trailerpark." And he faced her again. "But that mode is off right now, you will have to beat me to get it." He said, just as the disk turned on on its own. "Technology is technology. But.. knowledge is knowledge." She forced it to activate apparently, yet she activated her as well. "I will have to take more from you then a way out, Nathan Ashworth. I will have to take your life."

Demistria's LP: 8000 Nathans LP: 8000

"I figured that was coming. But I did not lock myself in here with you for no reason." Nate inserted his deck, let it get shuffled by his disk and drew six cards. "I now have my new deck to show off. The perfect synchro deck!" He summoned a cyborg rhinoceros(1600/800) to his field. "Look. This is Tech Genus Rush Rhino, the first of my new archetype!" He said with pride. "..Using an untested series against us? Tactically sound.." Demistria then started her turn by summoning her first dinosaur monster, the raptor Jurrac Velo(1700/1000). "Yet you chose to reveal this to me from the very start." Velo rushed towards the Rhino and cut it down with his talons. "Yeah but when Rush Rhino is destroyed, I can add any Tech Genus monster from the deck to my hand!" Nate took out a T.G. Striker. "But from what can be read, that effect works from any position. You did not need to keep it face-up." This way Nathan took damage, minor damage but he could have had worse. "Hey hey lady. Don't turn into my teacher now." He grumbled, admitting to himself that he should have just placed the monster facedown.

Nathans LP: 7900

"But anyway. Tech genus are all about quick synchro summons. I will show you!" His turn came up again. "When I control no monsters and you do, I can summon the tuner, T.G. Striker, from my hand." He called upon a level 2 cyber warrior(800/0). "Then when a monster is special summoned from my hand, I can summon T.G. Warwolf from my hand!" Next to Striker appeared a level 3 cybernetic wolf(1200/0). "Now to normal summon." The third monster he called out was a level 2 dragon/catapult hybrid(900/1300). "This is T.G. Catapult Dragon. Once a turn he can summon a level 3 or lower Tech genus monster from my hand." A level 3 card was placed on the catapult and launched unto the field, a mechanical bird(1400/1200) flew down."Tuner monster: T.G. Jet Falcon." That was its name, and now his field was set. "Two tuners, a double synchro summon! First I tune Striker with Warwolf and then I will tune Jet Falcon with Catapult Dragon!" He called out two synchros from his extra deck of the fifth level. "Also when Jet Falcon is used as a synchro material, the opponent takes 500 damage!" One of the falcons feathers cut the woman alongside her arm. "Interesting." Was all she had to say about that.

Demistria's LP: 7500

First came a book holding spellcaster(2400/1800) "T.G. Hyper Librarian allows me to draw every time I succesfully synchro summon a monster." This effect was demonstrated when he called the next synchro, a cyber-axeman(2300/1000). "T.G. Power Gladiator can inflict piercing damage. Well now, are you impressed yet?" The woman said nothing. "Well if Kein were here he'd tell me to shut up and get to it anyway. So.." Hyper Librarian released a blast of magic from his book, which destroyed Jurrac Velo. "..When Vello dies.." This however allowed Demistria to summon a new Jurrac monster from her deck. "I shall summon Stauriko." A fiery staurikosaur(500/400) came to the field in defense mode. "Ah but what did I tell you about the Gladiator." Nate's second synchro slashed through Stauriko and delivered 1900 piercing damage to the woman. ".When Stauriko dies." But this too was followed by an effect, Stauriko created two tokens(0/0) upon its departure from the field. "Well. That still ended up better than I expected." Nate placed a trap and ended his turn.

Demistria's LP: 4900

"You sound like you did not go into this with high hopes." Demistria drew her card. "Our track record with you Infinati is not that good, is why." He responded unenthusiastically. "So that is the reason for this new deck?" She asked, but he shook his head. "I had this ever since I became an ace. I just never felt like getting rid of my old deck." He had grown too fond of it. "A fondness..." She repeated that word, before she sacrificed the two tokens. "Jurrac Titano." A large titanosaur(3000/2800) showed up. "This one can not be targeted by traps or spells, and devours the remains of fallen dinosaurs to strengthen itself." Jurrac Stauriko was banished from the grave, so that Titano(4000/2800) could gain 1000 attackpoints. "This deck is new, but the core remains the same." She targeted the Hyper Librarian for an attack. "That monster is the greatest threat, that one shall die." Titano opened its maws. "Ah, you figured that out nice and quick. But I can not let you kill it." Nate quickly revealed his trap card. "Star Shift! One synchro on my field is replaced with one of the same level in my extra deck." He exchanged Power Gladiator for Scarred Warrior(2100/1000). "Monsters must attack the Scarred one, and it can not die in any battle!" The Scar Warrior intercepted Titano.

Nate's LP: 6000

"Noble of it, wouldn't you say?" He had to summon it in attack mode, and took more damage this way. But Hyper Librarian stayed alive at least. "I see why Lincoln called you the comedian of the aces." She replied nonchalantly as she placed one card down. "Wait, me? Not Macbeth? Is he serious?" He fumed, but got over it quickly. "Tsk. Fair enough. Macbeth has more hatred..but I can keep my head cool." He considered that an advantage too. "Anyway I summon Max Warrior!" A tuning fork wielder(1800/800) showed up on the field. "Then I play the spell Synchro Gift! One synchro monster can forego an attack to give its power to a non synchro monster." The Librarian gave its attackpoints to Max Warrior(4200/800). "And when Max attacks, he gains 400 more attackpoints!" He entered the battle phase. "Meanwhile your dinosaur only kept its powerboost until the end of your turn!" The Warrior(4600/800) leaped towards Titano and hit it with his weapon, taking it off of the field. "And now I attack directly!"

Demistria's LP: 3300

"Fossil Excavation." Before he could land a hit, Demistria revealed her set card. "A dinosaur is revived, for the cost of a discard." She brought back the very card she discarded, a Jurrac Herra(2300/1500). "Agh." Scarred Warrior broke off its assault. "Should've used Synchro Gift on Scarred instead of Hyper." He cursed as he finished his turn. "Would not have changed the result." She said in return. "Huh?" Nate then watched her summon a new dinosaur, Jurrac Guaiba the flaming Guabiasairus(1700/400). "Full-Force Strike." And after that she used a spell on Jurrac Herra with a spell that sharpened the dinosaurs spikes. "They attack you, Nathan." The Herrasaurus slammed Scarred Warrior with its spiked tail. "But that will not.." And for some reason the yndying one died as a result of that battle. "What the.." And after that Jurrac Guaiba cut down the Max Warrior(900/800), who had grown weaker after it killed Titano. "Full Force Strike allows one of my creatures to destroy any monster after the damage step." It was her spell that did the Scarred warrior in. "And then I shall play the spell: Greed Grado. Since I destroyed your synchro monster, this turn I can draw two cards." She did so. Leaving Nate to cringe. "Ergh. Clever girl."

Nate's LP: 5000

"When Guaiba feeds." Because Guaiba had killed a monster, another Jurrac dinosaur was allowed to come out of the deck. "I special summon Jurrac Brachis." She summoned a tuner monster who could not be killed as long as Jurrac monsters existed on her field. "Man, I did not think dinosaurs would ever get annoying in this day and age." Nathan rubbed his head, thinking back to the times where dinosaurs did not even have enough cards for a full deck. "Makes me wish I kept my old deck too. Though actually, I kinda did." He drew and summoned Junk Synchron(1300/500). "Junk Synchron is a monster I for instance will never abandon!" Junk Synchron used its effect to revive a level 2 monster from the cemetery, and he brought back T.G. Catapult Dragon. "Synchro summon!" The two monsters became one level 5 monster, another cybernetic magician appeared. A female one(1900/0). At the same time he could draw a card thanks to Hyper Librarian still being around. "Tech genus, Wonder Magician. When she is summoned, one spell or trap card is destroyed." The mage slung a spell at Fossil Excavation. Without the continuous trap, Jurrac Herra could not survive. "And then I attack your two dinosaurs!" Hyper Librarian blew up the Guaibasaur, while Wonder Magician destroyed the now effectless Brachiosaur.

Demistria's LP: 2600

But unexpectedly, in his case, Jurrac Herra reappeared on her side. "What?" It was because of Herra's effect. "Herra revives whenever a defending Jurrac is killed in battle." She drew a card and summoned a tuner monster, Jurrac Aeleo(200/200). "You duel well, Nathan. But even this deck is not enough." She also special summoned a Gilasaur(1400/400) from her hand, which in turn allowed Nathan to revive a T.G. Rush Rhino from his deck. "Not against a monster that wipes everything away at once." She took a card from her extra deck. "I synchro summon.. Jurrac Meteor."

...

"There they are!" Jason said to himself, as he finally sensed the direction he had to go for. _"I did not think it would be this easy to find what I was looking for. But the target must be in a duel already."_ He was already back in the kingdom of games. _"As soon as I pinpoint your location, Infinati, I will be there."_ He patted his chest. "One mark I still need to complete this symbol. And then.. I will be the god my family always wanted!"

(To be Continued in Mark 094: Extinction Level Event)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>T.G. Rush Rhino<br>T.G. Striker  
>T.G. Werewolf<br>T.G. Hyper Librarian  
>T.G. Catapult Dragon<br>T.G. Jet Falcon  
>T.G. Power Gladiator<br>T.G. Wonder Magician

-  
>Synchro Gift<p>

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Jurrac Velo<br>Jurrac Stauriko  
>Jurrac Titano<br>Jurrac Herra  
>Jurrac Guaiba<br>Jurrac Brachis  
>Jurrac Aeleo<p>

_-  
><em>Full-Force Strike_  
><em>Greed Grado

-  
>Fossil Excavation<p> 


	94. 094: Extinction Level Event

**Mark 094: Extinction Level Event**

_"Ah. This was not that hidden after all."_ Lincoln kicked open a door at the end of a long tunnel. One whose entrance was hidden at the base of the south-east spire._ "In fact I can not believe Kein did not find this place first. Sure he asks for secret rooms in palaces for tournaments, yet he overlooks something like this?" _He figured nobody at R-tech discovered this area because it was difficult to scan at below ground levels. _"This must be what we came here for. Now we can leave and burn this place." _He picked up a small wooden box, which was not very heavy. _"And then maybe I can get back what the superiors took from me.."_ He looked at his dueldisk. "Wait. What is.." And noticed what Demistria had already learned, there was no signal here. _"Oh. So they are learning after all. Heheh."_ He walked back up the stairwell tunnel and ended up back above ground. "Well well well." There he saw Kein waiting for him. "Lincoln.. What do you have there?" The Ace of Spades was less then pleased to see him. "Now, now.. finders keepers."

..

Demistria's LP: 2600 Nathans LP: 5000

"Gilasaur: level 3,Jurrac Herra: level 6, Jurrac Aelo: level 1. These are my materials for Jurrac Meteor, my level 10 synchro." Demistria said as a large rocklike dinosaur(2800/2000) appeared above them. "Ehrm, what is it doing?" Nathan saw it quickly descend towards them. "When it is synchro summoned, it shall destroy all cards we control." The meteor came closer and closer, Nathan could feel the heat. "What? Oh man." His traps could not stop that, he had only one choice. "Then I use Wonder Magicians second ability. She is a synchro monster, but also a tuner. And I can tune her with another monster, during your turn too!" He explained as the Wonder mage(1900/0) turned herself into a synchro material, along with T.G. Hyper Librarian(2400/1800). "The term for this, is Accel Synchro: synchro summoning with synchro monsters as materials!" And from his extra deck came his Accel synchro monster, T.G. Blade Blaster, a green armored cyborg gunner(3300/2200).

"But that does not allow it to avoid the impact." Demistria stated, as Jurrac Meteor hit the floor. "I know that! But once a turn, Blade Blaster can banish a Tech genus monster from my grave, to escape into another dimension for one turn!" Blade Blaster used its portal generator to banish itself, thus only T.G. Rush Rhino(1600/1000) and Nathans face-down trap card were destroyed by the meteors effect. And when the Rhino died, he could add another from his deck to his hand. _"During my next turn Blade Blaster will come back, and now she is wide open..huh?" _Nate thought he had this duel in the bag, until he saw that Jurrac Aelo(200/200) was back on the field. "I forgot to mention. Jurrac Meteor also revives one dinosaur tuner from my graveyard, after the destruction has taken place." The hatchling dinosaur than left the field. "Aelo can be sacrificed for another revival, any level 4 Jurrac monster shall suffice." She special summoned Jurrac Velo(1700/1000), who attacked Nathan directly without even taking an order from the masked woman. "I end my turn."

Nathans LP: 3300

"Blade Blaster returns." His turn started after his Accel synchro warrior came back from the other dimension. "And I summon a second Rush Rhino. And I attack!" The cyborg gunner and cyborg rhino charged, the first one shot down the Velociraptor with its rifle. "When Vello dies." But of course she could use its effect to special summon another Jurrac monster from her deck. "Jurrac Stauriko." Another Staurikosaur appeared. "Not that old tune again." Rush Rhino struck, gaining attackpower during its attack, though that did not matter. "I know, when Stauriko dies, you can summon 2 tokens." Two Jurrac tokens(0/0) appeared on the field once more. "That did not scare me into not attacking." He smiled. "Maybe it should have." But in addition to the tokens, Jurrac Herra(2300/1500) was summoned as well, as a defending dinosaur had died. "What? It can use that effect as often as possible?" Nathan now regretted not reading up on all those dinosaur cards and their effects. "Well I set one card down and end my turn."

Demistria's LP: 1000

Demistria began her next turn, and played a spell. "Monster Reborn." She could revive any monster from any graveyard now. "What the." She chose his, but she did not choose his strongest monster. "Wonder Magician." the tech genus tuner was what she summoned. "I will use her for a synchro summon." The level 5 mage combined with the two tokens to form a level 7 dinosaur giant, Jurrac Giganoto(2100/1800). "Augh. For a cult that has machines specifically built to counter synchros, you sure do like using them." Nate sighed. Come to think of it, Lincoln and Dean did not have any problems using them either. "The Meklords are only there to counter what is not ours yet." She replied. "Giganoto has an ability. All Jurrac monsters gain attackpoints for each Jurrac monster in the grave." Both the Gigant(3700/1800) and Herrasaur(3900/1500) powered up drastically, as there were eight Jurrac dinosaurs in her graveyard (2 Velos, Titano, Guaiba, Brachis, Aelo, Meteor, and Stauriko) "Holy." And the two dinosaurs pounced on Nate's field, Giganoto burned up Rush Rhino before swallowing him whole.

Nathans LP: 600

"But I can.._wait..no." _And then Blade Blaster too was destroyed, skewered by Herra's spiked tail. _"Tch. Of course I can not remove him from the field, stupid. She will attack me directly and win the duel if I do that."_ And now they were exactly even. "I use Rush Rhino's effect again." Another Tech Genus card was added to Nate's hand. She meanwhile placed a trap down and ended her turn. "My turn. I use the monster I added to my hand." He summoned a new Tech genus monster this turn, a little cybernetic magician(0/0). "This is Cyber Magician, using him and Tech genus monsters in my hand, I can synchro summon Tech genus synchro monsters!" He called Power Gladiator(2300/1000) from his extra deck. _"Though I wish I had more than one copy of each Tech genus monster in my deck. Wonder Magician or Hyper Librarian would have been more helpful to me now."_ He could only use the Gladiator again, as Star Shift had sent him back to his deck earlier. "Anyway you may be wondering why I'd summon such a weakling to my field. Well i just drew a spell, that requires a synchro monster." He activated Synchro Blast Wave. "This card destroys a monster!" The Gladiator unleashed a wave of energy to break the Gigant with. "Backfire." But that would cost him.

Nathans LP: 100

"Ggh, what?" A continuous trap had been flipped up, one that even he recognized. "Oh crap. That means I lose 500 lifepoints whenever a fire monster is destroyed?" He could not afford to kill another fire monster in that case. Even if he could, without Giganoto's powerboost Herra(2300/1500) was still the Gladiators equal in brute strength. "Crap. Ehm. I set a card down and end my turn." Demistria drew again. "Then it looks like this is the end for you, Nathan." She summoned a Jurrac Protops(1800/1200), who gained 100 extra attackpoints for each monster Nate controlled. "They will attack now." Herra struck first. "I can not lose yet ma'am." But the Ace used his trap to counter her. "TG1-EM1, I can switch control between a Tech Genus monster and another monster!" Jurrac Herra and Power Gladiator switched places right in the middle of their battle. "...Oh." Yet she continued to attack, the two monsters killed each other. "Backfire does not activate when the fire monster dies on my side of the field." Nate smirked. "That is true.."

"But then you must have one defense left, to have this much hope in your voice." Jurrac Protops(1700/1200) stampeded towards the duelist next. "I do. Trap card: Spirit Force." The triceratops hit him with its horns, but the trap negated the damage and allowed him to take back a Warrior-tuner monster from his hand. "I take back Junk Synchron." He said, and she nodded. "Your survival skills are remarkable. Nathan." She actually sounded impressed as she placed another card and let her turn end. "But couldn't you have used that trap earlier?" He had that card set two turns ago. "I did not want to use this card until I had to, until I received a killing blow." He explained as he started his turn. "Anyway. Now that I have this, I can.." He summoned Junk Synchron(1300/500) once more, who in turn revived the level 2 T.G. Catapult Dragon(900/1300) from the cemetery again. "Then since a monster was summoned from the grave, I can special summon Doppelwarrior from my hand." The level 2 stealth warrior(800/800) appeared._ "Now what do I summon?"_

He had several cards to worry about. _"I can not just destroy her Jurrac monster, Backfire will kill me with burn damage. So I have to do more than 1000 damage, but then there is her trap card." _He also had several choices. _"Junk Warrior should get enough powerboosts from doppel tokens and Catapult Dragon, Junk Berserker can weaken Protops, but.."_ He knew which one he wanted. "I combine the Synchron tuner with my two monsters!" Their seven levels formed one Junk synchro monster, the Junk Archer(2300/2000). "That one?" Demistria was surprised to see it. "Once a turn it can banish a monster from the field." The archer used one arrow to pierce Jurrac Protops with, the hit sent him to another dimension. This kind of disappearance did not trigger a Backfire. "And then I attack you directly!" Another arrow was fired. "How unfortunate. You made the wrong choice." But she flipped a trap card. "Had you picked something else, you could have won." It was another permanent trap, Call of the Haunted, which resurrected Jurrac Meteor.

_"Ah. How many revival cards does she have?" _Nate called off his attack. "Crap." And he realized now thet the game was over, one attack from Meteor to his wide-open Archer would be enough to destroy the rest of his lifepoints. "Ugh. I was stupid, damn it!" He felt like throttling himself for choosing the one synchro that she could take advantage of. "If it is any consolation, I do not consider this my win." The woman spoke with a strange kind of sincereness, as she took her turn. "I do not believe in coincidences. Yet the choices you make is not something I can influence, you lost because you had options." She drew a card, but that did not even matter anymore. "Yet I can not make that decision, who deserves to win and lose. It all according to the design." Jurrac Meteor then attacked and burned Junk Archer down to a crisp. "Ugh." Nate's LP dropped to zero. "Maám. Can you at least do me a favor, could you tell me why you are doing all this, before you take my soul or what not?" She titlted her head. "Sorry. Not even that is allowed."

Nate's LP: 0

"I found you, reaper." Macbeath meanwhile confronted Lithium in what used to be Malceans study room. "Do _not _be so proud of that, ace. I was looking for some targets myself. That it took you _this _long to find me is actually an accomplishment that speaks against you." Lithium chuckled. "Laugh all you want. You can not escape from here." Macbeth activated his dueldisk. "I already saw what _you _did to the network. Yet you trapped yourselves along with us. Heh, this cage is not strong enough to hold us once _we_ have fed." Lithium also tried to activate hia dueldisk. "Hold on, what is this?" Except he noticed something was off about it. The core was glowing bright red. "What does that mean?" Macbeth asked him. ".. Tch. How _unfortunate_." He did not answer, instead he ran off. "Wait where are you going!"

The same happened with Lincoln. "I can not believe your luck." He cursed as he too retreated as soon as his dueldisk began to glow the same way. "Lincoln!" But Kein had no idea where he could even flee to.

..

"I was not talking about you people in general, but you in particular. I just want to know why a signer is working for the Infinati." Nathan was not going to give up on the questioning yet. "We did not wire the room or anything, so you can just tell me." He was not going to be able to spread the word somehow. "I can not do that, Nathan. It will all be clear once you become one with Infinity." She raised her arm, putting the disks core at the same height level as Nate. "Many have already joined, few had worthwhile content. I believe you are one of those few, as such.. you will share in our knowledge." The core was about to strike out, ready to absorb Nathans life and soul. "But.." However hers had turned red as well by now. "!" She gasped and drew it back. "What is wrong?" Nathan could not help but ask about that too. "This is, an automated warning. A source of chaos is headed here, our operation is in danger." She said as she jumped up to Nate and pushed him aside. "Hey!" And while she did that, she took his dueldisk away from him, so that she could use its connection to the network to escape. "Wait. I think I know.." He quickly recovered. "I know what is after you! It wants the mark on your arm." And his words were enough to make her pause.

"Ah. Another woman." But he was too late in warning her, and she was too late with her retreat. From a golden light circle came the former occupant of the house, Jason Castle. "Him?" It was not the one Nathan expected to see. "What the hell?" Around that time both reapers and the remaining aces came into the room as well. "Oh. It looks like everyone that matters is here. That suits me just fine." Jason smirked as he turned to face them all. "The marks? How did he.." They saw all five part of the creators symbol burning on his chest. "Allow me to bring you up to speed, gentlemen. I have become the strongest signer in existence." He glared at the masked woman. "And soon to be, the only one." His smile disappeared. "But first I want to see, the face of the one signer my father missed. The absentee who caused his death. I see you were with _them_ all along." He snapped his fingers. "Ah.." And just like that, Demistria's mask was knocked off, revealing her true face to everyone.

"Huh. That's an interesting look.."

(To be Continued in Mark 095: Nothing from Something)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>T.G. Blade Blaster<br>T.G. Cyber Magician

-  
>Synchro Blast Wave<p>

-  
>TG1-EM1<p>

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Jurrac Meteor<br>Jurrac Giganoto  
>Jurrac Protops<p>

-  
>Monster Reborn<p>

-  
>Backfire<br>Call of the Haunted


	95. 095: Nothing from Something

**Mark 095: Nothing from Something**

Demistria's mask fell off, revealing her face. But it was not a face any of them had seen in the past, to most she just appeared to be another woman in her late twenties. She just looked rather familiar to Jason. "Curious. Your hair reminds me of Urizen, but your eyes remind me of my sisters." Jason looked at her, and saw the resemblance. "What is your answer to that, woman?" He wondered if this was a coincidence or more. "The blessing of god is an overwrite of the natural human design, it has been known to bring out recessive traits along with it." She blamed normally hidden genes, which for instance could cause red hair like hers and Urizens. "Possible. But that suggests all signs originally came from one human." And as far as he knew, there had always been six marks ever since the god Wiraqocha Rasca had been destroyed. "But then again, why should I care? You Infinati knew where the sixth mark was all along, and you hid it from us on purpose. And all of that was just because you feared someone becoming more powerful than any of you."

The others had been silently watching this scene so far, but Jason was not going to forget about them either. "Ah. If it isn't Lincoln." He noticed the ex-ace first. "Ugh." He shielded his face. "Ha! That is a nice reaction. But do not worry, I already heard what your deal was. Because my sister ruined your plans last time, you got demoted to joining the likes of the Reapers. How the tables have turned." He placed his hand on his chest. "Once you and your superiors rejected me, because the mark of the claw had not passed on to me. Now I have not one but all the marks, all the ones you need! And yet now that i have gained this much power, I have no need for any of you except this woman here. For you there will be no mercy." He then turned to the Aces. "As for you. Since you did save my life before, I shall be lenient in your case." Kein, Nathan and Macbeth were not too quick to show their appreciation. "But first. I have some business to take care off." H+e floated down to the ground. "Woman, it is time for your judging."

"The rules do not allow for that, Jason Castle."

A voice, belonging to an unseen new arrival, echoed throughout the room. "Who dares?" Jason and the others directed their attention to the front door, through which a person was phasing like the door had been made of water. "The judging is not to be executed by the judged." And it was Xavier Ali who showed up. "Him?" Lincoln cringed. "Xavier!" Nathan was a bit happier to see him, but he could not be too happy considering what he knew. "Oh right. The friend of Ada. You had become on of my sisters new toys." Jason nearly forgot all about those servants of hers. "So what are you saying now? I claimed what was left of the fused god, the judge. If anyone deserves to test the worthiness of another signer, it should be me!" While he focused his rage on the newcomer, Lincoln turned to Demistria. "Why are we not retreating?" He whispered to her. "We can not. This man can follow our movements." She replied quickly. "Tch. Don't want to endanger the cardinal and his council huh?" Lincoln could care less about his superiors right now.

"Hold it!" But just then Jason saw a reason to speak to the Infinati again. "What do you have there?" He now saw the box that Jason was acrrying with him. "Something that came from our home? Our family?" And he could literally feel his blood boil. "A box?" Macbeth and Kein noticed it too for the first time. "Is that what your raid was all about?" They asked the Infinati, while amazed at the fact that there was still something left to find. "As if you are so innocent." Jason snapped at the Ace of Diamonds. "Now i see how you R-tech people have razed this place, the legacy of the Castillo family!" He suddenly reached for his head, as the energy around him flared up. "Agh. No.. I can not let myself be distracted." The anger was getting too him. "I can control this power." His aura diminished. "Keep what's in there. I do not care for it. I know what i wanht." He looked at the sixth signer again, but this time Xavier had stepped in between the two of them. "So that is how it is going to be? You think you even can measure up to my power?" It looked like had had to remove a toy from the floor first. "All this power you have. Is it real?" Xavier was not budging. "That nonsense again? I do not know what she has been telling you, but this is as real as it gets. I have the power of the god who made this world!"

Yet as he said this, Xavier just casually shoved him to the ground. "What?" He fell, and for an instant the divine energy he had covered himself with dissipated like flames in the wind. "You!" But he quickly reignited his aura and jumped up to grab Xavier. "It is only as real as the rest." Yet he phased right through him, just like how Xavier had slipped through the door earlier. "He can become intangible?" Macbeth gasped. "That's a neat trick. But.." Jason turned around once more and released a blast of golden energy from the palm of his hand. ".." But that too failed to connect, and instead went on straight against the walls of his house. "What is this? Why can't I hit you!" Xavier did not get it, he was supposed to be all-powerful now. "I get it, duel me! If I defeat you in a duel, then you will be.." Yet as he touched his dueldisk, it disappeared. "!" It melted in his hands. "You do not understand, Jason. You are not my god, your sister is. As much power as you have in this world, it means nothing to someone who exists in the other.."

He then walked through him, resisting Jasons attempt to grab or hit him, and stopped in front of Demistria. "You are the last one. She has sent me to challenge you. Do you accept?" He had his dueldisk activated in any case. "It appears I have no choice. But what do I stand to gain?" In this setup she was not fighting someone who had a mark to give her. "The right to keep that mark. The question is, do you want to keep it?" She then held her wrist, and nodded slowly. "I owe this much to my superiors. I can not let it fall into enemy hands." She turned her disk back on. Everyone else held their breath. "Oh this should be good." Aside from a very excited Lithium. "No!" And Jason, who tried to attack them again. "Settle down son." Yet at that moment both Saturday and Helen blinked into existence. "No interrupting Callisto's funtime." And they managed to hold him back, grabbing him by his arms. "Argh. You two, how can you do this?" He struggled to no avail. "Then it shall be done." Xavier was ready for his duel with her.

Demistria's LP: 8000 Xaviers LP: 8000

"I set one card down and one monster." Demistria took the first turn. "Malefic World." And Xavier followed hers by playing the crucial field spell card as soon as his started. "Maelfic monsters?" Demistria had not heard of those yet. "And what is up with the room?" Lincoln saw the walls turn purple, the sky outside yellow. "Tch. You are freezing time?" Jason had seen this before, during his duel with Wiraoqcha Rasca, "Malefics are dragons, a relic of my fake former self. She liberated me and gave me and my spirits new powers." He banished a Stardust Dragon from his deck to special summon Malefic Stardust Dragon(2500/2000). "I see. She has access to cards outside the known archives." Demistria knew cards like those existed, as their Meklord Emperors fit the same description. "But when you summon like that." She flipped her face-down trap card, Hunting Instinct. "A trap to summon a dinosaur can be activated." She could special summon to, and she summoned a Jurrac Tyrannus(2500/1400) from her hand. "Interesting."

"Nonetheless I must attack." The Malefic Stardust destroyed her facedown dinosaur. "When Stauriko dies." But that just triggered the ability of the Staurikosaur(500/400), summoning two tokens(0/0) to her field. "I see. Then I shall place a trap." Xavier was done with his turn. ".." Demistria drew. "..When a dinosaur is sacrificed, Tyrannus gains power." Demistria allowed the tyrannosaur to feed on one of the tokens, letting his(3000/1400) power rise by 500 points. "And it attacks." Tyrannus charged towards the Stardust Dragon and bit it in the neck, dragging it away to its death. "And when it feeds on an enemy's monster. It grows too." The tyrant(3300/1400) swallowed the dragons remains and powered up again. "You do not take long to do damage, signer. However.." But instead of losing just 500 lifepoints, he lost 4250 lifepoints. "This helps me more than it helps you." "What is that thing?" The main hall had a new visitor, a gigantic golden dragon(5000/5000) whose very wings were too wide to be projected properly inside.

Xaviers LP: 3750

"Malefic Truth Dragon. When a Malefic monster is destroyed, this one can be summoned from my hand at the cost of half my lifeforce." That was why he lost half of the remaining 7500 lifepoints he had left after Tyrannus' attack. "..This is dangerous." Demistria said to herself as she placed a monster and trap card down before ending her turn. "This is just the beginning." Xavier drew and played an equip spell card. "Megamorph will double the attackpower of my monster, as my lifepoints are lower than yours." To everyone's astonishment, the already strong Malefic Truth Dragon(10000/5000) became twice as terrible. "And then I summon the Herald of Creation." A light elemental prophet(1800/600) joined his side, though everyone's eyes were still on the massive dragon. "This is where it begins for us, and ends for you." He declared his attack. Truth Dragon wasted her Tyrannus with a mere flap of its wings. "And when Malefic Truth Dragon vanquishes one life, all other souls shall be extinguished as well!" Spikes of blood were summoned in the air, and they rained down on Demistria's side, destroying the Jurrac token and her set Jurrac Gallim(1200/0). "Oh no! She is defenseless!" Macbeth shouted without even stopping to realize he was worried about one of their enemies.

Demistria's LP: 1300

"My Herald finishes this." The Creation mage raised her staff. "Fossil Excavation." But she tried to stop a direct from killing her by playing the dinosaur revival trap card. "Of course must have had one defense left, to remain this calm. However, I saw any hope like that coming." But in turn he revealed his facedown trap card, Epic Eradicator Virus. "I tribute a dark monster with 2500 attackpoints, to destroy all traps you control or have in your hand." For the virus the Truth Dragon(2500/5000) was tributed, as it had lost its powers when Megamorph no longer counted Xavier as the duelist with the least lifeforce available. "!" In turn the virus infected and killed her traps including the Excavator, before it could even choose a target. "The result is the same. Demistria, you failed the trial." The Herald threw her spell away, which hit the woman and took away her remaining life. "Gha.." She fell to one knee. "This can not be good." Lincoln grumbled to himself. "My.." And Demistria reached for her arm, a bare unmarked arm. "I am sorry. Cardinal." She lowered her head.

"It is done." Saturday smirked and released Jason. "So what?" He shouted as he pulled himself free from Helen as well. "Now you have one mark. I still have the rest! It does not matter who owns that one, as long as I.. I.." But then the symbols on his chest started to glow once more, brighter than ever. "Why..does this hurt/" It was like real fire on his skin now. "You still do not see, Jason?" Xavier had the mark on his arm as well, his was redhot as well. "What is that?" The others only now had a good look at the sixth sign, which looked like an ordinary flower glyph to them. "Beyond the condor, lies the sun itself." But in fact it was an image of the sun, with one ray shooting further than the other rays. "The sun of reality." Even though Malefic World was no longer in play, and it was only noon. The skies and the room remained dark, as if all light was being devoured by the marks. "When and who do no matter to those who can see reality. It was never about 'the now'." And then Jasons symbols and Xaviers symbol connected through a line of energy. "It was enough to simply let us experience them, and to ensure nobody would ever get all six at once. Callisto herself can choose which 'then' to take from, and choose to visit anywhere all six are available..to her bloodline."

"Ow!" And then Lincoln screamed out loud and dropped the box. "What is your problem?" Kein yelled. "That thing is ice cold!" He rubbed his hand and kicked the box, sending it falling down the stairs. "Huh? But that is..." Now Jason saw what had been inside it all along... A card, a soul prison card. The same card that had once held Xaviers soul. "Wait. Why _did_ the Infinati want this?" Lithium did not quite understand. "Because..of who was sealed inside that card. This was a soul unlike the others Malceans daughter had trapped, this one was too special to leave lying around." Demistria explained to him. "But..how?" They saw her on it, Callisto, a few years younger. "Only Malcean knew this, there was a time when Callisto sealed a part of her own soul inside a card. Why we do not know. But he likely kept it in case he ever were to lose control of her." Demistria told him. "But..how did you find this?" Jason understood so little of this. "Our superiors have ways, of finding lives. And this particular one was seen as one of great use. Especially when we received the signs. We needed leverage because..."

They heard footsteps. "She was coming back." They looked up at the door behind them. "Is that..one of yours?" Lincoln asked if Kein had any other flunkies in the building. "Us three were the only ones." But Kein denied that. "Then.." The sounds came closer and closer. And with each step, the card in the box trembled. "Sis.." And as the doors slammed open, the soulcard flew upwards and towards the hands of the one who pushed the door. "Welcome." Saturday, Xavier and Helen all bowed down. Everyone else just stared. "Lady Callisto." There she stood, Jasons sister. She had not changed on bit since he saw her go. "This..is all?" She waved her hand once, and two bright flashes filled the hall. "What the?" And suddenly Ada and Thursday but also Urizen, Gaunt, Ansoni and Sarah, were all in the same room with the others. "Where.. why are we here?" They were miles away from the castle, yet they quickly recognized the location. "Them?" The Infinati and aces were surprised to see them too, with Demistria quickly putting back her mask on in the confusion. "Her?" But they all had eyes for one person anyway, the girl that brought them here. "Hello." She greeted them calmly.

"I called you all here for one reason. To see once and for all if you truly do.. exist."

(To be Continued in Mark 096: Her Canvas)

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Jurrac Tyrannus<p>

-  
>Hunting Instinct<p>

**New Cards used by Xavier**  
>Malefic Truth Dragon<br>Herald of Creation

-  
>Megamorph<p>

-  
>Epic Eradicator Virus<p> 


	96. 096: Her Canvas

**Mark 096: Her Canvas**

"What is going on here?" Urizen yelled the loudest of all the confused voices in the room. "Xavier!" Others had their share of cries too, like Ada who tried to get Xavier to notice her to no avail. "Callisto!" And Jason who tried the same with her sister. "Test, what test?" Most were just concerned with the when and how and why of Callisto's return to the mortal realm. "Noisy noisy." Helen covered her ears, as she and the rest of Callisto's servants kept bowing to greet their mistress. "Yes. Everyone should be quiet." Callisto said as she walked down the stairs. "I...?" And to the surprise of the others in the room, everyone did calm down. "What did.." Though they were not sure why they did. "This place is getting crowded is it not, lady Callisto?" Saturday was the first to speak up. "Indeed. Even Callisto's old home shall no longer do." She closed her eyes, and that act was immediately followed by a most unusual sight. The very walls of the castle moved, sliding outwards to let the room expand. 'That is much better. Now there is enough room for all."

Jaosn could not believe what he was seeing. "Callisto!" He clenched his fist and rushed straight at her. "This is no time for your games!" As he charged, Xavier tried to intercept, but Callisto gestured him not to. "I defeated your fused god, I gained five of the six signs! So why.." He grabbed the girl by the collar of her dress. "Why can you do this too? Why do you have these powers?" She looked at her brother with a vacant gaze, like she did not even notice him. "They told you." She pulled herself free. "!" Or rather, he let her go without realizing it. "Father opened the gate, but lacked the sixth sign. Callisto's friends just got that one." Xaviers arm still burned with the suns mark. "But I have the rest!" Jasons glowed brightly as well. "If all you needed was the sixth one, why the judgment, why fuse the gods? Why did you need me?" He looked straight into her eyes, and noticed for the first time. "Wait, you.." The scars were gone. "Callisto knows her brother well." She placed her hand on his chest. "And she needed a vessel. Because father ... Callisto was stuck in that world. Unable to do anything but give new purpose to parts of reality that had escaped this world already. She needed someone with the same blood, the same marks, to fool the ritual itself into reactivating."

"...You used me." Jason turned to Saturday. "You lied to me.. he lied to me! He told me one person could get all of gods power once he had been vanquished! You knew I would be the only one who would ever take that kind of power!" And he was of course connected to Malcean through their bloodline. "I was wondering why Saturday only told you that." Ansoni said, almost feeling pity for him. "No! I still have them, I do not understand why I can not use the power!" His energy aura flared up once more. "Because.. the gods were never gods." Callisto whisked the golden flames away as soon as she pulled back her hand. "They only seem like gods to the unreal world, they can only create lies. And lies can not change fact, they can not change the truth. The truth is.. the signs did not exist to begin with." And just like that, the marks on both Jason and Xavier faded away like disappearing ink. "NO!" Jason no longer felt any twinge of power coursing through his body. "No.." He felt even weaker than before, slumping to his knees. "N..o.."

"Then why are you back here?" Amidst all the chaos, Gaunt took it upon himself to try to talk some sense into all of this. "If this world is fake, as you say, why did you come back?" He had already heard reasons, but he wanted to listen to her own story. "You might remember, the masked men told you that the gods were just parasites.. fleeing a dying world." She casted a quick glance in the direction of Demistria and company. "By the way, you may leave. Callisto does not want to test you." And before Lincoln, Lithium or Demistria could even get a word in edgewise, or leave on their own, she made them leave in a flash of energy. "Where did you send them?" Kein asked, half hoping that she just sent them to the middle of the sea or something. "Back." That was her only answer. "But as Callisto wanted to say, they were right." She continued. "The gods created and invaded this world because theirs was coming to an end. The only things on that side are death and decay. We could not survive there.. father.." Her voice cracked a bit. "He went away."

"That is why she wanted to come back, to make this the new world. If we can not go back to reality, then the new reality will be placed here, a new heaven for all.." And then unexpectedly she cheered right up, her tone going from melancholy to joyful. "First, Callisto will see who is there and who is not there. Then she will remove everything that does not exist, and replace it! She will have more friends, more family." This display ended up being even more disturbing. Especially since her underlings were all smiling along with her. "You think we will let you do this?" Urizen sneered at her. "Callisto does not think you will, she knows you will. After all, you can not stop me." She snapped her fingers and Urizen sat down on the floor. "What the hell, did you do to me?" He sure as hell did not do that on his own. "Miss, do you not think it is time to administer the test?" Saturday rose and inquired. "..Yes, of course." She lost her happy expression. "This may not be pleasant." In fact she looked saddened. "But it will be over soon. And for some, it may even be over for good."

**All went black...**

_**"Where am I?" **_**A thought stirred in that darkness, questions arose. **_**"I was not here. I was.. Where was I?" **_**This was wrong, this was not how it should have been or should be. **_**"Where is everyone else, where.. Hello?" **_**No words came out.. A voice tried to speak, but nothing came. Lips did not move, the mouth did not open, it was all stuck.. frozen. "Why can't I.. Why can't I speak? What is going on?" All senses were dulled as well, nothing to hear but silence, nothing to smell but nothingness, nothing to see but shadows. Only touch seemed unchanged. And yet.. there was nothing to touch. "This is wrong. I am not supposed to be here.. I am." Worst of all, it was hard to think in here. "Who..am I?" It was hard to remember, hard to think back to a time where this void was not the world he grew up in. Or was he a she? It could not even tell, it could not understand. **_**"I want out. I want out, I want out!"**_

"I want out!" Urizen dropped to the floor with open arms. "Guah!" He was back, back to the world he knew. The world he thought he knew.

"What.. was that?" Every soul in the room had that question on their minds, they had all experienced that dark world. "Sorry. Everyone had to go through that, it was the only way to tell." Callisto clapped her hands together. "But Callisto has good news for aall of them! They are all real, this day is not a dream." Ansoni was the first to stand up after the ordeal. "Was that.. gods world?" And this was the first mystery on his mind that he wanted solved. "You saw what Callisto saw. That darkness was all that she and her father could find. Although... father may have seen more. Maybe that was why.." She then looked at the card in her hand, the soul prison of her own soul. "He always did see things Callisto could not. He always knew what was real, and always stopped Callisto before she could hurt anyone." Just then Jason got up, the trip to the darkness snapped him out of his shocked state. "Ugh. That is right. Now I remember. You tried to imprison yourself in a card, just to test if you yourself were real. I hope you are happy now, sister. You can now see like the rest of us can." He took some very deep breaths. "But that is far as I will let your happiness go!" He extended his hand. "Oh?" But contrary to his expectations, nothing was achieved with that act.

"The sleep trigger? It does not work anymore?" He had always been able to put his sister to sleep, when she got out of hand. Always. He just never considered he would need that ability again after all the powers he was supposed to have gained. "This Callisto is not the one that left, brother." She smiled sweetly. "But it is okay. She forgives you. Brother is still a part of the family." She extended both arms and the walls around them began to shift once more. "Not again." Some slid behind the corners, others came to the front. The ceiling titled and allowed walls from above to merge with those below. And the staircase itself began to wind further and encircle the whole area. "This is where it will begin, where it will be created." It was her bedroom, objects from her chamber appeared as the castle changed shape. "What shape do we pick?" Helen and the servants surrounded her. "I believe your books will give you the answer." Saturday suggested. "Good idea." Callisto summoned one of the many books from her case and opened it on the first page. "The Prose..will do."

"Milady." It was at that time that Thursday finally adressed the one who had 'created' him. "What are you going to do now?" He had been told what she wanted, but never what she would do once she got it. "Free this world from the chains of lies, of course. You should know this, you received your real name from Callisto." She said without looking at him, she just flipped through the pages of her book. "But these people, I have seen a bit of their world, I have even received memories. It does not seem as unstable as he initially believed. This world is not dying." He did not understand his urge to protest against her, yet the urge was not something he could reject. "This world was made by liars, it deserves an honest 'god'." More pages were read. "Are you truly doing this for yourself? Or this is for the sake of your dead father?" Urizen yelled at her. He still felt this sounded an awful lot like what he had set out to do with his godhood. "...Silence." She closed the book. "Death is nothing, death will be nothing. This.. will be our Valhalla."

"Callisto can give life, Callisto can fix everything." She waved her hand around and new figures appeared from the many closets on the walls. "Hey. Don't we know those guys?" Sarah gasped as she saw the ghostly image of Alphonse from the Dresden academy. "Yes. These are.." Ansoni also saw one of a dozen troopers march forwards, the men they had lost two months ago to Aslla Piscu. "People who lost their soul to her?" The two who had been affected by the Jester Lord deck also showed up. As did the rest of Malceans castle staff, house maids, valets and cooks, all entered her living space. "It will all be like it once was, but better." Callisto let go off the book, which started to float in the air. "Accept this power." Six symbols appeared on the front cover: fire, ice, wind, earth, darkness and light. "Accept the marks of the new god." They shot out towards six of her servants, Saturday, a Trooper, Xavier, Alphonse and Helen all received the signs respectively. The last one remained and was coming for Thursday.

"I am sorry miss. I can not accept this." But he denied this power, and the symbol of light simply flew back to Callisto. "You would choose this path, you who were made first?" Saturday sounded outraged. "This power, is a kindness." In fact he seemed mad enough to start burning up, fire surrounded the butler. "This is great. This is awesome!" Helen meanwhile jumped around like she had taken too many pep pills. "Maybe I can even." She placed one hand on her cast, and broke it with her fingers like a porcelain vase. "Ack!" Sarah nearly gagged once she saw what had been underneath all this time, bone and rotten flesh. "Now it hurts less." Yet she could move that arm just fine. "Do you see now Ada?" Xavier meanwhile finally spoke to his former friend. "This is what happens to all of us who have been freed by Callisto, I am free of the lie that is Ali." He was surrounded by gales of wind and darkness. "The heaven of gods will set us all free." Ada could only watch as she indeed felt like there was nothing left of the old Ali.

"It can not end here." Macbeth shook his head, it looked like it was all over. "It will not." But Thursday had seen enough. "I again apologize, milady. But I can not allow these people to suffer. 'Richard' can not allow it." He turned away from his creator. "Do as you wish. Callisto understands your confusion." The girl did not mind. "But.." She came down to sit besides Jason. "Brother stays." She smiled again. "I can not say no.." Thursday nodded. "What? Wait, do not leave me with.." Jason screamed at him. "Jason. You are family." But his sister held his hand, and he froze up. "I am sorry." Thursday meanwhile grabbed the hand of Gaunt. "Trust me." And before he or anyone else knew it, they were back at R-tech. "What? You saved us?" It appeared Thursday had brought them there with his instant travel ability, all the duelists except one. "But what about Jason?" Gaunt asked him. Thursday went silent. "I think we have the rest of the world to worry about first." Kein noticed they were back in the conference room. He immediately turned on the satellite viewing screen, yet that camera reported nothing but static. "The world is in danger." Others could see something on the horizon, a pitchblack blot that swallowed the clouds and the blue sky. "I do not know, what will happen to it.."

At another place, a Cardinal and his council were convening. "It has come to pass. The chaos architect has begun her work." And there was little good news. "We should never have let the mark of the sun leave our domain. Now agent Demistria is worthless to us. But we are outside of the reach of the chaos, are we not?" One masked council member cried out. "Her powers do not extend to this space yet, but there is nothing to stop her, her power has potential for unlimited growth." Another said with a grave tone. "Then she must be exterminated! She now exists outside the parameters, there is no point in taking her essence!" A third shouted and banged his fist on the table. "I concur, there is a venue we need to explore." The cardinal rose up. "We shall consult..the design." All other members turned their chairs to face the wall behind the Cardinal. "Tell us what we must do." They bowed simultaneously, as the wall began to shine. Three infinity symbols appeared within the light, converging as one. "...Of course. It is that simple."

**END OF ACT 3**

(TO BE CONTINUED IN ACT 4)


	97. 097: Another word for Armageddon

**ACT 4: EVOLUTION**

**Mark 097: Another word for Armageddon**

It was late in the morning, yet the sky already grew dark. "Looks like a storm is coming." People in the streets saw black clouds spread across the skies. "That does not look like a normal storm to me." But confusion soon replaced itself with panic, when even the very sun itself seemed to be swallowed by this dark blot. "What is this? Is it some kind of gas?" Thanks to all the recent warnings of terrorist attacks, and curfews which were put in place at several locations, it did not take long for people to assume the worst. "We have to run.. we have to get." But their wildest imagination could not compete with what they actually saw the moment the shadows fell over them. "Gah!" For one instant everyone was trapped inside a void of pure darkness, pure silence and pure emptyness. "What was.. what was that?" They were released from that nightmare soon, though the sky itself remained pitchblack. "Wait, where.. where did those others go?" Yet the streets were emptier than before. Not everyone returned from the nothingness.

"So, this is what she is doing?" It was all over the news already, people were disappearing from the streets. "First they go blind, they say, and then they are taken." Only hours after Thursday had warped everyone to a safe distance, did they see the black mass taint the horizon, and everyone under its shadow was already affected. "Can you tell us what she is doing? Why is she sending some people away, but the others stay behind?" Gaunt and the others had experienced it first, but they still did not understand. "As I said, I did not know about the lady's desires. And I did not endure the test she forced upon you. From my point of view you did not go anywhere. But..What you described to me however. That does remind me of my own existence, before she gave me purpose." He had been drifting through darkness, before she revived him. "Then it is the place were all souls go? Were Richard and Ali had gone.." Ansoni did not like to think about it, but he could only call it by one word. "That place was death itself, Callisto is doing the same thing the Earthbound did."

"I can't believe I'd witness the end of the world in my lifetime. Ian Darkend looked out the window. While the darkness had not yet reached capitol city, everyone could see it coming. "So what is it? You people must know, right?" He was in the cafeteria along with Sarah and Ada. "It is a bad thing. I can not really explain it." Ada was not sure what to tell him. "I just had to convince my parents that it was not the rapture, and that it is a good thing to be left behind. But I can not even be sure about it." It was not a pleasant phone conversation regardless, but her family had been through the same already. "My mother is safe too. I guess if we can survive the test, so can our family. But it has not reached my hometown yet." Sarah feared for everyone she knew there. "This is about that girl, isn't it? The one everyone talks about." Ian was there when Helen dueled Ansoni. Even if he did not follow everything they said, he heard the name 'Callisto' often enough. "I am afraid so. She wants to see who is real and who is not. She can tell, but we can not."

Meanwhile at the detention area. "Is it true? You saw mister Alphonse?" Siren had been brought up to speed about what had gone inside the castle. But the one bit of good news was not good at all. "Yes, and no. I am sorry to say it, but he is not the same anymore." Macbeth said. "You mean. He is like your friend? Like Richard?" Two months ago, the Dresden academy only got to hear that teacher Alphonse had gone on sick-leave. But Siren had known all along, there was more to his absence than an illness. "Yes. But Richard saves us back there. And if he can recover from whatever had been done to him, so can your teacher... However, we can not forget our other problem." The two looked at the man in their cell, a restrained Dean. "I know. But I have not made any progress. I can not force him to remember, not without destroying his mind. I am not.. good enough." He shook his head. "Well. Maybe it will not need it, not right away at least. This mess is their problem too.."

..

A bit later all the Aces returned to the conference room to meet up with Gaunt, as they had found some 'good' news. "We finally have a view of the area!" One R-tech worker yelled as he turned on the big screen to show an aerial display of the Castillo home. "What is this?" But all they saw was a forest that covered the whole grid. "Are these the right coordinates?" There could not be a castle there unless it was covered in trees. "She is there." Thursday said to gaunt. "She is where?" Gaunt did not know where to look. "She is changing the world into a paradise, like she said she would. Those trees are the beginning. That tree will be the network to hold it all together." He pointed out that one tree was bigger than the ones around it. "Despite her upbringing, she started to favor one mythology over those of the Nazca and their geoglyphs. She read many books, but the saga of the Norse region interested her the most." And in that area of mythology, one tree was well known. "I see. She confides more in the fables of mankind than the facts. And both the southern and norse pagans shared this concept; the great tree.. the World Tree." Thursday nodded. "Yes. This must be what she is turning her new home in, Yggdrasil, the great tree." Urizen stepped up. "How do you know all this?" He found it unlikely Callisto would tell her servants such personal details. "Because my deck, my spirits were modeled after it. Like many of her servants."

"You dare call yourself that!"

A loud shrill voice took everyone in the conference room by surprise. "You have not the right!" A woman in the room had started screaming at Thursday, a woman who had not been in here a minute ago and had been elsewhere an hour ago. "It's one of the maids?" Ansoni recognized her instantly as one of the 'friends' Callisto had given new life too not to long ago. "When did she.. ugh never mind." Kein remembered these people could come and go wherever they wanted. "Who are you? Or do we call you sunday?" Urizen began to wonder if they had to friends of Callisto's for every day of week. "I have a true name, and I do not have to hide it. I am Chakana!" She exclaimed proudly. "But you, you do not deserve the name anymore. Thursday, or Richard, or whatever you like to call yourself now. That is what I shall call you." Thursday approached the woman. "Chakana then. Why are you here? Lady Callisto allowed us this retreat." He did not think any of Callisto's creations would disobey her. "I am here to get you."

She pointed a finger at him. "You were offered the mark of Light, and you refused. Now there is a hole in the system, and I shall be the one to clean it." She clapped her hands together and summoned a stack of cards between her open palms. "You want to duel him? What does that prove?" Urizen asked. "She wants to prove that she can Callisto's signer of light. I can understand her feelings." Thursday was the only one in the room who had been as devoted to Callisto as this woman here. "Not just that. You made her sad." Chakana clenched her fist. "She may not have said it, but we can all feel it. She wished you would have chosen the real you, over the fake you." Thursday sighed. "It did not wish to make her feel that way, but my own feelings matter too." He too called cards to himself. "You saying that proves it. You no longer can feel what she feels, you are lost..'Richard'." Chakana drew her cards. "Everyone, stay back. She only wants me." He drew his cards too. "I want you where you belong, traitor." Chakana hissed. "Dead.."

Chakana's LP: 8000 Thursday's LP: 8000

"I set four cards down, two traps, one spell and one monster. Make your move, Richard." The maid was done with her turn. "Very well. I summon Fabled Kushano." He normal summoned the fallen angel librarian(1100/300) "Then by discarding a card from my hand, The Fabled Nozoochee can be special summoned." He discarded a Fabled Cerburrel to bring out a yellow snake(1200/800). "Then Nozoochee can summon another level 2 Fabled from my hand." He brought out a second Nozoochee(1100/800). "And since The Fabled Cerburell was discarded." The cerberus tuner monster(1000/1000) was the third to appear. "And now, synchro summon!" One of the two snakes and the dog were tuned together. "Fabled Uni.." Both level 2 monsters formed a level 4 monster, but before that could happen... "Fabled Unicore! I know!" But Chakana finished his sentence. "When both players hold the same number of cards in their hands, the opponents effects are all negated and destroyed. I know your monster, Richard. I know your deck." They had two cards in their hands each. However. her field had undergone a change. First she played a continuous trap card: Temple of the Moon. "I also know Fabled Unicore does not negate effects that are continuous."

_Temple of the Moon, Continuous Trap  
>Face-up monsters you control that were special summoned from the main deck gain 500 ATK.<em>

"And she destroyed her monster?" Before the Unicore had finished its summoning process, Chakana had used her quickplay spell card, Self-Mummification. "I sent one monster on my field to its grave." A floating demons mask(300/100) got mummified. "This triggers Supay's effect. When it dies by an effect, Oracle of the Sun will be summoned from my deck." The suns priest(1000/2000) appeared. "And his original powers shall be doubled as well as enhanced by my tap card." The Oracle(2500/2000) drained in more light with his staff, moonlight as well as pure energy. "..Then my battle will have to wait." He could not attack the Oracle with Unicore. "I place two cards in my hand down and synchro summon again." The level 3 Kushano tuner and the remaininged Nozoochee formed a level 5 synchro demon. "Ah, Fabled Ragin." A demonic warrior in red and gold armor(2300/1800) flew down to the battlefield. "Now you can draw twice, because your hand is empty?" She knew Ragins ability as well. "..I end my turn." Both the drawn cards he kept in his hand.

"Now then. Monsters summoned by Supay return to my hand during the endphase." The Oracle vanished. "But since you control a monster or two, and I none.." But he(1000/2000) quickly reappeared. "The Sun oracle can be special summoned from my hand!" After that she summoned a wooden priest doll(1800/1200). "I normal summon Apocatequil." But at this point Thursday flipped one of his trap cards. "I do not know what your plan is, but I can not let it happen. Raigeki Break!" He could discard a card to destroy a card. "I discarded The Fabled Catsith, which activated her effect as well!" Thunder erupted and blasted the Oracle to pieces. At the same time Catsith clawed through Apocatequil. "Heh. You really know nothing about us, do you?" But once the smoke cleared, Oracle of the Sun could be seen still standing. "What?" Or rather, it had returned. "When one grave accepts Apocatequil, another will release the Oracle." She then flipped her third and final trap card. "Call of the Reaper: When a monster is revived, Supay can be revived as well." The trap brought back the demon mask. "Wait, is that a tuner monster too?" Only now did the others notice Supay was a level 1 tuner. "Your omens are correct, I will use these two monsters for my synchro ritual!" Supay and the level 5 Oracle formed one level 6 creature, a four headed dragon(2500/2000) whose body was the blue moon itself. "Moon Dragon Quilla. One half of the cycle is here.." Two of the dragons heads grabbed the unicorn by its wings. "Perish!" The moonbody than released a beam of pure moonlight that reduced Unicore to cosmic dust.

Thursday's LP: 7800

"These cards, I do not recognize them." Thursday said as he drew again. "Did you think we who serve Callisto will accept the cards made by this world? Now that she is closest to god, all servants will wield new spirits." She laughed. "That is not what makes me curious, Chakana." Thursday sacrificed Fabled Ragin for Fabled Dianaira, the demonic brute(2800/100). "I was wondering why.." Dianaira slaughtered the Moondragon with one punch. "...your deck does not fit her motif. Even I was given a power that fits her adoration of the Norse religion." Apocatequil, Supay and Quilla were all figures of Incan mythology. "That is exactly why I want you gone, Thursday. You have 'that card', when you should not have it!" She gloated as her lifepoints went up by 1400, before it went down by 300. "What the?" Moondragon Quilla's light restored her, before its death. "I see, when you attack the moon, half of the attackers strength will be added to her lifepoints."

Chakana's LP: 9100

"..Your move." Chakana smirked. "Of course. I summon the Fire Ant Ascator!" A level 3 red ant an tuner monster(700/1300) appeared. "I added this monster to my hand when Oracle of the Sun died. Because the Oracle of the Sun lets me add any tuner for my two synchro monsters, under those conditions." Gaunt raised an eyebrow. "Two? The sun..is next?" Chakana nodded. "Well done. But first I need this." She special summoned an incan idol statue(0/500). "Weeping Idol can be summoned by banishing a tuner in my graveyard." Supay had been banished for this effect. "But it is just level 2, I need 3 more stars. Therefor I play the spell Positive Wave!" A wave of energy washed over the Fire Ant, doubling its stars.

_Positive Wave, Normal Spell  
>Select one monster you control. That monster's original level is multiplied by 2.<em>

"Now Ascator is a level 6 tuner! I tune him together with the Weeping Idol!" The two incan monsters formed another fourheaded dragon, a level 8 Sun Dragon(3000/2500). "Inti, attack!" And the dragons heads tried to bite into Dianaira's limbs. "Not yet!" He flipped another trap card. "Photonize! I can negate your attack against a light elemental and add the attackpower of that monster to mine!" The suns light was overpowered by purer photon rays, and Dianaira absorbed some light from Into into himself(5800/100). "Heh. But before you make another mistake, Richard. I should warn you." She said as she activated another continuous card, the spell card Temple of the Sun. "The moon restores, but the sun burns. If you attack my Inti, she will strike back at her destroyer and inflict damage to half of the monsters attackpoints." And half of 5800 points would be a lot of damage. "I have started the cycle of the moon and sun, there is nothing you can do to stop it." She ended her turn. "The only one who can.. and will.. is Lady Callisto."

(To be Continued in Mark 098: The Last Sunset)

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>The Fabled Nozoochee<br>The Fabled Unicore  
>Fabled Ragin<p>

**Cards used by Chakana**  
>Supay<br>Oracle of the Sun  
>Apocatequil<br>Moon Dragon Quilla  
>Fire Ant Ascator<br>Weeping Idol  
>Sun Dragon Inti<p>

_-  
>Temple of the Moon<em>  
>Self-Mummification<em><br>Positive Wave_  
>Temple of the Sun<p>

-  
>Call of the Reaper<p> 


	98. 098: The Last Sunset

**Mark 098: The Last Sunset**

Chakana's LP: 9100 Thursday's LP: 7800

"I discard Fabled Grimro from my hand. When I control a Fabled monster while I do this, I can add one Fabled monster from the deck to my hand." Richard had Fabled Dianaira(5800/100), powered up by Photonize still, so he could add a Fabled Kruz to his hand. "Then by discarding a Fabled monster from my hand, I can take back Fabled Kushano." He discarded Krus, and that activated the effect of the little demon girl. "When krus is discarded, a Fabled monster can be revived from my cemetery." He brought back The Fabled Nozoochee(1200/800), the level 2 serpent. " Then I summon Kushano!" He also brought out the level 3 fallen angel(1100/800). "You want to attack me? After what I said?" Chakana cackled, as she still had her powerful Sun Dragon Inti(3000/2500) on the field. "I do." He sent the brute Dianaira to strike at her dragon, and one punch shattered through rock. "Then you shall suffer!" But the Fabled one soon selfcombusted. "Inti's killer is destroyed and half of its attackpoints are deducted from your lifeforce. I told you this!"

Chakana's LP: 6300 Thursday's LP: 4900

"I remember. But I did not intend to let you hide behind that monster forever." She was wide open now, both his remaining fabled monsters attacked her. "Now, I placed a card in my hand down and I synchro summon!" He combined the snake with the tuner Kushano. "Another?" A second Fabled Ragin(2300/1800) came from his extra deck. "Since my hand is empty, I can draw until I have two cards again." Ragins effect gave him two draws. "I place one more card down, and end my turn." Chakana then started to smirk. "You are ignorant. You can not stop this cycle." A light started to shine through the floor. "It's her dragon?" Ansoni gasped as Moon Dragon Quilla(2500/2000) returned from its grave. "When the Sun falls, the Moon rises. Inti's death allows me to revive Quilla during the next standby phase." And thanks to her continuous spell card, Temple of the Sun, Quilla(2800/2000) gained more power because it was summoned from the graveyard. "I summon another Apocatequil." A second Incan wooden puppet(1800/1200) appeared. "And I attack!"

Chakana's LP: 4000

But before she could land a hit on Ragin. "I activate the effect of Honest." The Fabled demon(5100/1800) powered up as the Honest angel was discarded. "Gah. Not that card!" Any light monster would gain the attackpower of the other monster it did battle with. "Quilla does not restore your lifepoints, if he is the attacker." Fabled Ragin countered the Moondragons assault, cutting off its heads in one sweep. "But the moon makes way for the sun!" Unlike Inti, Quilla could immediately revive its counterpart. "I special summon Inti!" The Sundragon(3300/2500) re-appeared and was powered up by the Temple as well. "Damn it. Those things are immortal." Urizen wondered if they could keep replacing each other. "Indeed. And their eternity outshines yours, Richard!" Unfortunately the powerboost of Honest lasted until the end of the turn. "Your fortune will not last you." And with her remaining lifepoints she could not afford to do a suicidal charge into Ragin, even if Inti would destroy the synchro monster afterwards. "Show me what you can do now. End turn."

Chakana's LP: 1700

"...I set a monster and switch Fabled Ragin to defense mode" Thursday's turn was just those two moves. "I knew it. I have you trapped at last. You can not even fight back." She knew he would not attack Apocatequil, since that monster would just revive Oracle of the Sun upon its destruction. "But, your defense could still be lending you hope. I can not have that." Inti struck first and burned up Fabled Ragin with solar energy rays. "Apocatequil, smash his set!" And the Inca monster destroyed Thursday's facedown monster, a white goat(1200/800). "Tanngrisnir?" Chakana recognized it. "Is that another Nordic Beast?" While Nathan remembered that Thursday had more monsters than just the fabled ones. "Nordic Beast Tanngrisnir summons 2 level 3 tokens upon its demise." Two tinier goats(0/0) appeared in defense mode. "So you are going to summon it now eh? It will not be enough to defeat the sun and moon!" She protested. "..I activate a trap too. Nordic Relic Laevateinn." A trap card summoned a sword. "It destroys a monster that destroyed another." The blade Laevateinn flew towards the sun dragon and cracked its shell. "Destroying it with an effect instead of brute force?" Inti crumbled. There was no monster for it to destroy this time.

Chakana ended her turn after she placed the last card in her hand down. "Nice try." But as her turn ended, Quilla(2800/2000) returned to her field. "Not even card effects break the loop?" Ansoni guessed that only banishing or bounce effects would end the sun/moon cycle. "..But even if you are setting up for it, you have no cards left in your hand. And there is virtually no chance that you would draw the tuner you needed to.." Chakana felt like she had nothing to fear. "Guldfaxe." Until it was revealed that he did in fact draw the keycard. "How?" He summoned the level 4 tuner, Guldfaxe(1600/1000). "That card huh.." There were ten level stars on Thursday's side, just like in his duel with Nathan. "Here it is, Chakana. The card you wanted." He performed the synchro summon, Guldfaxe and the tokens united. "I summon..Thor: Lord of the Aesir." The beasts made way for a beast warrior of the divine class. Thor, the god of thunder(3500/2800), had taken form. "A new god card? Where did that come from?" Urizen knew of Earthbound Gods, but not this.

"Lady Callisto made it." Chakana explained. "It was his weapon against the lying immortals. Once a turn Thor can negate a monsters powers." Such an ability would come in handy against the Earthbound and their immateriality. "But that is useless against the Sun and Moon dragons, their effects activate in the grave!" Even if Thor were to negate Quilla's power, Inti would still be resurrected. "And before you think you can instead attack Apocatequil!" Chakana flipped her trap card, Pixie Ring. "As long as I control this trap, you can not attack my weakest monsters!" He would have to keep attacking the Sun and the Moon. "You must have a lot to prove, Chakana." Thursday did it anyway, Thor used his aura of dominance to suppress Quilla's effects. At least this way she would not gain lifepoints when he attacked the dragon. "You attack me every turn, you never defend or hide. Do you really wish to represent her?" Thor then swung his hammer down and pulverized her synchro monster. "Or are you just trying to make yourself more liked by her?"

Chakana's LP: 1000

"Silence! This is about you, you are the one that turned on her. You are the one that hurt her!" Chakana in turn special summoned Inti(3300/2500) from the cemetery in attack mode. "If you had seen the memories that I have seen, you would do the same thing. There was a reality before her, Chakana." Thursday in turn revealed his second set trap. "Divine Relic Mjollnir!" Thors hammer sparkled with electricity. "An Aesir can attack twice this turn!" Thor looked at Inti. "What, but that will.." The two synchro monsters clashes, the thunder god destroyed the sun dragon who then caused Thor to blow up as well. "You fool! Now you are wide open!" Thursday also lost lifepoints equal to half of Thors attackpoints. "Chakana, did you forget? My card has a form of immortality too." He went to his endphase. "It is inferior to yours, as I need to banish a Nordic Beast tuner to bring it back." He could only remove Guldfaxe, meaning this revival was a one-time deal. "Oh no." Thor(3500/2800) came back. "And when the Lord is summoned through his own effect, the opponent shall take damage." The divine warrior charged up his hammer and unleashed lightning on the maid. 800 points of damage were dealt to her, to her 800 remaining lifepoints. "I am sorry, Chakana. It is over."

Chakana's LP: 0

"Curse you." Chakana's cards disappeared. "How did you make that draw? You have lost the favor of Lady Callisto, your powers should be weakening!" However she quickly summoned another deck. "What?" Which implied she wanted to try again. "This not how it ends, Richard! I shall keep coming after you and the card you hold, until I am victorious!" She began to shuffler her cards. "Give it a rest lady!" Urizen shouted at her. "Chakana, he is right. You need to stop." Thursday instead dismissed his cards. "No! Do not hide it! Thor is at stake, it can not be put aside! Even if it and your mark were just tools to hunt down the immortals, it is too dangerous to leave in your.." But she placed a hand in front of her mouth in the middle of that sentence. "What, did she just say?" But Nathan and the others all heard it. "A mark, that was what she said." Ansoni knew what this meant. "Richard, still has the mark Callisto gave him?" He used to have the Claw Mark, but they all figured that was lost in the chaos back at the mansion. "Even if he does, it is just a copy." Chakana smirked. The cat was out of the bag, so she felt like talking about it. "It is an outdated scar, lady Callisto has made the new signs. And once I defeat you, i will claim the mark of light! The one you rejected."

"Sir!" Just then an employee bursted into the room. "The black cloud, it is here!" Everyone flinched and looked at the window. "It is!" Outside was nothing but darkness. They had stayed focused on the duel for so long, that none of them noticed. "Okay, I want emergency teams and police patrols out on the street right away, we need to warn the people and keep them from panicking." Gaunt ordered to the man. "Yes sir. But will it help, at all?" However none of those orders sounded like there was a defense against whatever was coming. "Of course not, you can not defend against the end of days!" Chakana started to laugh again. "No more gods, no more lies, everything will dissolve until only her world remains." The lights started to flicker. "Just do.." And either it was the blink of his eye, or the shifting of the light, but in an instant the man before him vanished from the room. "Wh-what?" He disappeared without a trace, the gap in between their constant observation of him was enough time for the darkness to take him. "Impossible.."

"Looks like he was not real either."

"Chakana!" Thursday started to experience a new feeling.. anger. "This amuses you?" He could not believe she was taking what appeared to be the death of a living being in such a way. "You are even further gone than we all thought." She hissed. "At this rate I will not even have to take your powers, you will kill yourself eventually. Especially since the storm has come here. Which only means one thing.." Unexpectedly, the temperature started to drop. Everyone in the room felt noticeably colder. "Though I had the desire to get this done before he would show up here." In fact it was getting so chilly, Nathan could see his own breath. 'What is going on here? It is not winter yet, is it?" He started to shiver. "You had your chance, Chakana." Thursday meanwhile still refused to duel her. "Insist all you want, I am not.." She was not planning on giving in, until a chill ran down her spine as well. _"Return. Chakana."_ A voice rang in her head. "no.." She whispered to herself. "Geh. It seems like we will have to settle this another time." And then she vanished in a flash of energy.

"... I do not care what she said. Sunday would have been a fitting name for her." Macbeth sighed. "But why did she leave?" He had not heard that voice, but someone else had. "Someone spoke out to her, called her back." Thursday explained. "But it was a male's voice." So it could not have been Callisto. "So you can hear the other servants. You also still have a mark of the original god, and a god card. That sounds good." Kein figured this Richard was their strongest ally right now. "But I do not know what powers Callisto has given her new servants. And I am afraid I can not help you against the lady herself." If she was as powerful as everyone believed, there was little hope of taking her down at all. "We will worry about her later. First we have to do damage control. I do not know how many people were taken by the darkness, but we already lost one man. And that is one too many." Gaunt dreaded what he would see on the lower floors. "Even worse. unlike with the gods and Infinati. I do not know if the taken..can return."

Meanwhile down below, the detention area suddenly felt a lot less occupied. "Was it always like this?" Siren saw no guards in his cellblock. "It can't have been." And he heard cries from further away, panicked cries. "And what was that..feeling?" He had been reading a book when it happened to him, when the world went black for just a second. "Do you psychics always talk out loud to yourself?" But Siren was not completely alone. "Or can't you tell when you are thinking and when you are talking?" It was the prisoner Dean. "I am sorry. I did not mean to..you saw that too right?" Siren now wondered if that blackout happened to everyone else. "You are asking the wrong questions." But then he noticed how Deans tone had changed. "Wait. Who are you?" He did not talk like the frightened confused student he had been dealing with up until now. "I will answer something even better. If you let me out of here." His lips curved. "And I do not mean out of this physical prison. Out of this mental prison too. Out of 'Dean'."

"...I can not do that... Reaper." He knew who he was speaking to. "And it looks like you escaped already." Though he did not understand how that was possible, how did this personality break free? "The other one is still in there. But something.. has decided to separate truth from lies. The Chaos architect.." Dean cracked his neck. "I am the true me, Dean is the fake. he was just an alias I built up to hide among the top schools of North City. So killing him would restore the natural order." Sirens expression remained the same and he kept his silence. "I can see you will need more persuasion. Well then, what if I could tell you." He lowered his head. One eye glared at Siren from under his dark hair. "I know who killed the people at Dresden?" And before he realized what he had done, Siren had opened the door to the cell. "You will tell me." Dean looked overjoyed, but did not step out yet. "But I will not trade you for this." He took his dueldisk. "I see. This is how you intend to win everything.. or lose everything."

(To be Continued in Mark 099: Thou Shalt not Kill)

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Fabled Grimro<br>Fabled Krus  
>Honest<br>Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts  
>Thor, Lord of the Aesir<p>

-  
>Nordic Relic Laevateinn<br>Divine Relic Mjollnir

**New Cards used by Chakana**  
>Pixie Ring<p> 


	99. 099: Thou shalt not Kill

**Mark 099: Thou shalt not Kill**

"Over half the people in the tower..." Ansoni had done a checkthrough of the entire place, and the results were not pretty. "These were people with families, wives and children. This is madness." The darkness had claimed many. "It must be even worse out there in the streets." Macbeth heard nothing but screams and sirens outside. "The situation has moved beyond our control. We can not do anything for them at this rate. And.." Gaunt looked at the TV, half the channels had gone offline. "We may not be in time to evacuate the parliament." He shared a look with Ansoni. "You can not be thinking.." He feared the worst.

"If you win, you get to live and I will tell you who made sure your teachers could not." Dean was given a dueldisk. "If I win, you erase this other me from my head and let me walk free." He and Siren both intended to duel under these conditions. "Does that sound good?" And Siren accepted without a second thought, he had initiated this challenge after all. "Good." He drew his cards. "But you should not get hopeful. I heard how you dealt with another Reaper, I know you can see into my mind." Dean drew one more than the psychic duelist. "I take the first turn." He immediately placed three cards down and one monster, before ending his turn.

Deans LP: 8000 Sirens LP: 8000

"I only used my powers against that agent because he was cheating himself." Clark had used cards from the banlist, so mindreading was fair play in Sirens opinion. "Everyone has an excuse. Even if you refuse, your mind may wander. Either way, I am well defended against such acts." As the turn passed, Siren did catch himself looking into the facedown cards, if only for a moment. Yet he could not make out anything. "What?" Which was odd to say the least, and distressing as well. "I summon Winda, priestess of the Gusta and attack!" A psychic and wind mage(1000/400) appeared and sent a burst of wind at the facedown monster. "Model 236. The Soldier." What she destroyed was Nisamu(1400/200), the Karakuri soldier whose destruction summoned another Karakuri from the deck. "I choose the Watchdog." From the deck came the wooden dog tuner(600/1800). "..." Siren had no idea what to expect next. He played it safe and placed three cards down. "My turn is over." Dean smiled weakly. "Your duel..is over."

"Model 224, Ninishi the Komachi." Dean started his turn by summoning the female automaton tuner(0/1900). "Now I can normal summon once more." The Komachi allowed the Reaper to summon another model, he chose a model 919, the Ninja Kuick(1700/1500). "And it has only begun, this 'end'. See the card you could not see before!" He flipped one of his set spells, Machine Duplication. "Oh!" Now the one Komachi model was duplicated, two more(0/1900) came from the deck. He tuned the level 4 ninja together with the level 4 Watchdog to summon the level 8 Steel Shogun Karakuri(2800/1700). "Model 00x Bureido!" The shogun used its ability to summon another level 4 Karakuri from the deck, a samurai model(2100/1100). "Muso model 818, Haipa." This level 4 machine was combined with one of the level 3 Komachi's. "Model 00, Burei!" They formed the level 7 regular shogun model(2600/1900). "But that means." This shogun could summon a Karakuri from the deck too, another level 4 Muso. "He can keep synchro summoning?"

The second Haipa was tuned together with the second Ninishi. The second synchro summoned Burei(2600/1900) summoned a second Kuick Ninja, to use that and the third Ninishi as the materials for a third Shogun Burei(2600/1900). The third then filled the last spot on Deans monster zone with the third Karakuri Muso(2100/1100). "This is how much I want freedom, psychic duelist." In total he had 12600 attackpoints on his field. "But, where would you go? Do you think the Infinati will take you back?" Siren thought they had banished Dean from their cult. "That is of no concern to you." he played a field spell as well, the Karakuri Showdown castle. "All you need to to is leave the stage." The Muso model struck first and impaled Winda with its trident. "Ergh, but when Winda dies, a Gusto tuner can be special summoned from my deck!" The girl left the field, only to be replaced by a little green bird(200/400). "Gusto Egul? I see." It was a tuner that allowed Siren to summon a nontuner Gusto monster, like Winda, when it died in battle.

Sirens LP: 6900

"Your intention is to negate all 5 attacks by shuffling between the two. My field spell will take care of that." Suddenly Egul switched to attack mode. "What?" The Showdown Castle was responsible for that. "Argh, it can switch the positions of all cards Karakuris do battle with." The first Shogun Burei finished off the defenseless bird with his two swords. He took 2400 damage from that attack alone. "Continue your act." Another Winda(1000/400) was summoned from her deck, and quickly slain by the second Burei shogun. "Telepathic Power!" But to this Siren could chain his trap. "You destroyed my monster, so this trap can destroy yours!" Burei was destroyed from the inside out by mental pressure. "I also gain lifepoints equal to its attackpoints." Now he gained back 2600 lifepoints after loosing only 1600. "It will not be enough." Winda's demise led to the summoning of a second Gusto Egul(200/400), who was killed by the third and final Burei. "Tsk." He summoned Caam, the Serenity of Gusto(1700/1100). "Karakuri Gold Dust." And Dean revealed why he called Sirens situation hopeless still, he revealed his set spell card. "One Karakuri monster switches to defense to give his attackpoints to another." One Burei switched to defense and Bureido disappeared in a golden dustcloud.

Sirens LP: 2900

"!" It(5300/1800) reappeared behind Caam. "Past Image!" He had a trap left to play though, Dean attempted to banish the attacking Bureido to the past. "Saved that card for last? You waited too long." But Siren flipped his third set card as well, Karakuri Cash Shed. "Since I control a defending Burei now, I can negate your trap." The Past Image trap was cast into a burning oven and melted down. "Finished." And Bureido cut through Caam with ease. "Not yet!" But Deans life went up before it went down again. "Psychic Rejuvenation! I gain 1000 lifepoints for every psychic on my field!" The attack cost him 2600 lifepoints, ut thanks to his trap he had 3900 to subtract that 3600 from. "..You are hanging by a thread then." Dean activated the last card in his hand. "Karakuri Anatomy. This card gains counters whenever a Karakuri switches positions." The two remaining model 00 Shoguns used their abilities to switch themselves out of defense and the Muso model into defense position. "Two counters are its limit." The continuous spell was sacrificed. "I can draw for every counter it held, and I can draw once a turn if Bureido is on my field when a Karakuri switches positions." Dean drew three cards all in all. "I set a card down, and end my turn. Psychic duelist, this is your last chance."

Sirens LP: 300

"I am aware of that." He placed one monster down. "And I will not waste it. I activate Contact with Gusto!" He selected two Gusto Winda's his grave. "I can return two Gusto monsters to destroy a card you control!" He selected the Field spell. "Showdown castle is destroyed, and so is your ability to switch my monsters positions!" He then placed a trap down as well and ended his turn. _"Yet again, I can not see what his facedown card is. Why is that?"_

"You still wasted your shot." Dean drew and placed a monster card down. "Book of Lunar eclipse." Dean switched that monster(1200/1200) along with Sirens facedown Gusto Gulldo(500/500) face-up, with the book spell. "I flipped my facedown karakuri Ninja model 339, Sazank! During the turn it is flipped, it will send one other monster to the grave!" The ninja threw knives at the gusto bird and killed it. "But when gusto Gulldo dies by an effect, a level 2 Gusto monster can be special summoned!" Siren explained as he special summoned the Winda(1000/400) he had returned earlier. "You truly are a survivor. But look around you, you can not live here anymore. Sazank can attack directly in the turn it is flipped up!" The ninja jumped up and stabbed the psychic duelist. "Psychic Rejuvenation!" However he gained 1000 lifepoints once more, as he controlled 1 psychic monster. "That trap, again?" Dean was amazed at his luck. "You might be the most fortunate seer of all. You escaped 'him', Clark and you keep evading me as well."

_Book of Lunar Eclipse, Normal Spell  
>Change all face-down monsters on the field to face-up attack position. During the End Phase, flip all attack position monsters your opponent controls face-down, and your opponent draws 1 card for each.<em>

The rest of Deans turns was about the same as his last turn, his three Shoguns killed a Gusto Winda and a Gusto Egul. "I summon Gusto Thunbolt." There was a change however, as when the last Egul died, Siren summoned a white dog(1500/1200) instead of another Priestess. "So..it is a him." And now he knew the gender of his target. "Indeed. If you want to know more, you must hit me first." The last shogun killed Thunbolt. "Do not tell me what I must do, Dean." Thunbolts effect activated when it was killed. At the end of the battlephase a psychic of the wind element with 1500 defense points or less could be special summoned. "Gusto Windaar." He chose the sage of the winds(2000/1000). "This is also not just for my sake. If I let you leave, even if you dont return to the Infinati, precious information will be lost." He told Dean as he used Bureido and Burei's abilities to switch Muso's position and draw a card at the same time. "What I am offering you, is the most I know. Psychic duelist." He ended his turn again.

Sirens LP: 100

"If that is true, then.." Another Caam, Serenity of Gusto(1700/1000) was summoned. "My attack can truly begin." He used her effect. "I shuffle back two gustos to draw once." He sent back Thunbolt and an Egul. "...I activate this card!" Then he played the continuous spell, Future Glow. "I banish the first Caam from my cemetery, to give all psychic monsters 200 attackpoints for each level star Caam had!" Caam was a level 4 card, so both the new Caam(2500/1000) and Windaar(2800/1000) gained 800 attackpoints. "They strike now!" The Serenity destroyed the ninja Sazank, while the Sage tore Bureido 00X to bits and pieces. "When Windaar destroys a monster, a level 3 or lower Gusto monster is revived!" The first Gusto Egul(200/400) returned. "I tune this level 1 tuner with my level 4 Serenity Caam!" A level 5 monster was synchro summoned in defense mode, Caam now rode a larger version of Gulldos(2200/800). "Gusto Gulldos here can return two dead Gustos to the deck to destroy one monster you control!" Gulldos sent Gusto Winda and Caam back, and cut down one of the two Burei shoguns with scathing winds. "Ah. I felt that. This must be what they call psychic visualization." Dean trembled a little. "But, are you hurting me. Or are you hurting the me inside?"

Deans LP: 6600

"So that is it!" Siren gasped as he realized what was going on. "You are using his mind as a shield!" He realized why he could not see into the Reapers mind, because the other Deans thoughts were in the way! "He is the fake, but he can still serve me." Dean drew again. "And you can not defend against me anymore!" He used a spell. "Golden Gearbox! My Karakuri gains attack and defense!" The last Shogun(3100/3400) powered up. "Oh no." And despite all of Sirens measures taken, Deans attack could not be stopped. "It is over, at last!" Burei swung his metal fan around and knocked Windaar into the distance. "Ugh." the psyshic lost all his lifepoints. "Now, do as you had promised." Siren sighed and closed his eyes, it looked like he would comply. "I might even feel good enough to tell you who hit Dresden anyway. I.."

Sirens LP: 0

"Ah.. What is this. What?" Dean reached for his head. "What are you doing?" Painful images poured into him, into his memory and consciousness. "What you asked me to do." The psychic saw no other solution anymore. "But this is not, not what I wanted!" The reaper started yelling, swinging his fists around as if he fought an unseen assailant. "I uncovered the truth behind you Infinati some time ago, you reapers I mean. What they take from you and what you take from others is memories." He opened his eyes again. "You are not a new personality, not an inserted soul, you are nothing more than Deans lost memories." Dean flinched. "I am not..Dean. I am.. the reaper." He said in a cracked voice. "You are both Dean, I can not remove one without lobotimizing the other. All I did was.. merge the two. Both his memories and yours will become one." Siren did not know what the endresult would be like. "You tricked me!" Dean screamed and thried to grab the psychic by the neck. "Aargh!" But the pain was too much, he fell back and slumped against the cells walls. "Ha..haaa.." The pain soon stopped, but he was too exhausted to move. "It was not a trick, it is the freedom you wanted." Siren kneeled down. "Now then. Tell me what I wanted to know.."

Meanwhile at the center of capitol city, where the eye of the storm seemed to focus above the city's radio tower. "Why did you..why is she.." Chakana appeared at the top, summoned by another figure. A man wrapped in a white fur cloak "The one who calls himself Thursday still has a role to play." The man responded. "But his mark." She protested. "The one who oversees the center domain shall be me, not him or you. The claw is only a relic of a dead god." He stretched his arm, revealing his own mark. "She is the new creator. Lady Callisto has decided to keep the Mark of Light for herself. So you will accomplish nothing by challenging him, not anymore." He explained, and she grit her teeth. "But, he hurt her! I can not stand to watch him continue defying her!" She was about to turn around and warp away. "Chakana." But the man closed his fist. "What.." And suddenly a wave of frost spread across her and the building below them. "You are exiled." The frozen girl shattered into a thousand pieces, while the ice itself continued to move down the tower, towards the streets. "Your actions would hurt her more." He took off his hood, revealing a pale white face and cold blue eyes. "And now.. to turn this city into my realm. Niflheim..the first of the nine."

(To be Continued in Mark 100: On Thin Ice)

**New Cards used by Siren**  
>Winda, Priestess of Gusto<br>Gusto Egul  
>Gusto Gulldo<br>Windaar, Sage of Gusto  
>Gusto Gulldos<p>

-  
>Contact with Gusto<p>

-  
>Telepathic Power<br>Psychic Rejuvenation

**New Cards used by Dean**  
>Karakuri Muso mdl 818, Haipa<br>Karakuri Ninja mdl 339, Sazank

-  
>Karakuri Showdown Castle<br>Karakuri Anatomy_  
>Book of Lunar Eclipse<em>  
>Golden Gearbox<p> 


	100. 100: On Thin Ice

**Mark 100: On Thin Ice**

"Who is left?" The government buildings had run rather empty, under the dark clouds of the storm. "Just the ministers of Industry, Energy and Environment. Everyone else is gone!" The house of commons had been hit the worst, as even the country's prime minister had disappeared. "What do we do now? The country is without a leader, without direction!" An aide who had not been taken talked on the phone with someone who he was supposed to contact directly in an emergency like this. "Okay. Okay, I will gather all remaining officials. But a land-wide evacuation? Do you think that is necessary?" He still did not fully comprehend how dire this all was. "Okay. Okay I shall make it so. Right away." The aide almost put down the phone. "Oh. Sorry that I had to tell you this, about Sir Maxwell." And on the other end the adopted son of Maxwell, Ansoni, took a deep breath. "No. Don't worry about that anymore. He would have done the same." He terminated the connection. "He is gone. The minister of defense was one of the ministers she has taken."

"Then it is even worse than I imagined." Gaunt shook his head. "Callisto can get to anyone, and there are more people she takes than people she leaves behind." Entire families had been wiped from the earth, nothing left of them but their possessions and the memories people had of them. "Are you going to be okay?" Ada asked the son who just lost another father. "I will..I..never knew Maxwell in that sense. He took me in, but we never.. spent much time together." He knew he had only been adopted because his company found out he was a signer. "He still loved you, Ansoni. I could tell." Gaunt sighed. "But we will not mourn him yet. If Callisto has all this power, she must be able to undo what she has done. We can not put it off any longer, we have to confront her." Even if she was godlike, they did not want to just let her walk over them. "It will be difficult. I can take us anywhere you want to go. But.." Thursday looked over the horizon. "She has blocked me off from her home. Or rather, she has made her home 'real'. I can not travel across such distances."

"Guys!" Sarah started to yell. "Look!" When she saw the outside world had undergone another change. "What in the world?" They could all witness it too now, witness the city freeze over right before their eyes. "But it's not..winter." Snow and hail fell from the skies, windows and walls were glazed over by a thin layer of ice, and all the water in the moats and pipes froze and expanded, bursting out onto the street. "So this is where that cold came from? Is this another one of her tricks?" Urizen cursed as everyone started shivering. "The mark of ice. That was one of the signs she created." Kein remembered the five signs the girl had handed out to her friends. "Then this must be, another facet of the world she is trying to make. This is Niflheim, the realm of ice." Thursday recited the legend from norse prose. "Between the ice of Niflheim and the fire of Muspellheim, life itself began. I do not know for what reasons she is recreating one of the nine realms from that mythology. But.. eternal winter is not a good omen. It is one of the signs of the end of days."

"What happened here?" Nathan asked as he walked into the detention ward, now devoid of security. "..." He saw Dean sitting silently in a corner, and Siren watching over him. "I heard about the crisis, this black cloud above us all." Siren nodded to the reaper. "I think it affected him too, disrupted the Infinati's mindblock. I had to duel him to stop him from escaping. But..I lost." He moaned. "You did? But you are alive?" Macbeth expected anyone that lost to a reaper to have their life sucked out. "I know. Dean really is cut off from the Infinati now, he does not have a Meklord or modified dueldisk anymore. But I still had to give him something.." Dean was rocking back and forth, talking to himself. "I had to undo the mindblock, but there were two inside. Two walls to keep the two Deans apart. Now their memories have joined." Siren and Macbeth could both hear his whispers. "What have I done.." He kept repeating those words. "I see." Macbeth understood it now. His conscience had caught up with him. "But now I know.. what I wanted to know."

Meanwhile outside, the city had never looked worse. Cars were turned over, windows were smashed in, and the ice was everywhere. "Did the storm cause this damage?" Sarah asked as she and the others investigated the scene outside. "No. It was the people that stayed behind." Every corner they looked, they saw boards and signs that stated the day of judgment had come. "They are panicking, and we no longer can keep them in check. Had it not been for this sudden weather change, they would still be outside causing destruction." Kein figured everyone had gone back inside to fight off the cold wave. " Why are we out here?" Nathan complained. Even R-techs thickest wintercoats did not keep him warm. "To find the source of the storm. There is a correlation between this 'climate change' and Chakana's retreat." Thursday had heard a voice then. "I believe Callisto's Signer of the ice mark is around. If we take him out, we may be able to reverse what has happened here. We just need to find.." He was cut off by a beeping sound. "I think I know how." Kein held a device in his hands. "This is the probe the lab department made. It detects levels of unidentified energy." Pointing it at Thursday set the thing off. But it also made noise when he directed it elsewhere..

"Here is where he must be hiding." The device directed everyone to the rooftop of a radio station, here the energy readings were off the charts. "Most likely. I too sense a fluctuation of power. Up on top of this buildings tower" Thursday said. "It is probably the coldest here." Nathan shuddered. "So, do you think you can go up there?" Urizen did not feel like climbing in this kind of environment, it sounded next to impossible. "I feel I can. It still registers as a part of your world. But.. I do not know if we can even maintain a position up there." There was little to hold on to, and the metal frame of the tower had probably become very slippery.

"There is no need." In that moment, a being drifted down towards them, floating on a platform of ice. "If a threat enters the domain she asked me to oversee, I shall break him personally." They faced a man in a white cloak. "It's the guard!" Sarah recognized the man before them again. "Yes. One of the men we lost at Malceans estate." Their assumptions had been correct, this was the one who received Callisto's ice mark. "What I used to be is of as little importance as possible. I am Ymir, the creators guardian of Niflheim." He took off his cloak. "This world is about to become so much more than you humans and your gods have limited it too. The realms will replace the lies, and the real entities shall move on." Underneath was a body of pure ice, lacking any sheet of skin or fiber of muscle. "Whoa." Sarah and the rest had seen many things, but not this yet. "Ymir. What happened to Chakana?" Thursday wondered if she was around too. "That individual has been dealt with, she went against her lady's wishes and had to be disciplined. You will not be seeing her again." He pointed a spiky finger at them. "Now you have a choice, return to your homes."

"Or what?" Urizen did not feel like complying. "Or become dust in my winds, for there is no victory possible against me, Ymir!" He then gave them a demonstration of his powers by raising up fierce and piercing cold winds that cut up the tower behind him, sending it scattering like glass. "We already defeated one of her servants!" Urizen found it hard to be intimidated, when he had already taken on a fused god. "If you are all intent on staying.." Kein suddenly flinched. "Wait. Not all of us." He looked at Sarah. "What, you want me to go?" She understood his suggestions already. "It is too dangerous. You no longer have a mark, you do not have to do this anymore!" He yelled. "Not this again. It's my decision, I can't even pretend I will turn my back on you all.." But at that point Ymirs hand came down. "I have chosen." His thin claws touched Keins shoulder. "Or rather, you have chosen. You who speak up for others sake, has to be the first." Kein turned back to the enemy. "Then I shall have to make sure nobody else has to face you, by defeating you in one go." Kein smiled.

Keins LP: 8000 Ymirs LP: 8000

"I summon Gishki Abyss." A halfman/halfshark(800/500) appeared. "Its effect allows me to add a Gishki monster to my hand." Kein claimed the Vision Gishki from his deck. "I end my turn." Ymir then drew a card. "So the Water element is your ally as well." He summoned a white-haired female magician(1200/2000). "But you remain fluid, I am unmoving." He then discarded a card from his hand. "Ice Barrier's Spellbreaker discard an Ice Barrier dweller from my hand to seal all spells and traps for two turns." The spellbreaker waved her staff around, so she could literally freeze the spell and trap cards in Kein and Ymirs hands. "And then she strikes." Another wave of her wand froze Gishki Abyss from top to bottom. She then gave the frozen shark a push, causing it to shatter on the rooftop. "Your water can not move under these conditions." He placed two cards down and ended his turn. "We shall see." Kein drew again. "All I need to do is destroy the Spellbreaker, to free my hands from her effect."

Keins LP: 7600

"Gishki Beast!" He normal summoned an aquatic wolf(1500/1300). "Gishki Beast can summon one Gishki monster in my grave to my field in defense mode." Gishki Abyss was revived. "I use the effect of Abyss again of course." This time Kein added a Shadow Gishki to his hands. "I discard Shadow and Vision Gishki, to take a Gishki ritual spell and Gishki ritual monster out of my deck." He claimed the Ceremonial Water Mirror and the Evigishki Tetra Ogre. "But you can not summon them!" Nathan called out. "I know that Ashworth! Hence.." Gishki Beast lashed out, dragging the Spellbreaker under the snow. "I have to strike first." With his field freed up, he could ritual summon properly. "First I activate the spell cards: Ritual cage and Ascending Soul." Two continuous spells were activated. "I sacrifice the level 2 Abyss on my field, and the level 4 Djinn Presider in my hand, to ritual summon Evigishki Tetra Ogre!" The level 6 armed sea devil(2600/2100) emerged from a pool of molten snow. "He forces us both to discard one type of card from our decks. I choose spells!" Kein discarded a spell from his deck, and so did Ymir. "And thanks to Ascending Soul I can take a ritual sacrifice back." He took back Gishki Abyss

Ymirs LP: 7700

"You hit me well, but it shall take much more." Ymir drew his card. "The opponent controls 4 more cards than I do, so you can be summoned: Medium of the Ice Barrier!" A greenhaired sea oracle(2200/1600) was special summoned. "And you can be revived by this spell, Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier." Next to the Medium(1700/900) appeared a young girl dancing with two Ice barrier shields, summoned from the grave by Monster Reborn. "You discarded that one earlier with Spellbreakers effect huh." Kein said.. just as both his spells were flipped face-down. "What?" He saw one of Ymirs traps flip up. "Down Burst. All your spells and traps are switched down. So that my Princess can affect them." She started her dance. "I show you two Ice Barrier monsters in my hand, to send as many set cards back to your hand." Shocktroops and Strategist of the Ice Barrier were revealed, so both Keins flipped spells left the field. "Now your Cage no longer protects your ritual monster." He normal summoned a monster too, a water mage soldier(1500/800).

_Down Burst, Normal Trap  
>Set all face-up spell and trap cards your opponent controls.<em>

"Shocktroops of the Ice Barrier, sacrifice yourself." The trooper could be tributed to destroy any water monster on the field. "!" And that included Evigishki Tetra Ogre. "Tch, I did not count on that card." It turned out Keins water-based deck was at a disadvantage. "Additionally, as the Shocktrooper used his first ability, his second follows. I can claim one Ice Barrier monster from my deck." Ymir added an Ice Barrier Prior to his hand. . "Now, in the name of Ymir. Strike him." The Medium and Dance Princess than fired blasts of ice at Kein and his Gishki Beast, encasing the formers legs in ice blocks and killing the latter.

Keins LP: 5200

"Hey, hey. Isn't that going too far? What if he gets too frozen to move!" Sarah objected. "I can.. manage." Kein grunted and kicked his legs free. "This guy can not freeze me completely until my life is down to zero." He drew a card. "That would be against my better judgment, yes. However.." Ymir flipped his second trap, Disturbance Strategy. "What the!" It forced Kein to send all cards in his hand back to the deck and draw a new hand. "You disliked Ritual cage that much eh." Abyss and Ascending Soul were gone too. But now he had a his third Gishki aquamirror in his hand at least. "Last turn, Tetra Ogre discarded an Aquamirror from the deck to the grave. I now return both Aquamirrors to my deck with their effects." This allowed him to take two evigsihki ritual monsters out of his deck. "I take Soul Ogre and Soul Ogre. One to serve as the sacrifice for the other." He activated the third Aquamirror ritual spell, bringing out the first Soul Ogre(2800/2800) at the cost of the second. "I can discard a Gishki card from my hand to send one card you control back to your deck!" Kein discarded a Gishki Marker. "I choose the strongest. And then I attack the weakest." The Medium was pushed back into Ymirs deck, while the Dance Princess was crushed by a tidal wave the Ogre unleashed.

Ymirs LP: 6600

"Your water is quite warm, human. You have a burning spirit inside you." The turn passed back to Ymir. "But you can not melt my eternal body! Come, my Strategist and Prior!" He normal summoned the Strategist of the Ice Barrier(1600/1600) and special summoned a Prior of the Ice Barrier. "Prior can be summoned when I already have an ice Barrier inhabitant on my field. And Prior can sacrifice himself, to revive another from its clan." The Prior gave his life, and the Shocktroops returned to life. "That card again?" And the Shocktroops immediately kamikaze'd themselves to destroy yet another water monster, another Evigishki. "Ggh." He was left wide open for a direct attack from the Strategist. "Do you really think you have become more than us? You were once human too, not the ruler of Niffelhyem or whatever." Kein grumbled. "That was the lie. Now Callisto has freed me and given me greater purpose and a greater name." He reused the effect of the Shocktroops to add an Ice Barrier monster to his hand. "It is too late to repent, human."

Keins LP: 3600

(To be Continued in Mark 101: A Year of Winters)

**New Cards used by Kein**  
>Gishki Beast<p>

**Cards used by Ymir**  
>Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier<br>Medium of the Ice Barrier  
>Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier<br>Prior of the Ice Barrier  
>Strategist of the Ice Barrier<p>

-  
>Monster Reborn<br>Salvage

_-  
>Down Burst (+)<em>  
>Disturbance Strategy<em><br>(+)Based on the Trap used by Crow in YGO 5D's_


	101. 101: A Year of Winters

**Mark 101: A Year of Winters**

Keins LP: 3600 Ymirs LP: 6600

"You do not believe that you are the Ymir, do you?" Sarah asked the one who was dueling Kein. "The first Ice Titan, the one from the myths?" It appeared she had looked up his name on the net through her phone. "I am the Ymir, as much as the Ymir is not. If the one before me was nothing but a story from a book, why should I be called a fake?" Ymir swept his arm around. "I have just as much power as that fable did!" His motions caused more snow and hail to fall down. "Even so, you are at the mercy of the duel now. You can lose like any other." Urizen did not see what made this guardian so invincible. "My fortune comes straight from the creator herself, I can not lose!" He insisted and went on with his turn. "Strategist of the Ice Barrier, discard one Ice Barrier from my hand, so that I may draw again." The Strategist spellcaster(1600/1600) allowed Ymir to discard his Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier, and draw a new card. He placed that one down. "This is my realm, my power. Defeat does not exist for the guardian of Niflheim."

"I'd like to see you stop me." Kein drew again. "..Tch." But even after that he lacked anything offensive. "I place two cards down in my spell/trap zone, and one monster." He was forced to defend for this turn. "But I also use the effect of the Aquamirror in my grave again." He sent the ritual spell back to his deck, just to add a Gishki ritual monster to his hand. "I pick Gustkrake." He ended his turn. "You are already out of energy, human." Ymir smirked and started his turn. "You weaken with time, while I strengthen." He played a spell card. "Salvage; return to me Prior and Spellbreaker." The spell card took back two water monsters with 1500 attackpoints or less, Kein knew that card well. "Strategist then discards one card again." He discarded the Spellbreaker, and drew another card again. "..Tribute summon." And then the Ice Barrier mage was sacrificed. _"Now is my chance."_ Kein was about to flip his trap. "What?" But both his set cards were encased in ice. "Blizzard Princess." It was thanks to the new spellcaster Ymir summoned, a young girl in white armor(2800/2100). "Damn. That monster blocks all trap and spell activations when she is normal summoned." And the Princess could be tribute summoned with only 1 spellcaster as a tribute.

"There is more." He played his facedown card. "Reflection of Ice. I can damage myself to summon a water elemental with the same level as the Princess." He lost 800 LP, 100 for each level. "And I choose you, my Queen!" Next to the girl appeared a woman(2900/2100), a queen in a snow-white dress and icy hair. "Ice Queen. As a reflection your abilities are sealed, yet your power is not. Attack, Princess and Queen!" The Blizzard Princess struck first, destroying Keins set monster with her Ice Flail. "You killed a Needle Sunfish!" The dying fish(1500/100) split in half and fired spikes at the Ice Queen. "When it is sent to the grave, a monster is weakened." The spikes drained her of 500 attackpoints. "A minor loss." She(2400/2100) still could and did attack the ace directly. "End turn." Keins body meanwhile was frozen up to his legs because of the hit. "Gh." This time he could not free himself. "One more hit and I am an icicle huh?" But as his turn began, his two traps thawed out. The Princess could only affect them for one turn. "Draw!" And he had a way to destroy both royal ice mages. "I play the spell card Surface, to revive a level 3 or lower sea creature." The spell he played brought back the Sunfish. "And this summon I chain to, with Torrential Tribute!"

Keins LP: 1200 Ymirs LP: 5800

_Reflection of Ice, Normal Spell  
>Select 1 face-up water-type monster. Take damage equal to the Level of the selected monster x 100.<br>Then special summon 1 water-type monster from your deck with the same level as the selected monster. The summoned monsters effect is negated. _

"This trap destroys all monsters on the field!" A tidal wave rose up from the snowy rooftop, washing over the field and dragging the Queen and Princess down into the abyss. "But your own monster will be destroyed as well." Nathan pointed out, as the Sunfish drowned with no monster to use its effect on. "I know that Ashworth. But I was blocked from using the Torrent last turn. And I can still normal summon!" He summoned a seaserpent in robes(1200/700). "Gishki Diviner, direct attack!" The Diviner sprayed Ymir with water. "Then I play the spell card, Contact with theAquamirror. Since I control a water monster, I can look at the top two cards of my deck." The Mirror spell made Keins deck slightly transparent, and on top of his deck were the cards Moray of Greed and Skull Kraken. "I could rearrange these cards, but I wont. Instead I will use the Diviners power." A Diviners owner could guess what card was on top. "I guess it will be Defense Draw." He smirked and took the spell from the top of his deck. "I end my turn."

Ymirs LP: 4600

"Your resistance is admirable, I will say this much about you. But I will be the only one to remember you at the end of the day." He activated the effect of the Ice Queen. As he had more than three spellcasters in his grave already, he could take back a spell. "They will not sing songs about you, or tell tales." He chose Salvage and activated it again. Taking back the Spellbreaker and Cryomancer. He then activated another spell, Moray of Greed. _"Hmph. He has one too." _Which was used to send both the Ice Barriers back into Ymirs deck, and allowed him to draw three new cards. "Medaillon of the Ice Barrier." Ymir activated another spell. "Come to me, Dance Princess." He could take any Ice Barrier monster from his deck. And he normal summoned another Dance Princess of the Ice Barrier(1700/900). "And my Prior." The Ice Barriers priest(1000/400) in his hand was special summoned with its effect. And he immediately sacrificed himself with his other effect to revive Shocktroops of the Ice Barrier(1500/800). "This is where it will end, and how."

"Tch." Kein watched helplessly as the Shocktroops sacrificed themselves as well, to destroy his water-elemental Gishki Diviner. "I add another Prior to my hand." The shocktroopers death allowed him to take any ice Barrier from his deck. "Prior become Cryomancer." This one(1000/400) was special summoned too and sacrificed to revive a level 2 tuner(1300/0). "And I still hold one Ice Barrier monster in my hand." This meant the Dance Princess could start her dance. "You give me the illusion of choice, but I have seen half of what is hidden." She could return one spell or trap to Keins hand, and she chose Keins only set card. "You get what you ask for, guardian." But this trap could be chained to her effect. "Ceremonial Mirror of Illusion. I can summon one ritual monster from my hand!" The girl stopped her dance, as Evigishki Gustkrake(2400/1000) appeared on the duel field. "Disappointed?" Kein smiled as he knew none of Ymirs monsters could attack now. "No. My victory shall have to wait." He placed a card down and passed the turn to Kein.

"Look out Kein, the Cryomancer prevents all level 4 or higher monsters from attacking!" Nathan warned the ace. "I would need monsters first." Kein coughed as the Gustkrake returned to his hand. "The Illusion Ritual lasts for one turn only." He drew the next card the Diviner had seen, Skull Kraken. "But.." He then played his own Moray of Greed spell, sending the Evigishki and Skull Kraken back to his deck to draw two cards. "I place two cards down, and then I summon the Deep Sea Diva." A level 2 seaserpent tuner(200/400) appeared. "Hey that's.." Also known to Urizen as one of the whale gods monsters. "I still had this in my deck when I returned to normal. I figured I might as well keep it." The Diva special summoned a level 3 seaserpent from his deck, a Spined Gillman(1300/0), whose effect powered up both of them (Gillman: 1700/0, Diva: 600/400). "Gillman can bypass your monsters effect!" The Gillman tried to stab the Cryomancer with his trident. "Not good enough." However the opponent flipped his trap, Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord.

Ymirs LP: 4200

"Oh no!" Sarah cried out as the trident did not go deep enough to kill the Ice Barrier tuner monster. "Damn, that trap blocks all deaths of lowlevel water creatures." Cryomancer was an aqua type, unlike the rest of Ymirs monsters so far. "I have no choice then." He already used a tuner, he might as well go all the way. "I synchro summon Ally of Justice - Catastor!" He tuned the level 2 Diva with the Gillman to summon the level 5 elemental genocide machine, Catastor(2200/1200). "And yes I know, Ashworth, I was against synchros. But I believe that was mostly because of who represented them." He gave the other Ace, the champion of synchro summoning, a silencing glare. "But Catastor is a dark type monster, I needed an edge against his Shocktroop tactics." He ended his turn. "Because I think I know what is about to be summoned."

"Then now, we finish this. Your fate is up to me." There were two traps set, and Ymir did not draw a second Ice Barrier monster this turn. So he could only let the Dance Princess return one. "I choose, left." She waved her shields around and created a tornado that blew trap back to his hand. "Tch, that one was Poseidon Waves." The attacknegating trap was repulsed. "As expected of my insight. Now come Geomancer, and fulfill the trinity." A level 3 mirrormasked mage(800/1200) joined the Princess and Cryomancer. "Synchro summon." The three monsters were used to form one level 9 synchro monster. "I knew it." Kein saw the threat formed by ice, Trishula the Dragon of the Ice Barrier(2700/2000). "Trishula, deliver me victory! Shatter my opponent on three fronts!" The three heads of the ice dragon fired blasts so cold that they could instantly banish whatever they hit. "It targets the field, grave and hand!" Poseidon Waves in his hand, Catastor on his field and Needle Sunfish in his grave, Kein lost all three of those cards. "Then come at me, if you are so certain of your victory!" He was wide open. "Do not presume I shall hesitate!" Ymir ordered a direct attack, Trishula's heads fired one united ice beam at Kein. "Stop!" Thursday suddenly shouted, to no avail.

Keins LP: 1200

"What?" But Kein did not lose life from that attack. "My..trap card?" The trap Defense Draw was played. "Poseidon Waves was the distraction, Ymir, not this card." Kein smirked as his trap not only nullified the damage, but also allowed him to draw a card. "Thanks again, Richard." It was a card Richard had one suggested all Aces to use, but only Kein followed the suggestion at the time. "Now. It is my turn." Ymir could do nothing else. The only card in his hand was placed down, but Kein did not even fear it anymore. "It is true that I put synchro monsters in my deck, to combat as many decks as I could come across. But at heart this deck is still contra-synchro." He normal summoned the Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals(1700/1000). "Which is why I am happy right now. Because I drew one such element, a spell card which I can only play if there I control no synchro monsters alive or dead." He chuckled because the only synchro monster he used had been banished, thanks to his enemy. "I pay 1000 lifepoints, to activate Synchro Control!"

Keins LP: 200

The spell he placed on the field, took control of Trishula. "My monster, betrays me?" Ymirs eyes widened as the three heads turned around to look down on him. "Take consolation from this, guardian. In the end I had to resort to a part of your deck to win." The Djinn struck first with his staff, and then Trishula unleashed freezing flames upon his former master. "No. I lost..to myself? How could I let this happen?" Ymirs life dropped to zero, and his already ice-composed body started to crack. "I had a choice, and I failed the choice. Fate abandoned me." He looked at his hand, which crumbled into ice crystals. "My creator, why did this happen? Why.." And then the rest scattered into the wind, becoming one with the snow. "That was..kinda harsh." Sarah almost pitied the guy. "What do you think happened to him?" She asked Thursday. "I do not know. But he was already dead.." Thursday wondered if the same kind of fate awaited him if he were ever to lose a duel. "At any rate it is one down. So when is this winter going to end?" Urizen noticed the cold had not gone away.

Ymirs LP: 0

"Kein, are you alright?" Nathan meanwhile ran up to the Ace of Spades. "I will manage." He broke himself free from the ice around the legs, which became very weak upon Ymirs defeat. "Though, I may need some time..before I can walk with these legs." As soon as he was free, he fell down. "Whoa. easy there!" Nate caught him. "Come on, let's go back to R-tech." They did all they could do here. "I know. But I do feel.. a change." Kein suddenly sprung up again. "I feel.. warmer." He took off his gloves, his arm felt like it was on fire. "But that would mean." Doing so confirmed his expectation, there was a glowing blue tattoo on his wrist. "The Mark of Ice?" Thursday gasped. "He inherited it?" Urizen and the others could see it shine clearly through the snow. "It appears so. Defeating a guardian does not destroy his mark, it only passes it on to the next candidate." Kein figured it was the mark that caused the devastation here. "But then, all we have to do is.. defeat those four other signers of her." But that implied a bad thing as well. "Those other four, where could they be?"

On another Horizon..

"Run away, it is everywhere!" The citizens of East City had to run for their lives, as the dark storm that had come was not just there to take away half the citizens into the void. "Where are the firefighters!" Fire had struck, flames covered every building and smoke filled the skies. "They are gone!" And no amount of water could douse these flames, they kept on burning. "This is no normal flame.." And yet one person remained calm in this pandemonium, not moving from her spot. "Ugh, still too strong.." Someone else with her just fell down to the floor, but not because of the fumes. "You.." It was a duelist, who fell at the hands of Demistria the former sixth signer. "The buildings are not being destroyed, and.." She did not even care about her opponent who she had just crushed. Rather she let her fingers touch one flame. "Not real." But they were not even singed. All the fire did was make it as hot as an oven. _"No damage, no convection, just heat.. Who did this?" _She deactivated her dueldisk and ran off into a burning building.

(To be Continued in Mark 102: Not up to Imperial Standards)

**New Cards used by Kein**  
>Needle Sunfish<br>Gishki Diviner  
>Deepsea Diva<br>Spined Gillman  
>Ally of Justice Catastor<p>

-  
>Surface<br>Synchro Control

-  
>Ceremonial Mirror of Illusion<p>

**New Cards used by Ymir**  
>Blizzard Princess<br>Ice Queen  
>Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier<br>Geomancer of the Ice Barrier  
>Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier<p>

_-  
>Reflection of Ice<em>  
>Moray of Greed<p>

-  
>Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord<p> 


	102. 102: Not up to Imperial Standards

**Mark 102: Not up to Imperial Standards**

"It is not just happening here." Gaunt showed everyone four images on the screen. "The four corners of our country are being attacked... changed." They all saw the great cities of the west, north, east and south. Each of them had been affected in different ways. "The four remaining signers must be there." And each suffered from an element. "But that is where I live!" Ada cried out as she saw North city devastated by a continuous hurricane and massive whirlwinds. "Mine is not looking much better." Sarahs home town, West City, was drained of its power and overrun with a black sludge that ran through the streets and covered most buildings. "And the East and South are not doing much better." The former was burning in everlasting flames, the latter had the very earth beneath them cracked open and skewered with rock spikes. "This is what Callisto wants." Thursday recognized the pattern. "Jotunheim, Helheim, Muspellheim and Midgard itself. She is sectioning each part of your country, making it into one of the nine realms. I can only assume the other realms will be made outside this country."

"Then we do not have much time. Our country is leaderless and powerless. We have tried to established communications with outside countries, but all our transmitters are being blocked. So we have to take care of this ourselves." Gaunt knew they were the best hope the world had. "We shall have to split up, and locate the signers. Kein, Macbeth, Ansoni and Nathan will each head to their corresponding city and track down the target with these." He handed each an energy reader, the one which only reacted to Callisto's creations. "But North City is my..I want to go too!" Ada spoke up. "If she goes, so do i!" Sarah chimed in as well. "I will not stop you. You have families and friends there. Do what you can to save as many as possible. You will accompany the aces." In their cases that would be Kein and Nathan. "But if I encounter such an enemy, sir. I would take his mark too." Kein interrupted the discussion."Can a signer have two marks?" He turned to Thursday with this question. "I suppose so. The lady made the rules, there is no telling what she will do."

"It is strange however." Kein looked at the mark on his wrist, the mark of Ice. "Aside from not not being bothered by the cold anymore, I feel the same as before." He wondered if this was all the power a mark gave him. "What, jealous you can not control snow and ice?" Nathan smirked. "Not that. But if I knew how this sign worked, I could perhaps undo the damage Ymir did." Capitol city was not thawing out yet. "Oh! Have you tried that teleportation thing? That could get us to where we want to be fast." Sarah suggested. "I can do that for you." Thursday stepped up. "It is the least I can do. I can take you all to where you want to be. And." He looked at Ansoni. "You were in charge of Richards town while he was gone, were you not? If it is not too much, I would like to help you once I have taken everyone else to their destinations." Ansoni nodded. "I will not turn that down." Thursday smiled. "Thank you."

"What about me?" Also in the room was Ian. "I feel like a third wheel in all of this." He regretted not being able to do anything since he got here. "You can assist me here, mr. Darkend. The surivors of the storm have to be rounded up and brought here. This is the safest place in the area, and with how few are left we can hold them all." Even as Gauint said this, he knew there was not much he could do to stop more people from being taken. "I can do that." Ian accepted the idea. "Where is that other kid by the way, the psychic?" He had heard about Siren, but did not see him. "That one is taking care of our Infinati guest. It will take some time before 'Dean' has recovered." Dean had regained all his memories, and he did not cope well. "Hmm, maybe I can give his mother the good news." Ada was glad she got reminded of him. Though she did not know why Deans family had never called R-tech to ask about his condition. "You will not make me miss out on this either." Urizen spoke at last. "Well then Urizen, you can join me! I have no travel buddy yet." Macbeth gave him a thumbs up. "I regret this already." Urizen sighed.

"Then it is settled. Let us waste no more time." Gaunt looked at Thursday. "Indeed. Now.. hold my hands."

An instant later, Thursday had warped two duelists to the first city of his choice. "Whoa." Macbeth and Urizen were placed in the burning remains of East City. "This must be.. the primordial realm of fire." The counterpart to Niflheim was Muspellheim, according to the norse legends. "Muspellheim or not, this is where I was born. I'd like for it to stay the normal." Macbeth shook his fist. "I wish you two luck in finding the enemy. I have to return to take the others." Thursday saluted them and teleported away. "Well. Where to begin?" Urizen could not distinguish any kind of landmark through the flames. "Hey watch out or you.." Macbeth then freaked out when he saw Urizen put his hand in the fire. "..will. get burned?" But nothing happened to Urizens hand. "Calm down. I was testing something." He pulled back his hand. "I noticed that the buildings were not crumbling or melting, so I figured this was an illusion." His fingers felt numb and warm, but that was all. "The flames are real, but they do not harm. We can just walk through them. So lets go."

Urizen and Ansoni traversed the burning paths, finding panicking mobs along the way. While they did manage to get some sense out of them, none of them had seen a man or woman who started the fire. In the end they could only tell them that there was nothing left here, most fled to the outskirts. "Oh. Oh lord." Macbeth paused when he came upon a small home. "I recognize this place. This was where..I grew up." He looked around, even now he could feel the memories flood back to him. "That's nice. But we really do not have time to.." But just then their device started beeping. "It is responding?" Energy spikes were detected in the east. "But this is not the same amplitude...who cares. It is something." Urizen and Macbeth rushed to the source of the signal, a childrens playground was where they ended up. "But. I do not see.." It was however abandoned, at first sight at least. "Toby!" But soon they heard voices coming from a nearby bush. "What the." Two figures came out from underneath. "Oh my god. It is you!" They did not look familiar to Urizen, yet somehow they recognized Macbeth, and even knew his first name. "Dan, Frank" But the names Macbeth shouted back sounded familiar, and then Urizen realized he had seen them before. In costumes. "The Rangers?"

Ranger D and Ranger V, also known as Dan and Frank, met the two in their street clothes. "I can not believe it, what are you doing here?" They looked worn out, but not injured. "What am i doing here? I am an Ace remember? What are you doing here?" He did not think anyone would stay here for this long. "We were hiding, we did not want to.." Dan cut himself off. "Wait, where is.." And Urizen and Macbeth soon nnoticed the ranger trio was missing one member. "Eric was.." It was hard for them to even say it. "He went away." But Ranger E had been taken. "No..." Macbeth was mortified. "Eric? But he was.. he started the rangers. Why him?" This did not make sense, how could Eric not have been real? Macbeth started to believe there was no pattern to the victims the void was making at all. "But that is not what we were running from." Frank spoke up. "Wait? Did you see something, because I.." At that point the meter went berserk. "Let me guess, you must take care of it?" And _that _voice pierced the air.

"Lincoln!" There at the edge of the playground stood the Infinati and traitor ace. "Well well. Not only did you take my title, you also took my city. Was the rich folks coast too much for your tastes?" Lincoln had a good laugh at him already. "Why are you here?" Urizen never expected his kind here. And he certainly was not here to do his task as an Ace. "I was looking for someone. You would not happen to have seen her would you? I asked your friends, Tobias. But they recognized me and ran for it." He lowered his head and chuckled to himself. "As if I would absorb lowclass memories like theirs. One of them was even a no-contenter." Urizens eyes narrowed. 'No-contenter?" Lithium used that term before. "Do you mean, the people who are taken?" Macbeth had heard Clark use it too. "The people who have no content are deemed not real? By whose authority!" He demanded to know. "I do not have to explain a single thing to you, Tobias. Just answer me and I may pretend I did not see you. You are not on my list today."

"Her..you are talking about a woman?" Urizen had an idea who that could be. "Demistria. You met her before." Lincoln replied. "The signer. Or should I say ex-signer." Urizen began to see how it was. "Let me guess... The moment she lost her mark, she became useless to you and you decided to erase her memories. But she caught on to your schemes and decided to flee the nest before it was too late for her." Lincolns smile disappeared. "Well well." And he clapped his hands. "That was a very nice theory, too nice in fact." He activated his dueldisk. "Forget i said anything. Even if you knew where she was, you chivalrous types would not give her up." He pointed at the rangers and then at Urizen. "But you. You are different, you would not care. And that makes you even more of a threat. However.." The masked man took a glance at Urizens arm. "You lost the same thing she did, so you are no longer protected." He took out a deck and inserted it. "What do you say, Urizen Artani? You beat Lithium. Do you think you can beat me?"

"No!"Macbeth activated his dueldisk. "You will face me!" Urizen stared at him, while Lincoln just facepalmed. "Again, Tobias? This is getting old by now isn't it? I had you beat in two-on-one and in one-on-one. This time you do not even have someone to fall back on." The challenge just made him laugh louder. "Wait. Toby, we can help you!" Dan suddenly joined his side. "What are you saying?" Frank was a bit more reluctant. "It will be like the old times, well as much as possible. We will show this bastard that he can not to this to our town!" He shook his fist at the man. "What? You think I did this?" Lincoln was not even amused anymore, now he was just annoyed. "Guys. I appreciate it, but I want to do this on my own. That goes for you too Urizen. If I fail, it will be up to you to stop him." He took out his deck. "If you fail? That is some nice hope there." Lincoln sneered. "...Actually. No." But the Ace of Diamonds put aside both decks. "What? You finally decided that your Gem-knights just can not cut it against me? Heh, do not expect your Ojama combo to work against me either." Lincoln feared none of Macbeths fusion related decks. "I am not using either deck, Lincoln." He took a stack from his hat. "Huh?" But Lincoln did not know about the one hidden up there.

Lincolns LP: 8000 Macbeths LP: 8000

"What, you kept _that _deck?" Dan and Frank had an idea as to what it could be. "I am taking this duel, not as an Ace. But as the kid who grew up here." He drew five cards, he wanted to have the first attack. "I was wondering when you'd admit to that, Tobias. That underneath all the outfits and prose you are just another lowclass duelist who got lucky." Lincoln drew six cards and summoned a Card Trooper(400/400) to his field. "I will never understand why they called this the city of diamonds." He used its effect to discard the top three cards from his deck. "Hmph." But they were actually cards he could have used, Scrap Chimera, Scrap Soldier and Wild Tornado. "End turn." He just let the turn end. "Nice, a free shot Toby!" Dan cheered him on. "And I will take it! I activate E-Emergency Call!" Macbeth played a spell that let him add any monster of a particular club to his hand. "Them?" And Lincoln watched as it was summoned to the field, Elemental Hero Stratos(1800/300). _"Oh right, he was a ranger too."_ Urizen had forgotten that bit of personal history. "Elemental Hero Stratos allows me to add any hero from the deck to my hand." Macbeth took a E-Hero Prisma from the deck. "So this was it? Your big secret was just another elemental deck? That is not even original!" Lincoln protested. "Say what you want." Macbeth entered the battle phase, Stratos easily dispatched the Card Trooper. "I am in the lead now." He placed a card and ended his turn.

Lincolns LP: 6600

"So you are. However, I allowed you that hit. Toby. I wanted to see what you were using against me, and if I started too strong you would cower and defend. Now there are no more surprises." Lincoln summoned a new monster, a mechanical worm(500/100). "I can attack you directly now, thanks to the ability of this Scrap Worm." The worm dug its way into the ground and came up underneath Macbeths foot, shredding at his boots. "Gah!" The damage was minimal, but it hurt like real metal. "And when this card has attacked directly, it will destroy itself at the end of the battle phase." The Scrap Worm broke to pieces. "And you know what that allows me to do." Because a monster was destroyed by an effect, another could be summoned. "I summon Wisel infinity!" The Meklord Emperor (2500/2000) appeared on the field.

Macbeths LP: 7500

..

Meanwhile Ansoni and Thursday had arrived in South City, once the latter had dropped the other parties off at their destinations. "My word." And this city looked even worse up close. The earth underneath had been fractured at several point, splitting the city open like a puzzle. Each piece was a pillar of stone that housed a few buildings standing preciously close to the abyss below, connected to each other with thick roots. "This is supposed to be a realm for giants?" Ansoni knew that Jotunheim was the name for the giants realm, he did not think it would look like this. "This is also the time of Ragnarok, maybe this does not represent the world of man. But the world of devastation. Those roots must be from the world tree itself. At this rate Yggdrasil will shatter the globe and cut it off into nine pieces. Where mankind is supposed to go, I do not know." At that moment the ground began to shake. "Oh!" And Ansoni's monitor gave off a strong signal. "The signer?" And before the sentence could even be finished, it was upon them. A gigantic wingless dragon climbed on top of their platform and dove right at them with its claws..

(To be Continued in Mark 103: Dead Mans Hand)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Elemental HERO Stratos<br>Elemental HERO Prisma

-  
>E - Emergency Call<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Scrap Worm<p> 


	103. 103: Dead Mans Hand

**Mark 103: Dead Mans Hand**

"Stop!" Thursday stepped in front of Ansoni, just as the dragon barreled down towards them. "!" It roared and twisted its body to the left, before crashing into the ground and disappearing underneath. "What was that..about?" Ansoni was left bewildered by the whole experience. "Nidhoggr, the lindworm." Thursday said. "If my norse is still correct of course. Nidhoggr is the dragon that chews the roots of Yggdrasil." They looked down and saw the dragon eating away at the ground. "It must be the one that created all these fissures.. Is this one of her signers?" The monitor definitely reacted to it, but then again they did not need a scanner to tell that it should not be here normally. "This place is even more dangerous than I thought. We need to get these people out of here." All around them were innocent citizens secluded to their homes or other parts of South City. The only way out was along the dragon infested roots. "I do not know if I can bring them to safety with my abilities. Or if they would understand. But I shall give it a try." Thursday knew it had to be done.

Back at R-tech. "So. Dean is cooperating now?" As the tower flooded with people, Gaunt felt it would be wise to check up on the detention area in case they needed the space. "Sort of. He has told me some things, but he knows about the deal we arranged for Jason. He wants the same contract." And of course any information Siren had extracted by now, about the Infinati, was most welcome. "That may be difficult, with the way the country is now." There was nobody left in charge of that political front. "And the last time we set up for such a transaction, nothing worthwhile came out of it." Jasons information only led to dead ends. "You could just ask me directly!" Dean suddenly shouted. Though they talked out of his sight, he could still hear keywords. "But.. Even I do not know that much. I was just..after all, a reaper. I have not seen the faces of my superiors, or been to their hideout. We always gathered at neutral grounds." He looked at the two. "If you really want to track them down, you need either Demistria or Lincoln. They will know.."

..

Lincolns LP: 6600 Macbeths LP: 7500

"I set two trap cards and end my turn." Lincoln had just summoned the Meklord Emperor Wisel(2500/2000), but could not attack with it as it only appeared at the end of his battle phase. "Whatever happened to not using Meklords right off the bat, huh?" Urizen thought he heard Lincoln say only fools would summon their trump at the beginning. "To pin this pawn down where he belongs obviously. Do not see this as me recognizing you as a threat, Tobias." The Infinati chuckled while Macbeth drew a card. "As if I would seek actual recognition from you. I play Faustian Bargain!" A devils spell was activated. "I send a special summoned monster on the field to the grave to summon a normal monster from my hand!" Macbeth tried to summon his E-Hero Burstinatrix. "Come on, even you can not be this naive." But Lincolns machine fired a laser from its head to cut the Faustian Bargain card in half. "You have not forgotten that I can now negate spells once a turn. So show me the real spell card you wanted to play." Since he was up against a hero deck, he expected that to be a fusion spell.

"I do not need coaching from you!" Macbeth summoned E-Hero Prisma(1700/1100). "Prisma can imitate any fusion monsters materials!" Macbeth chose an E-Hero Flame Wingman from his extra deck, and Prisma became a E-Hero Avian in name only as the Avian was discarded. "Then I play polymerization! I fuse Burstinatrix in my hand with Prisma on my field!" But he did not fuse them into Flame Wingman. "Nova Master!" Instead he summoned the fusion of a fire elemental and a hero warrior, the Nova Hero(2600/2100). "It attacks your Meklord!" The master sent flames as hot as the sun at Wisel Infinity. "Did you honestly think I would leave it unguarded?" But Macbeth flipped the trap card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. "Oh no!" Dan and Frank gasped as a metallic scarecrow absorbed the flames. "This trap will set itself after every activation. So every turn I can negate your attack." Lincoln laughed. "But only once! Set cards have to wait a turn before they can be reactivated!" Macbeth flipped his face-down spell card. "What are.."

By discarding a card, Super Polymerization could be played. "A super fusion summon! I can use materials from both sides of the field!" Macbeth fused Meklord Wisel and Niova Master together. "Awesome, toby!" Wisel was a dark-type, which meant the fusion of darkness and heroes was the fusion monster Super Polymerization called out, Elemental Hero Escuridão(2500/2000). "So this is why you had Prisma discard Avian." Urizen saw that Escuridão(2800/2000) gained attackpoints for every dead E-Hero. "Direct attack!" Stratos(1800/300) and Escuridão struck Macbeth directly. "Tch, now you ahve gone and done it."

Lincolns LP: 2000

"Look at my lead now, Lincoln. Am I still a mere pawn?" Macbeth smiled and ended his turn. "I did not expect that move, that is what I will say." Lincoln drew a card and placed it down on the field. "But you expended most of your hand just to destroy Wisel. You gained one lead by sacrificing another." Lincoln then summoned a Scrap Shark(2100/0) to the field. It was a powerful monster, except it blew up at the first sign of a spell or trap card. "I will destroy Scrap Shark to use its effect." But in return, a Scrap Shark destroyed by a scrap effect would send a Scrap monster to the grave. "I special summon Scrap Orthros." The twoheaded dog tuner was summoned by its effect, which meant that the Shark would be destroyed. "I send Scrap Searcher to the grave." Then Orthros destroyed itself, as it had to destroy a Scrap monster when it was summoned, and there were none left besides itself. "When Orthros is destroyed, I can take back a Scrap monster. And!" Scrap Searcher(100/300) revived itself through its own effect. "I of course retake Scrap Chimera." His turn was over.

"Not that one again." With the Chimera in his hand, Macbeth was certain a Scrap synchro would appear next turn. _"Ugh, now that I think about it. His Scrap monsters are the bigger threat."_ He realized he should not have worried about Wisel, as he did not even use Synchro monsters. "Well I just have to draw a monster to end this!" Macbeth drew, but he gained a trap instead. "Gah!" He placed it down. "Double attack!" Stratos finished off the defending Scrap Searcher, but Escuridao's attack was blocked again by the Iron Scarecrow. "Damn it. I end my turn." He was so close, yet Lincoln had become untouchable. "Of course you do.." Lincoln started his turn. "Now then, do I even need to say what I will do?" Lincoln summoned the level 4 Scrap Chimera(1700/500) to his field, who in turn revived a scrap tuner from the grave. "Scrap Soldier." The level 5 tuner(2100/700) discarded by Card Trooper was his choice. "I summon Twin Dragon!" And the two scrap monsters merged to become the twoheaded Scrap terror(3000/2200).

"Then I use the special effect of my Scrap Breaker." Since Macbeth controlled a monster, Lincoln could bring out the Breaker machine(2100/700). "It will destroy itself of course. But that is what I need to revive Scrap searcher again." The Breaker with a similar effect to Scrap Orthros, destroyed itself. Scrap Searcher(100/300) was brought back. "And I use Searcher as a sacrifice!" Twin dragon was about to destroy the mechanical vulture, so that Lincoln could send Macbeths monsters back to his hand. "Not to fast, Lincoln!" But Macbeth flipped a trap. "Hero Blast! I take back a normal Elemental Hero." The trap sent Avian into Macbeths hand. "So I can destroy a monster that is weaker than it!" The Searcher could not match up to 1000 attackpoints, so the unleashed blast could destroy it. "Nice try, Tobias." Yet another trap was flipped to stop the first. "With Scrap-Iron Barricade, I negate the destruction of my monster by your effect." A wall of junked metal deflected the Avians blast. "Another Scrap-Iron type trap?" Urizen saw the card set itself afterwards. "So, as I was saying.." Then searcher was succesfully destroyed by the Twin dragon, Stratos and Nova Master were bounced off of the field, and the two heads of the Scrap dragon blasted Macbeth directly.

Macbeths LP: 4500

_Scrap-Iron Barricade, Normal Trap  
>Select 1 face-up monster on the field. Then, set this card face-down again instead of sending it to the graveyard. This turn, that monster cannot be destroyed by your opponents card effects.<em>

"Toby!" The attack tore up the playground, surrounding Macbeth with debris on both sides. "Do not worry, Tobias. I am not going to kill you yet." Lincoln ended his turn. "Tch, why do you Infinati even have that feature if you do not want to hurt your enemies?" Urizen was talking about the apparent ability to copy the visualization trick of a psychic duelist. "Because our enemies at one point had the same power. You forget that we and the gods were never on the same side." The masked man explained. "That does not excuse you.. for anything you did." Macbeth coughed. "You will have to face justice." he activated Fusion Recovery, a spell that recovered two thirds of the materials from a previous fusion summon: Polymerization and E-Hero Prisma in this case. "I fuse Prisma and Avian in my hand together! Wind and E-Hero!" A wind-type and Elemental were the materials needed to summon a warrior in a green cloak(2800/2200). "Great Tornado!" Yet as soon as he did. "That's nice." It fell into a hole. "But take it back." Lincolns third trap, Scrap-Iron Pitfall, returned the monster to the extra deck. "Curses! How many of those does he have?" To the horror of Dan and Frank, this one was set back on the field too. "Give up, Tobias. While you still have some dignity left."

_Scrap-Iron Pitfall, Normal Trap  
>Activate only when your opponent special summons a monster during his or her turn. Return that monster to your opponent's hand and set this card face-down again instead of sending it to the Graveyard.<em>

"I will never give up! Even if you returned my monster, his effect still went off." Since the summon was not actually negated, Great Tornado's effect to halve the stats of all opposing monsters affected the Scrap Twin Dragon(1500/1100) after all. "And then I play Oversoul!" Macbeth used a spell to revive a normal E-hero in defense mode, the Burstinatrix(1200/800). "And I have Stratos too!" Twin Dragon had returned it to its masters hand, but now Macbeth could resummon him(1800/300). "Stratos has a second ability, which is to destroy one spell or trap for every other Hero monster I control." Stratos destroyed the face-down Scrapiron Scarecrow. "Now take this!" Stratos then destroyed the Dragon, cutting through it with a blade of wind. : Hmph." But that allowed Lincoln to revive a monster from his grave, the Scrap Soldier. "That barely qualified as a hit, Tobias." Lincolns next turn started.

Lincolns LP: 1700

"But that monster of yours is an eyesore." He summoned a level 3 Scrap Hunter(1600/400). And he immediately tuned it along with the Soldier to summon Scrap Dragon(2800/200). "I shall destroy it, the old fashioned way." The dragon destroyed Scrap-Iron Barricadel, so that Burstinatrix could be destroyed. And afterwards Scrap Dragon killed Stratos in the battle phase. "It will take more than that, Lincoln!" Macbeth took another blow to his life, but was still in the lead. "Tch. Why are you so strongheaded? By now you should not even be able to feel like you can beat me!" Lincoln finished his turn. "You know, I think you are right about one thing, Lincoln." Macbeth drew a card again. "I have been in the habit of denying parts of my past." Macbeth tossed aside his hat. "Toby?" Dan and Frank wondered why he was talking like this now. "I grew up here, but tried to forget this place as soon as I became an Ace. But still people never took me serious, so I just embraced that. But now I am the Ace of my own town again."

Macbeths LP: 3500

"In the end I exchanged one costume.." He searched through his coat. ".. for another." And he took out a mask. "You kept that too?" It was a ranger mask like Dans and Franks. "What is this about, Tobias?" Lincoln could barely contain his laughter. "I am not Tobias anymore Lincoln. Only you and my friends here called me that." He put on the mask. "But I am not Macbeth anymore either. Just like you I shall stop being an Ace and start donning a mask." He made a pose, raising his arms and spreading his legs. "I am Ranger M! And I will take you down!" He activated the spell card, A Hero Arrives. "I special summon a Hero from my deck at the cost of half my life!" He lost 1750 lifepoints, but gained a new Hero. "Bubbleman!" He summoned the warrior of water(800/1200). "When Bubbleman is summoned, while I control no cards in my hand or on my field, I can draw two new cards!" Macbeth took two spells from his deck. "Now! Miracle Fusion! I shall fuse Bubbleman on my field with E-Hero Avian in my graveyard. I combine water with a hero this time around!" The two heroes merged into one icy warrior(2500/2000). "Elemental Hero Absolute Zero! When it leaves the field, your monsters will all be wiped out!" Meaning that Scrap Iron Pitfall would be a bad card to use against it.

Macbeths LP: 1750

Macbeth placed a spell down. "So go ahead. Try to get rid of it." Macbeth grinned at his opponent, who did not appreciate that expression. "You still act and duel the same, Macbeth. What is so new about you now?" He drew a card. ".." Urizen actually wondered the same thing. _"Does 'M' stand for Macbeth? Or.."_ And he had no idea what made Ranger M different from ranger E. "Feh. Enough of this. All you did was reduce your own lifespan." He played the spell card Scrapyard to add a Scrap tuner monster to his hand. He picked another Scrap Orthros and summoned it(1700/1100). "I will just make it so that Absolute Zero's effect will benefit me." Everyone could see his plan, Orthros would selfdestruct so that Scrap Chimera could return to Lincolns hand and be summoned again. Then Chimera would revive the Soldier and a second Scrap Twin Dragon would appear. Even if Absolute Zero destroyed the field then, the dying dragons would use their effects to revive monsters that could finish off the defenseless Macbeth.

"Who said anything about you deciding the time of Zero's death?" But Macbeth flipped the spell, Mask Change. "Yes!" Dan and Frank cheered as the spell put a mask on Absolute Zero and removed it from the field. "I will just destroy Orthros before it can do itself in!" The ice warrior unleashed a freezing wave that shattered Scrap Twin Dragon and Orthros at the same time. "That reminds me actually. I am not Macbeth anymore, but you are not really Lincoln anymore either are you?" Lincoln had only been his alias as an Ace. "Then I as Ranger M, will defeat you as Vincent... if that is even your real name. This is the end of the road for you!"

**(To be Continued in Mark 104: Masquerade)**

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Elemental HERO Burstinatrix<br>Elemental HERO Avian  
>Elemental HERO Nova Master<br>Elemental HERO Escuridão  
>Elemental HERO Bubbleman<br>Elemental HERO Absolute Zero

-  
>Faustian Bargain<br>Polymerization  
>Super Polymerization<br>Fusion Recovery  
>O-Oversoul<br>A Hero Arrives  
>Miracle Fusion<br>Mask Change

-  
>Hero Blast<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Scrap Shark<p>

-  
>Scrap-Iron Scarecrow<em><br>Scrap-Iron Barricade(+)  
>Scrap-Iron Pitfall (+)<em>

_(+) Based on the Traps used by Bashford in YGO 5Ds episode 68_


	104. 104: Masquerade

**Mark 104: Masquerade**

Lincolns LP: 1700 Macbeths LP: 1750

"Mask Change, this spell switches an elemental monster on my field for a monster in my extra deck." Macbeth tagged out his E-Hero Absolute Zero, whose effect destroyed Lincolns two monsters. Scrap Orthros's effect only triggered when it was destroyed by a scrap card. "A water-elemental remains a water-elemental. I transformation summon, Masked Hero Vapor!" A warrior masked and armored in blue(2400/2000) revealed himself. "Masked Heroes?" Urizen had only barely heard of that archetype. "Indeed. I was Ranger M, master of the masks." Macbeth smiled. "This does not make us the same, Tobias!" But Scrap Dragon had also been destroyed, which allowed Lincoln to revive Scrap Worm(500/100) from his cemetery. "Just because you and I were masks. For you it is a crutch, for me is it is my true identity!" Scrap Worm could attack directly, and tore up the playground to reach Macbeth. "All these masks of yours can do is buy you time." Then after the attack Scrapworm destroyed itself again, which triggered its second ability. "Scrap Chimera." Lincoln could reclaim any scrapped Scrap monster, and he of course picked the Tuner-enabling Chimera. "I set a card and end my turn." Though he waited before summoning it, as his battle phase was over.

"Get him Lincoln!" Dan and Frank shouted. "He is wide open!" Macbeth nodded. "And now, take this, Vapors Breeze of Vengeance attack!" The masked one unleashed a blast of fog. "Do not get so cocky, is what I said!" But Lincoln stopped the attack. "Scrubbed Raid!" He revealed his permanent trap card. "I sacrifice a card to end your battle phase!" Lincoln sent Scrap-Iron Pitfall to the cemetery. "Well if that trap hole is gone, I might as wel do some more fusing. I activate Parallel World Fusion!" Macbeth took out Bubbleman and Avian from his banished cards slot. "I can fuse two monsters that were removed from play, I choose the two who were removed by Miracle Fusion!" The water warrior and wind warrior joined together to form another E-Hero Absolute Zero(3000/2000). The Zero hero gained 500 additional attackpoints for each other water monster Macbeth controlled too. "Ggh, I can not believe you had two of those." Lincoln cursed. And he drew his card. "...But your fun ends here." A smirk returned to his face as he looked at said card.

Macbeths LP: 1250

_"What?" _And Urizen meanwhile noticed the monitor was responding to a spike in energy. _"From him?" _It must have been the card he gained. "I summon Scrap Chimera." As the level 4 chimera(1700/500) was normal summoned, the level 5 tuner Scrap Soldier(2100/700) could be special summoned from the grave. "Synchro summon." And of course the two became one, forming the Twin Dragon(3000/2200). "I sacrifice Scrubbed Raid. To send your heroes back to where they belong." The Raid trap was destroyed, and the two heads released a burst of energy that pushed back Vapor and Absolute Zero. "But then the whole field will be frozen!" Macbeth said as the dying Zero encased the Twin Dragon in ice and shattered it. "Heh. This is how it should be, with you playing right into my hands. Tobias." However, from Lincolns hand came the monster that could be summoned whenever an effect claimed a life. "Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity!" The machine emperor(2500/2000) of darkness showed up. "What? You have copies of that card?" Macbeth gasped.

"Ha. That should be clear. It looks like this is the end of your road." He entered the battle phase, Wisel raised his blade."Necro Gardna!" But it never got to lower that blade. "Necro Gardna?" Because Macbeth banished a Necro Gardna from his graveyard to negate the Meklords attack. "When..did that get sent there?" Lincoln did not see the Gardna hit the grave. "Super Polymerization, Vincent. Weren't you the one that said to always pay attention?" The super fusing spell required a discard, that was when Macbeth had discarded the Gardna. "And you did not sue it, until you had to?" Macbeth could have stopped plenty of other attacks. "But you never used that card before, Toby." The other rangers knew that was not part of his masked hero deck. "It's a tribute to Richard I presume." Urizen said. "Tch. That man is gone!" Lincoln ended his turn. "You saw him at the castle, Vincent." Macbeth referred to their forced gathering at Callisto's home. "That was merely an empty shell, given new memories by her. The Richard you and I know is dead!"

Macbeth placed a monster card down in his turn and ended it. "But he changed, Vincent. In fact it happened the moment Kein destroyed Wisel the first time. He remembers now." Lincoln winced. "What did you say?" He heard the impossible. "That is not funny." He drew a card, but it was not a monster card. "There is no escape from the fate we hand out!" Wisel cut the face-down monster in half, a light elemental hero. "Believe what you want, but it is because of Richard that we are here now." The face-down monster turned out to be E-Hero Flash(1100/1600), the dying effect of his arranged it so that Macbeth could take back one normal spell from his cemetery, at the cost of three banished heroes. "I banish Nova Master, Escuridao and Absolute Zero. And take back Miracle Fusion." There were still plenty of fusing materials in the grave. "You will not win." Lincoln could only place his card down. "Oh really?" Macbeth then activated the spell. "Miracle Fusion! I combine Flash with Burstinatrix!" Light was the elemental catalyst of the fusion this time.

A shining white hero(2600/2100) came to the field. "E-Hero the Shining! This warrior gains 300 attackpoints for each Hero I removed from play." He had banished five just in the last 2 turns alone, so Shining(4100/2100) became far more powerful than Wisel. "It attacks!" The Shining unleashed a wave of light upon Wisel. "You think I will let you do this? You will never touch me! You can not touch me!" But Lincoln flipped his trap card Widespread Ruin. "No way in hell. You are beneath me, you belong in this wretched town and I will bury you here!" A claymore mine attached itself to Shining and was about to detonate. "You do not have a choice, Vince..And you still do not understand why the Ace of Diamonds was positioned to monitor this town. You hate it, but I loved it here." Macbeth played the spell he had drawn this turn. "Constrec Element! I tag out one fused Hero for another!" He returned The Shining to the extra deck and brought out the sixth and final elemental, the hero of Earth, Gaia(2200/2600). "No!"

_Constrec Element, Quickplay Spell  
>Return a Elemental HERO Fusion monster you control to the extra deck and special summon a "Elemental HERO" fusion monsters from your extra deck with the same level as the returned monsters.<br>(This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) Banish all fusion monsters you control during the endphase._

Gaia's effect was activated thanks to the spell too, Gaia absorbed half the attackpoints of Wisel(1250/2500) and added it to his(3550/2600) own. "This place was a rough city to live in, but here in this playground the innocent had to make due. Sure we were trying to escape reality with our games, but every one does that at a time." He pulled back his arm and closed his hand. "But reality will catch up to you. Reality caught up to this place, we made it a better place to live in. We set right what was wrong. And now is is your turn. You just could not keep running, Vincent. Everything will come back to you." Gaia slammed the ground with his fists, cracking the earth and letting it swallow the Meklord whole. "You and the Infinati may be able to change the memories of people, but the truth will always find you. No mask will fool its sight!" The damage was so severe, that what remained and splashed over to Wisels controller cracked the mask of that duelist. "!" Lincolns mask broke in half...

Lincolns LP: 0

... revealing the face behind. "Is that what he looks like?" It was the first time Dan and Frank saw his face, but it was also Urizen and Macbeths first time. "I can not believe it, they literally changed.." This was not Lincolns old face, the hair remained grey and long, but his features were all different. "That is the punishment you suffered for showing your true self to us the first time around?" That just made Urizen curious whether or not his punishment would be twice as bad this time around. "You..wretched. You..defeated.. me.. Me!" Lincoln did not seem to care anymore. He had lost again, and this time he had no excuses. It was a fair one on one game. "Do you know what they will do to me now? Do you even care? You took everything!" He leaped towards Macbeth, pushing him to the ground. "You ruined everything!" Macbeth struggled but could not break free. "Toby!" The others rushed to him, but before they could intervene. "Die with me, die!" Lincoln moved to strangle Macbeth, yet his hands started to tremble. "No. Not.." He looked behind him, and saw a shadow walking out of the fire in the background. "This is..all your fault." He spoke as if he was choking on something, and then passed out. "What..who did.." And then they saw the shadow too.

Demistria had entered the playground, and in her hands was the torn card of Meklord Wisel. "What did you do?" Macbeth managed to ask in between coughs. "Severed his memory from the vessel." She discarded the card. "Agent Vincent was not a true reaper, his memories were merely transplanted into a new body so that he could function as a Reaper." She looked down and kicked the mask half aside. "He only pretended to still be on a higher level. And now his essence belongs to the design. Then again.." She smiled weakly, her own faces was not masked anymore either. "I am even lower than that." Urizen approached her. "So he was telling the truth, you were kicked out because you lost your mark. But if the people that fail the Infinati get their memories erased, why isn't yours?" He was not sure if he could trust her. "I did not choose the Infinati, they chose me. I was.. different." She extended a hand. "What?" Urizen recoiled. "Urizen Artani. I would like to aid your side. I believe your enemies are now my enemies.."

Elsewhere Sarah and Kein waded through the sludge-filled streets of West City. What was once known as the most beautiful and cleanest cities in the country, had now been turned into a black marshland. "I told the people to move to the community center. But I have seen no sign of our enemy." Kein was reporting back to HQ while Sarah gazed around, apalled at the whole scene. "This place will probably never look the same again." The smell alone made her want to gag. "Hey, wait. What is that?" She pointed at something in the dark water. "Hm?" Kein saw it too, a mass floated on the surface. "Is that a person?" She gasped. "We have to help..." And she was right, it was a person. "..him?" The person rose up too. "He is doing fine?" And then the mans face turned to them, or what was left of it. "Gah!" His face had rotted away, his clothes were all in shambles. "What is with him?" Kein was now equally mortified. "Well maybe I have seen too many horror movies, but.. a zombie?" Whatever he was, he was not coming after them. He just waded through the water, moaning. "Those are the people that were taken? This just keeps getting weirder.."

The same could not be said for North City, where the devastation was more straight forward. "Which realm was this supposed to be again?" Nathan forgot the names already. "The humans realm, Midgard." Ada could technically see why. Of the four cities this one was changed the least physically, but buildings were torn down and reduced to rubble everywhere. "It's more like Callisto went with her elemental theme than with her realm theme. But then that asks us to believe she has some sanity left." The girl cursed. None of what Callisto had done to their country made sense. "How many people does she think will survive in an area like this? The people that stayed behind are less safe!" The hurricane was still going on, people were in hiding but it was hard to imagine none of them would get hurt here. "We should probably find shelter too. We can not.." Nathan searched for a good spot. "Ada!" But instead he spotted a large piece of metal that flew through the air. "Aaah!" It hit her in the back of the head and she fell down. "Oh my god, oh my god! Are you alright?" he rushed over to her. "Y..yeah." Yet she got up before he could even get to her. "I did not..feel a thing." She touched the side of her head. "Why didn't I?" There was no blood or even a bump.

...

"It is strange.." Ansoni said to Thursday. "We came across a lot of destroyed homes, a lot of cracks in the ground, and yet. No injured citizens... We ask if they need help, but they all seem fine." Even as he spoke he saw a man in the distance climb his way back up from a large cliff, he even waved at them. "People have become lucid. Something is.." He scraped his hand against the wall. "Not right." He could not cut his skin open or even draw blood. "It is possible that she arranged for this. The lady has the power." To him it sounded like she had made good on her promise to eliminate all pain and death. "I have not even felt thirsty or hungry since we left the Castillo home. If that is her doing, how can she control us to such an extent. And can we even fight back?" It looked hopeless. "Hold it. There!" Just then Ansoni saw the dragon once again, crawling across the roots. "If anything, that still looks like it can become a threat. Thursday, do you think you can slow him down in any way?" He asked the former servant of Callisto. "I kept the power of visualization, yes."

Thursday nodded and took out a card. "Thor!" He visualized the thunder god himself, who raised his hammer into the air. "Stun Nidhoggr!" A blast of lightning descended from the black sky, striking the wingless dragon just as it came to the cracked surface. "Aaaaargh!" It screamed a rather humane scream. "Ah! It is the signer!" And as the dragon turned to glare at his attackers, a symbol shone on his scales. "A mark!" This had to be the second signer of Callisto, though why he looked like this they did not know. "So you challenge the lindworm, do you? During his meals?" The creature laughed. "I should just eat you instead, for disrupting me during my duties!" It shook off the lightning and lowered its head. "Who are you?" Ansoni asked it. "Your friend was right. I am Nidhoggr, the Guardian of Jotunheim." Several dozen cards started floating around the dragon. "Or should I say, upkeeper. Since the lady allows me to eat as many obstructions that block the influence of the tree...And that includes you.."

**(To be Continued in Mark 105: Even Hunger may Starve)**

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Masked HERO Vapor<br>Necro Gardna  
>Elemental HERO Flash<br>Elemental HERO The Shining

-  
>Parallel World Fusion<em><br>Constrec Element (+)  
>(+) Based on the spell used by Judai in the YGO GX Manga<em>

**New Card used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Widespread Ruin<p> 


	105. 105: Even Hunger may Starve

**Mark 105: ****Even Hunger may Starve..**

"So what do we do with this body?" Macbeth did not know what to make of it, it was not even Lincolns original body. "The original memories are long gone. That man is dead." Demistria said rather coldly. "Well then. Even if we want to let you help us, we were not exactly here for your sake." Urizen grumbled. "We have a signer to find, Callisto's signer." When he said this, Demistria's eyes widened momentarily. "Signers?" This was the first time she heard of that apparently. "Look. We are not letting you out of our sight either, so you can just tag along." Urizen shrugged. "Very well." The woman accepted that arrangement. "Frank, Dan; you guys need to find a safer place." Macbeth however did not want to put his friends in danger. "There is no risk." Demistria thought otherwise. "These flames are not harmful." She waded her hand through them again. "Or, actually we can not be hurt by the flames." She mentioned offhand. "..Right. Let's just go." Urizen looked away. One thought crossed his mind as he started walking.

_"Why does this woman.. remind me of my mother?"_

"If it is a duel you want." Thursday would not let himself be intimidated by this creature. "No. You already spurned your lady once before." Nidhoggr growled as the 'traitor' moved forward. "I need no permission to devour you, nor do you have the right to challenge me for my power." The dragons eyes turned to Ansoni. "You want me." He understood its wordless demands. "It is okay, Thursday. This is what we want too." He took out his dueldisk and turned it on. "Yes. One of the former signers, I presume you shall taste just fine." Nidhoggr snarled as it shuffled the cards around it into one stacked deck. "I can not wait!" It took the first turn, and took five cards out of the stack The cards floated in front of his face. "We shall leave you this treat." One monster was placed down before the lindworm, and one trap card was placed down as well. "Do not waste my time, come at me right now with all of your power! Show me your true strength so that I might eat it!" He ended his turn and impatiently called for Ansoni to take his. "Very well. I draw!"

Ansoni's LP: 8000 Nidhoggr's LP: 8000

"I summon Koa'ki Meiru Urnight!" Ansoni summoned the armored centaur(2000/1500). _"I have no Iron Core in my hand yet, so I can not activate its effect. But.."_ He activated a spell as well. "Iron Core Immediate Disposal! I send the iron Core of the Koa'ki Meiru from my deck to my grave." Due to the Core's own abilities, Ansoni could add it to his hand next turn. "Urnight then attacks your set card!" The centaur galloped over towards the face-down and smashed it. "One down already, yet this is what sates us." But the set monster turned out to be a flip effect monster. "Cartaros, bring me new flesh!" Worm Cartaros(1200/500)'s flip effect sent a Worm Ugly from Nidhoggrs deck to his hand. "A worm deck?" Ansoni was a bit surprised, he expected something more draconian. "Does this mean this creature is the signer of light instead?" Worms were light-elemental, so was the mark Thursday rejected. "So I noticed." Ansoni placed a trap down. And during his endphase he showed off a Koa'ki Meiru Crusader in his hand to keep Urnight alive.

"Sitll hungry. We require more." Nidhoggr played a permanent spell, Future Fusion. "Much more!" Nidhoggr could send fusion materials from his deck to the grave, and two turns later the result of those materials would be fusion summoned. "What.." But not just two, thirteen materials were discarded. "Worm Zero is our choice. It can take as many unique reptile-worms from my deck as possible!" Ansoni started to sweat, Worm Zero was a big threat. "Worm Call." Nidhoggr was not done with his continuous spells yet. "We set Worm Ugly as we control no other monsters." This one, Worm Call, let the player set reptilian worms from his hand. "And we sacrifice it to bring out Worm Warlord." The ugly reptile was sacrificed for a level 6 mutated reptilian(2350/1800). "Worm Ugly, when used as a sacrifice for another Worm, summons himself to my enemy's field." The ball of rotten worm flesh(100/100) showed up besides Urnight in attack mode. "And Warmlord can attack again, if it kills a monster!" The crimson worm grabbed both monsters with its hands and fed them to the mouth in its middle. "Agh." Ansoni felt a sliver of pain, as if he was being chewed on as well. "Yes. That agony is real, feast on it. So that I may feast too." Nidhoggr laughed loudly.

Ansoni's LP: 5300

"Before we end our turn." The signer of earth flipped its trap, another permanent card. "Damage = Reptile?" Ansoni knew about that card. "He activated it now? Before I could stop it?" The ex-signer had one trap down that could have stopped a card like that on the next turn. "Take your turn." But now he was too late. "Hmm. I discard Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand from my hand, to add the Iron Core to my hand." He would just have to block that damage trap another way. "I summon Koa'ki Meiru Crusader and activate Core Overlock!" A massive undead knight(1900/1300) appeared and a permanent spell boosted his(2400/1300) powers. "He attacks!" The beastwarrior slew the Warlord with his sword. "Now even if he uses Damage=Reptile, he can only summon something with less attackpoints than 50." Nidhoggr only took 50 damage from that attack. "We special summon." His continuous trap could convert that into a new reptile. "Worm Victory." A gigantic six-armed reptilian(8000/2500). "What, how?" And it definitely had more attackpoints than 50.

Nidhoggr's LP: 7950

"I see it now. Worm Victory's original attackpoints are zero. However.. it gains 500 attackpoints for each dead Worm reptile!" Cartaros, Ugly and Warlord, but also the 13 future fused materials, all of these boosted Victory's attacking power. _"He discarded 13 just so he could get Worm Victory to have the attackpoints he needed to defeat me when it attacked." _Ansoni wondered how Nidhoggr planned this so well. "Tch. When Crusader kills a monster, I can take back a Koa'ki Meiru card from the grave." Ansoni took back Urnight, just so he could reveal that beastwarrior to keep Crusader on his field during the endphase. "Ansoni, what will you do?" Thursday started to get worried too. ".." The ex-signer held his silence. "No more need to talk, will you accept this?" Worm Victory raised its six arms. "Attack!" And threw six punches at the Crusader. "..Wait. I' ve got it!" Ansoni flipped his trap card. "Spiritual Earth Art- Kurogane! I exchange a living earth monster for a dead one!" And he sacrificed Crusader to revive Koa'ki Meiru Powerhand(2600/1600).

"Grr." Powerhand negated the effects of all dark _and _light monsters that did battle with it, including Victory's power bonuses. "Making me forfeit a meal." A replay was however allowed now, and Nidhoggr recalled Worm Victory before its power could be drained. "One trap and one worm is set. Instead." The dragons impatience only grew. "..." And Thursday started to wonder. "Ansoni, does his voice sound familiar to you?" If this dragon was supposed to be a signer, who was it? "Now that you mention it." They had seen many 'friends' at her castle, none of them were a dragon at first. "Then I have to confirm something. Ansoni, I will return shortly." Suddenly Thursday disappeared in a flash of light. "Thursday?" Ansoni did not understand what he was planning to do, though now he started to question his identity too.

"Urnight." But he had to press on, he resummoned the centaur. "I can reveal this card." Ansoni showed off the Iron Core spell. "To let Urnight summon a Koa'ki Meiru monster from my deck." The steel dragon(2400/1600) emerged from Ansonji's disk. "And now I attack you!" Powerhand charged up its drills. "We will stop you, Book of Moon." The enemy tried to block the attack with a flipping spell. The Book of Moon actually tried to flip Worm Victory down, for it had a devastating flip effect too. "I can not let you do that, Iron Core Luster!" But Ansoni stopped that plan by revealing the Iron Core he gained this turn. "This counter trap card shows off the Iron Core to negate any trap or spell!" He countered the book and managed to continue his assault. Powerhand sealed the attackpoints of Victory(0/2500) and shredded it to pieces. "Drago negates the summons of light monsters too, so your damage equalizing trap is rendered powerless!"

Nidhoggr's LP: 5350

"Drago attacks your facedown!" The battle phase continued with the dragon burning up a jellyfish like creature(400/800). "Worm Opera, weaken his monster!" But that worm had a flip effect too, the Opera reptile unleashed sonic waves that reduced the attackpower of Urnight(2000/1500). ".." But the spell, One Day of Peace!" He activated the spell card he drew this turn. "I negate all damage done to both you and me this turn, and draw a new card." Ansoni gained another spell. "I end my turn, and discard Iron Core of the.." He planned to discard the core to keep Drago alive. However. "Imperial Iron Gauntlet." A metal gauntlet was activated. "What?" A permanent trap prevented him from discarding any cards. "Tch. Then I activate Iron Core Fragment Recovery." He played his quickplay spell. "I can draw a card for every Core monster that destroys it self!" Now Drago had to perish along with Urnight and Powerhand, all three fell into the darkness below. "I draw three!" But none of those could be played yet. "I end my turn!"

Nidhoggr's LP: 3350

_Imperial Iron Gauntlet, Continuous Trap_

_Cards cannot be discarded._

_Iron Core Fragment Recovery, Quickplay Spell_

_You can activate this card when a "Koa'ki Meiru" monster on the field is destroyed by their own effect, draw 1 card for each monster destroyed this way._

"You could not stop it, the form of ultimate hunger." Future Fusions two turns were up, the fusion monster appeared. "Worm Zero, increase your power by the lives of those inside!" Thirteen worms from the grave merged into one mass, a swirling sphere of worms. Each gave 500 attack and defense points to Worm Zero(6500/6500). "Their powers increase by their numbers. When at least two are fused, a worm can return in hiding." Worm Victory was placed on the field in face-down defense position_. "Oh no. Without Powerhand.."_ He could not kill Zero, let alone Worm Victory. "If four or more are joined, a monster on the field shall die." But Ansoni did not even have monsters left, so the second effect was not a threat yet. "And if the number exceeds six, every turn a card can be added to my hand." Nidhoggr took another card from the stack. "You however keep hiding, it is futile." One Day of Peace would negate the damage from Zero's attack too. "But annoying.." Nidhoggr placed another monster and another trap card down.

"Draw!" Ansoni started his turn, and the One day of Peace was over. _"This is."_ And he had gained a keycard, Koa'ki Meiru Tornado. _"With this, I could destroy all his special summoned monsters." _All he needed to do was return the Iron Core to the top of his deck. That was different from discarding cards. "Wait! Sir Helion, do not do it!" Yet the voice of Siren interrupted that plan. "What?" He saw the psychic duelist and Thursday standing on the edge of the rock platform. "Why..are you here?" Thursday's presence explained how Siren got here, but not why he brought him. "Do not do it sir. He has a trap waiting!" The kid warned him. "Wait, why are you telling me this! I should not hear it." But even here and now it was against the rules to get outside help. "It is not cheating, Ansoni. Not if he has done it for the entire duel already." Thursday explained. "What?" Ansoni turned to the dragon, who kept the same monstrous expression. "I can sense it now, I recognize his psychic emanations.. That man is Alphonse!" Siren yelled. "Sir Lewitt?" Ansoni gasped.

"Yes. He is the signer of Earth after all, not a sixth unseen signer of Light. I sensed that as the duel went on. But I asked Siren if he could confirm my theory." Thursday assumed the student would like to see what had become of Alphonse. "Then he is..a psychic?" Now Ansoni understood why Siren warned him, because Nidhoggr had been unfairly using his mindreading powers against him. "That was why your moves were all executed flawlessly, you saw my moves before I could implement them." And now too he admitted being able to hear the voice of Alphonse in between the beasts growls. "Who are you, to interfere in my meal?" Nidhoggr roared at the kid. "I am..Siren. Your student!" Siren shouted back, hoping that there was still some part of Alphonse's mind in there. "That was a lie, a dream. All of it was.." The dragon put a claw against its head. "The powers of the mental, they are nothing more then mistakes made by the previous creators, holes left behind by them that allow the thoughts of a select few to cross over to others.

"As long as there are parts of this fake world to eat away, my thoughts cross with others too. I can not turn it off.. But I can use it I can sate my hunger with it. So continue your defiance, Ansoni Helion. So that I may feed on your fears and hopes some more!" It let out a distorted mix of cackles and shrieks. "..Sir. I know you have to do this." Siren said to Ansoni. "I know that too. But.." If he could not use Tornado, what could he use? _"Hey. this could work instead." _He noticed one of the three cards he drew last turn."I banish Urnight and Crusader in my cemetery! To special summon Gigastone Omega!" Two earth-type monsters had to leave the cemetery to allow a rock tortoise(1000/2300) to appear on the field. "When it is sent to the grave by an effect, all traps on the field will be destroyed So it attacks your facedown Worm Victory!" Nidhogrr recoiled, as it saw what the idea was here. If Future Fusion were to be destroyed, Worm Zero would be sent to the graveyard as well. "You must have seen what my facedown Worm Victory can do!" And Worm Victory, when flipped, would destroy all opposing monsters. A perfect trigger for Gigastone's effect.

"Then you force me to activate my trap before it is too late. We play the White Nebula Meteorite!" A white smoke spewing meteor appeared in the black skies. "All hidden cards are revealed!" The smoke flipped the face-down Worm Hope(300/1000) and the face-down Worm Victory(8000/2500) face-up. The latter used its power to destroy Gigastone Omega, who was reduced to stone powder. But that dust moved over to Nidhoggr's side and destroyed his cards too: Imperial Iron Gauntlet, Damage=Reptile, Worm Call and Future Fusion all eroded to nothing, and Worm Zero fell apart. "This changes nothing. Your mind and body will all be sustenance for me!" Nidhoggr screamed. 'Starting with what you bottled up; your memories of your lost parents and your unreal parent!"

(To be Continued in Mark 106: Beyond Flesh and Stone)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Crusader<br>Gigastone Omega

-  
>Iron Core Immediate Disposal<br>Core Overclock  
>One Day of Peace<em><br>Iron Core Fragment Recovery_

-  
>Iron Core Luster<p>

**Cards used by Nidhoggr**  
>Worm Cartaros<br>Worm Ugly  
>Worm Warlord<br>Worm Victory  
>Worm Opera<br>Worm Zero  
>Worm Linx<p>

-  
>Future Fusion<br>Worm Call  
>Book of Eclipse<p>

-  
>Damage = Reptile<em><br>Imperial Iron Gauntlet_  
>W Nebula Meteorite<p> 


	106. 106: Beyond Flesh and Stone

**Mark 106: Beyond Flesh and Stone**

The news might have been down, along with the rest of the international media network. But some independent sources online and offline still managed to get information across. "It is confirmed." And Gaunt heard some very unusual reports from several different locations, added up it could not be called a lie anymore. "The people that are staying behind, they can not get hurt anymore." He spoke to Nathan on the phone, who had also explained the situation there. "But how is that possible, sir? With all this devastation." The ace of the north was sure someone should have gotten injured somehow. Broken bones by falls from large heights, crushed underneath collapsing buildings, drowning at sea; incidents like these seemed normal for a hurricane disaster site. "Somehow our own bodies have become impervious to damage, and the destruction itself seems rather controlled. No matter what we do, we can not die or even get ill." Gaunt shook his head. "I do not know how and why Callisto did this. But since she wanted to create a heaven and wants to erase all that is not real..."

"Does she think death itself is not real?"

Ansoni's LP: 5300 Nidhoggr's LP: 3350

"My parents? What do you know about them?" Ansoni did not expect that, to hear from Nidhoggr about his mother and father. "What the lady has told me.. and the lady knows all. She knows them better than you do." The dragon chuckled. "What?" Ansoni did not like that comment one bit. "Poor lost son, your parental figures taken away from you at such a young age. Not a single real memory to treasure your true creators. And.." One dragons eye leered at Ansoni. "Plagued by feelings for another who was not real to begin with." The duelist cringed. "Are you talking about him? The one your creator took!" Maxcroft Helion had disappeared into the darkness, Ansoni truly had no family left. "He is just trying to rile you up, sir! Weakening your mental defenses by fueling your emotions!" Siren yelled. "Weaken his mind? We would not defile the taste like that. What we want is to enrich your flavor. You store your emotions away, Ansoni Helion. Just let them out so we can devour all!" Nidhoggr licked its lips. 'So that is it." Ansoni felt his hands were trembling. _"I can not.. lose here." _He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Siren, can you help me?" He calmed down and looked at the psychic student. "I will try." Siren nodded. He understood what was asked of him.

"Good. But he has seen my hand already... I should change it up." Ansoni said as he was still on his turn. "I activate Core Compression. I discard Koa'ki meiru Ghoulgunulate from my hand and reveal the Iron Core card, to draw two new cards!" A trap and monster were added. "Then I summon Koa'ki Meiru Tornado! And activate its power by sending the Iron Core to the top of my deck!" The tornado(2000/1200) swallowed the core spell and grew in size. "It can destroy all special summoned monsters now!" Worm Victory(8500/2500) was too dangerous to be left alive, so it had to be destroyed now. "I and end my turn." However during the endphase the next effect of W Nebula Meteorite was activated. Worm Linx(300/1000) allowed Nidhoggr to draw a card before it was flipped down. The Meteorite itself than gave Nidhoggr another card to draw, for the one monster flipped down. And then a highlevel light elemental reptile could be called out from the deck. "We summon the King of Worms." WormKing(2700/1100) was its choice.

"Wormking, can tribute one reptile to destroy any card you control." Nidhoggr explained as it reflipped Worm Linx. "Yet do we need to?" It entered the battle phase. "Attack." And after that the centaur-like worm lord slammed its tail down to crush Tornado, nearly throwing his master off of the platform with its impact. "Ungh." He managed to hold his ground, but lost a lot of lifepoints. "And again." Linx struck too, the two-headed gnat worms attack felt like a mere itch after the Kings strike. "We see all, we fear nothing you can do." He placed two cards down and during the endphase the effect of Worm Linx came into play again. Because it had been flipped and was face-up during Nidhoggr's endphase, he could draw another card. "That is strange, you chose not to destroy my face-down card?" Ansoni flipped a trap, Core Reinforcements. "Hm?" The trap revived a Koa'ki Meiru card, the undead Ghoulungulate(3000/1700) was the choice in this case. "Did you know this was my plan? To summon a core monster who can negate its own destructions?"

Ansoni's LP: 4300f

Ghoulungulate could banish Core monsters in the grave to save itself and other core monsters from destruction. "I also summon Koa'ki Meiru Bergzak." A duel wielding warrior(2000/200) appeared. "They attack now!" Ghoulungulate charged towards the Worm King. However the core ghoul(2500/1700) lost some of its power along the way. "Huh?" The enemy flipped his trap card, Desert Sunlight, a card that revealed all defending monsters. "No!" And the trap flipped a face-down Worm Apocalypse(300/200) face-up. "Apocalypse can destroy spells or traps when it is flipped?" The worm had used this effect on Core Overlock, so all core monsters lost the powerboost from that spell. (Bergzak: 2000 atk). "But Ghoulungulate can banish a core monster to save itself from destruction in battle too." Powerhand was banished to keep Ghoulungulate from killing itself, though Ansoni still took some minor damage. "And Bergzak attacks your other two monsters!" Two blades came down to slice up the Apocalyptic and Linx worms. _"Blast. He still can read my moves.."_

Ansoni's LP: 4100 Nidhoggr's LP: 1650

"It's no use sir. I can not block his powers." Siren cried out. "I learned everything I could, but it is like his thoughts are on another level." The student could not yet surpass the teacher. "You kid, you are just poisoner. We shall crush you next, and leave your remains to wither away." The dragon snorted. "The mind is my domain, my meal." It roared out loud. "What about Helen? She was given the psychic powers of lady Callisto too." Thursday knew about Helens ability to put people to sleep and kinetically influence objects. "She is different. That is different. The Lady's curse was so much more than ours." And because of his mindreading abilities, he could sense their questions before they uttered them. "'Why is she above even us' you want to say? Our senses can merely cross over and spread through space, hers can spread through time. She was further away from this world than any of us. But both of us only exist because this world is flawed." The answers did not answer much. "I will end my turn." Ansoni said. "But Ghoulungulate can also negate its own selfdestruction with his ability. So I banish Koa'ki Meiru Tornado, to keep Ghoulungulate on my field." He allowed Bergzak to destroy itself, as it would do him more harm than good if it stayed alive.

"Perhaps you sealed the kings abilities, perhaps not." The signer of earth summoned a worm rooted in the earth, Worm Xex(1800/1000). "When Xex is alive on the field, Yagan appears." Worm Yagan could be special summoned in face-down defense position from the grave, thanks to its own effect which required the presence of Worm Xex. "We sacrifice Xex." The king ate the groundfeeder to destroy Ghoulungulate. "I banish Koa'ki Meiru Drago from my cemetery to keep him alive!" But he survived the first death with its effect. '..Then we shall strike, king." The royal one trampled all over the ghoul. "I banish Bergzak!" In this exchange the ghoul could escape a death as well. "And this is what we desired. You can not keep that spirit alive indefinitely." Nidhoggr ended his turn. "Your fear is returning is it not?" Nidhoggr was enjoying himself greatly. "I am not affraid." He retorted and entered the battle phase. "Ghoulungulate attacks!" The ghoul unleashed its deadly breath on the face-down Worm Yagan(1000/1800). "But fearlesness is a danger on its own."

Ansoni's LP: 3900

"You fell into a trap." Worm Yagans flip effect was activated as it died. "Oh no!" The duelists saw Ghoulungulate leave the field. "Yagan returns monsters to a players hand when flipped." Now Ansoni's field was empty. "You already know what I am going to do." But Ansoni was not worried, he planned for this. "Koa'ki Meiru Ice!" He summoned a titan of ice(1900/1200). "By discarding a card I can destroy a special summoned monster!" He threw away Ghoulungulate to destroy Worm King, freezing it and breaking it into pieces with its spiked weapon. "Trap card: Snake Whistle." But as expected, Nidhoggr saw this move coming from miles away and had a trap waiting that could turn this loss into a gain. "We summon a new reptile, when one is killed by a power." The whistle lured out a Worm Solid(1000/1600). "Tch." The creature was a hollow Tetrahedon, and inside were the souls of all fallen worms, each of which boosted Solids(1000/4000) defense points by 100 points. "I discard the Iron Core to keep Ice alive." Ansoni finished his turn.

"..The Shallow Grave." Nidhoggr started its turn with a spell. "We both dig up one buried spirit and hide it on the field." The lindworm picked one of its many worms, the Worm King, while Ansoni could only choose between Gigastone Omega and Ghoulungulate. He selected the latter. "And then we sacrifice." Worm Solid was tributed for a highlevel worm, another centaur-like reptile called Worm Queen(2700/1100). "The Queen requires but one worm as a tribute. And can tribute other worms of her kingdom to call upon new servants." Worm Queen sacrificed the King. "Or even family." And out came the Worm Prince(2200/400). "We attack!" The queen stampeded towards the face-down Ghoulungulate. "But as soon as you attack it, it will be flipped face-up!" Ghoulungulate(2500/1700) would use its effect as soon as it was hit."I banish Powerhand." It survived its end a third time. "But now your graveyard has no cores left." Worm Prince struck next, devouring the ghoul whole. "When Worm Prince feeds, he can bring out a new underling." The prince's effect sent a new Worm to Nidhoggr's hand. "Worm Tentacles." It was a dual-attacking monster, meaning Ansoni could lose all his lifepoints even if he did summon a new monster to defend him.

"Then it depends on the next card." Ansoni could only think of few cards that would keep him alive, and only of one that would turn this duel around. "...hurry." Nidhoggr did not know what his deck would give him, so at the very least he would not be able to counter it. Yet he could not wait to see it. "I draw." Ansoni took the card from his deck. "What?" The enemy saw it as soon as Ansoni did. "...This is." And Ansoni never expected this to come now. "This is what I need to end this!" He tributed Koa'ki Meiru Ice. "One Koa'ki Meiru offering is enough to bring out this level 8 monster!" A mechanical warrior(2800/2200) replaced the Ice titan. "Rooklord! When he is normal summoned, two cards on your field can be destroyed!" The symbols on the Rooklord lighted up, and fired energy rays which decimated the royal worm pair. "No!" And Nidhoggr was unable to stop this, or stop what would come next. "Direct attack!" The Rooklord stomped down on the wingless dragon with its pile driver hand. "Aaargh!" And with that attack, the second signer lost.

Nidhoggr's LP: 0

"Graahhh! No.. not yet..have not devoured enough yet!" Nidhoggr started trashing around, wildly lashing its tail out at its surroundings. "Look." And then its scales started to fall off, one by one, dematerializing as they fell on the ground. "His body was.. a visualization too?" The dragon Nidhogrr disappeared, leaving behind a man in torn clothes. "He created a new body using his enhanced psychic abilities." And now he was just back to being Alphonse Lewitt, at least physically. "Sir." Siren approached him, but the man did not even notice the student. "Hungry..soo..hungry." He kept talking to himself, grinding his nails through the dirt. "All I had to do.. was eat what was not real. Eat false images and false memories.. But it did not.. taste as good.. as true emotions. The psychics are cursed!" He stretched out one hand towards Siren. "You..do not even know. What happened and what did not. I..I.." And then he too disappeared, turning to sand and sinking into the earth. "Goodbye, sir Lewitt." There was nothing that could be done.

...

"I do not get you." And there was someone, somewhere, who had also been a witness to this duel, and he did know how the man could have been saved. "Why are you even showing me this?" It was Jason. Ever since he had been confined to this room, he was forced to see what she was doing to the world outside. Her entire bedroom had taken up most of the castle, and every exit was blocked by tree branches and roots and blocks of gold. The walls were covered with books and paintings, each page and canvas as large as a door and each had become a window to the rest of the world. One such window showed Jason just what had become of Lewitt. "You kill every person that you do not think is real, but then put everyone that is real in danger by changing the world around. You create friends and servants, but then you twist their personalities and bodies around. And you even give your enemies a way to obtain their power." He had seen two signers lose their marks already, at this rate she would not be able to complete whatever scheme she was up to.

"Why are you doing all this?" He had a million questions for his sister, but they all came down to that single one. "Because Callisto can." The girl answered bluntly as she sat in her bed and gazed at all the windows. "What?" Jason did not expect that. "It is just a game, brother. Nobody should and can get hurt." She smiled. "A game, that is what this is to you?" But whenever she smiled, he just grew more nervous. "Not just to Callisto, to everyone. This world is only a game, and now she made it one both sides can win. It would not be very fun if they could not defeat Callisto's signers. She gave them some tricks, but they can fail." Jason could not believe what he was hearing. "But you told me yourself, your signers are the only ones who can come in here. If they find that out. They will want to stop you." Jason could care less, but he still had to wonder why she allowed the signs to pass on like that. "The signs must always exist, brother should know this." She replied. "They do? But.. what about your signers, where do they go, when they lose?" Ymir shattered and Nidhoggr dissolved, those looked like deaths to him. "..." And Callisto looked at one window on the wall, the only window that did not show a part of the world. One that showed absolute darkness. "Oh."

"They returned to the dying world..probably."

(To be Continued in Mark 107: Boiling Point)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Ghoulungulate<br>Koa'ki Meiru Bergzak  
>Koa'ki Meiru Ice<p>

**New Cards used by Nidhoggr**  
>Worm King<br>Worm Apocalypse  
>Worm Xex<br>Worm Yagan  
>Worm Solid<br>Worm Queen  
>Worm Prince<br>Worm Tentacles

-  
>The Shallow Grave<p>

-  
>Desert Sunlight<br>Snake Whistle


	107. 107: Boiling Point

**Mark 107: Boiling Point**

"So no more diseases and injuries. I do not know how she did it, but I am not complaining." Ada rubbed her head, even though there was no pain. "Still, the winds make it hard to get around. We can not reach other people, let alone find the guy responsible for this." Nathans detector had received nothing but static so far. ".. I think I know where we can find him." Ada said suddenly. "Him?" Nathan did not think they even knew this signers gender yet. "It's simple deduction. We saw which of Callisto's friends got the marks, and we saw how each city was hit." Wind was the element that terrorized North City. "Then it is Xavier.." Nathan remembered it too now, which signer Xavier had become. "I had suspected it all along, that was also why I came back here." She pointed to a nearby street. "If he has any recollection of his old self, there is where he will be. If we take him out, we might be able to calm thus hurricane down." Nathan looked ahead. "What is up there again?" He did not know this place as well as her. "There is where our Battle City began.."

In another corner of the country. "So if you want to be our ally, you can start by clearing up a few things." Urizen spoke to their newest guest, while they searched for the guardian of the burning East city. "Like where you people are hiding out." And a lot of questions burned on his mind. "There is no exact location known." Demistria answered. "That is not good enough." Urizen grumbled. "Then let me finish..." She directed her finger upward. "The coordinates are an unknown, because its position is not fixed." Macbeth and Urizen looked up. "You're saying, it can move? And it is up there?" Suddenly the 'friends in high places' comment Lincoln used to throw around made a lot more sense. "Yes. We Infinati know it as the Temple of Grand Design and Order where the council convenes. Only the inner circle gets invited there, people like Lincoln and me." She tapped her own dueldisk. "But now that connection has been severed, I can not go back there." She knew their next question was going to be if she could bring them to Infinati's base. "Figures."

"But maybe you could tell us what you people do.." Macbeth suddenly asked. "Why do you take the memories and lives of so many innocents?" He had been trying to stay focused on the search for the signer, but he could feel his anger get the better of him. "That is the desire of the council. All excess information must be contained and unified, and the distinction between content and no-content must be made." There was that term again. "So you are basically doing the same as Callisto is right now? You determine for yourself what is real and what is not real? Like now suddenly Eric is not 'real'?" Macbeth snapped. "He was a close friend, and now he is gone! I told Frank and Dan I would get him back, but I do not even believe that!" If he could not even save Richard, how could he save everyone else? "Eric? Was he taken?" Demistria had not heard about his fate yet. "Than he was different. If he disappeared, he was never really there. However.. lives like Richard's can not disappear, all of his memories and experiences should be within the temple." She told it like it was good news, but they were not sure. "I do not understand what makes one real. Has it something to do with the gods?" Urizen wondered if the gods made some people in a different way. "I do not have that answer." She shrugged.

"But I do!"

Just then Macbeths detector started beeping like it had a heartattack. "He is here!" The flames split open, making a pathway for them. "I know that voice." And at the end stood the robed butler who called himself Saturday. "The signer of fire I presume." The trio walked over to him, he stood at the center of a large intersection, surrounding by smouldering cars. "Welcome. I felt you had wandered aimlessly long enough, so I made my presence known." The man bowed before them. "As for the answer to your question, I can give it to you, but you may not understand it." He smirked. "Try us." Urizen rasped. "The difference between us and them is our name.. Our true name." He raised two fingers. "There are two kinds of names, the ones made by the creator and the ones made by the false gods." He pointed at the three of them. "Urizen, Tobias. Those are not your real names, they are just identities forced upon you by the false gods, so they could control you." And then he placed his hand on his chest. "Geoffrey was my false name, Callisto gave me my true name."

"What, Saturday?" Macbeth asked. "No. That was merely a joke. And it does not matter, we can not speak our true names in this world. Thursday has taken his name for the same reason. Ymir, Nidhoggr, Xavier; those are all names our new creator gave us so that we could live in her new world." He then discarded his robes. "My name is this: Surtr!" And he revealed his body to be made of pure flames. "The giant of fire?" Demistria was familiar with that myth. "Indeed. This city here has become muspellheim, the counterpart to Niflheim and the second part of the creation equation. For now humans dwell here, but soon so much more." He summoned some smaller flames which turned into cards. "Now let us skip the remaining pleasantries and get to business. Gentlemen, it is time for the direct confrontation." Urizen quickly activated his dueldisk. "Then I shall be your first." He inserted his deck. "Wait, you do not have to.." Macbeth protested. This city was his responsibility. "This is no time for arguing. Just watch me duel, and if I lose, learn from it." Urizen drew cards. "But if you lose, you will.."

Surt's LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"The guardian begins. He has to represent the lands defenses." A trap card and a monster card were set face down on the streets. "Fine by me. I get the offense first." Urizen in his turn summoned the Stygian Street Patrol demon(1600/1200). "Attack!" And the hellway cop drove over the intersection and crushed a pyro golem(300/400) under its wheels. "Laval Miller's power has been ignited." The monster had an effect in death, it discarded two more 'Laval' cards from Surtr's deck. "?" A Laval Lady of the Burning Lake and Laval Volcano Handmaideno were sent to the grave. "This move ignites the power of the Volcano Handmaiden. She can discard another Laval card, when she is sent from my deck to her grave." Surtr explained as he used the first Volcano Maiden to discard a second. The second then discarded a third, and the third discarded another Laval Lady. "So your strategy is selfmilling." Macbeth figured Surtr needed a grave full of Lavals. "Stygian still does damage, 100 points times the level of the killed monster." Laval Miller had three level stars.

Surtr's LP: 7700

"Lavals are indeed stronger when they have already lost allies. Three or more unique Lavals in the grave open up many abilities. For instance." A flame-fisted rock titan(2100/1000) appeared from his hand. "Laval Burner can be special summoned under these conditions." Then a small fiery bird(100/0) flew down, the tuner monster Soaring Eagle of the Searing Lands. "Synchro summon." The level 1 Eagle and level 5 Burner combined their fire to form a level 6 blazing pterasaur(2500/1200). "Since there were three Lavals in my grave just now, I can revive the Soaring Eagle with its own effect." The bird returned to the field in defense mode. "But you care more for the synchro monster I presume. Lavalval Dragoon. This one can take out a Laval spirit hidden in my deck." Surtr added a Laval Phlogis to his hand. "And discard a Laval spirit as well." He discarded the Phlogis monster. "A Forest Sprite cast into the grave adds 400 points of power to any Laval monster, 200. Additionally." Surtr's facedown continuous trap was activated. "Molten Whirlwind Wall adds 100 more points to my Lavals, a 100 points per grave-bound Laval." A boost of 400 and 800 attackpoints were added to the Dragoon(3700/1200).

"And now, the attack." The Dragoon flew towards the Stygian. "I think I am going to take a raincheck on that attack!" Urizen yelled as he discarded a Damage Eater from his hand. "By sacrificing a fiend in my hand and on my field, I can special summon Darkness Neosphere from my hand!" The mighty seer of darkness(4000/4000) showed up in defense mode, taking the place of the Street patroller. "Well met, Urizen." Surtr nodded. "I shall take some measures." He placed one card down and ended his turn, the Dragoon(3300/1200) powered down.

"Another trap huh? I have an answer for that answer!" Urizen summoned Force Resonator(500/500) to the field. "I can tribute this tuner to protect a monster from your card effects." The resonator destroyed itself to unleash its inner energy that surrounded Neosphere. "Now I switch him to attack position! And guess what he will do now." In his battle phase, Neosphere sent a wave of darkness at the Dragoon. "You do not hesitate, yet your Resonator can not shield you from everything." The trap was flipped regardless. "Fiery Fervor." An aura of fire surrounded the Lavalval dinosaur. "When my monster does battle with a stronger opponent, his spirit will flare up!" The original attackpower of the synchro monster was doubled, and it(5000/1200) cut the dark wave down with a beat of its wings. "Tsk. But Neosphere can never be destroyed as a result of battle." Neosphere survived due to its own immortality, but his master could not avoid the battle damage. "Rgh. I set a trap and end my turn." Things suddenly did not look so good. "You are a fiery one, Urizen. But my flames burn brighter.."

Urizens LP: 7000

"By banishing Laval Lady and another Laval from my cemetery, a set card can be melted down." Surtr said as he removed one Burning Lake and one Laval Volcano Handmaiden to destroy Urizens set trap, Malevolent Catastrophe. "Oh that could have hurt." Surtr then summoned a winged fire goblin(1000/1000). "Fire Trooper here can inflict a thousand damage, by extinguishing its own flame during its summoning." The Trooper selfcombusted and sent its flames to Urizen. "Did you forget what I discarded?" Urizen however banished Damage Eater from his graveyard. "I can eat the damage you want me to take." The fiend swallowed the fire and used it to heal Urizen by a thousand points. "Ah, now you are back to before last turn." Surtr entered his battle phase, and Fiery Fervor doubled the Dragoons powers again. "Not for long I fear." It attacked Neosphere again and hit Urizen again with battle damage. "End turn." That was all from Surtr for now. "You can do it Urizen!" Macbeth yelled in the background. "Cheering is the last thing I need, Macbeth." The duelist yelled back. "Oh. Well I am just used to it." The ace sighed. "It is not like I can expect her to be of any help." He glared at Demistria, who had not reacted a single time since the duel began.

Urizens LP: 7000

"I will show you how fiery I am, Surtr. Flare Resonator!" The fire-elemental resonator tuner(300/1300) was summoned next. "Then I use the effect of Stygian Street Patrol in my graveyard, I banish it to summon a demon of average power from my hand." He special summoned a level 4 devil(1000/1000). "Vice Berserker." The level 3 Resonator and Berserker were tuned together. "Chaos King Archfiend." And out came the daemon of chaos, who(4900/2600) gained more attackboosts than just the one from Flare Resonator. "Flare Resonator adds 300 attackpoints to a synchro summoned monster, but Vice Berserker adds 2000!" The latter boost came at the cost of his own lifeforce, he lost 2000 points. "And the Chaos King switches the defense and attack of all your monsters when he strikes!" It did not matter if the Burning Spirit or Whirlwind wall would double Dragoons power, the Chaos King would just switch that around too. "Here I come!" The demon charged, cutting straight through the Lavalval monster(1200/5000) with its hellfire wings. "And Darkness Neosphere attacks too of course." The sphere demon blasted another darkness burst to destroy the Soaring Eagle. "Well done indeed, Urizen. Even without your mark you are truly skilled."

Surtr's LP: 4000 Urizens LP: 5000

"Do not mock me. I was always this strong, I almost never needed that mark." The only time he did use it, it was to defeat god himself. "Ah, then do you truly want to defeat me?" Surtr asked as he drew his next card. "Defeating me shall give you my mark. Is that what you want?" Urizen cringed, but did not respond. "Let's find out." Surtr summoned a new Laval, a cannoneer(2300/900). "Laval Cannon summons one banished Laval." The cannon fired a shot to free the first Laval Volcano Handmaiden(100/200) from the other dimension. "Synchro summon." The level 4 Cannoneer and level 1 Maiden merged into a different Lavalval monster, a level 5 dragon(2900/1100). "Lavalval Dragon. This monster takes the ashes of the fallen and uses them to reject monsters on the field." Surtr shuffled four Lavals from his grave back into his deck, which allowed the dragon to blow both Chaos King and Neosphere off the field. "Gah." While the Whirlwind wall was weaker now, the direct attack from the synchro monster(2500/1100) still felt as painful.

Urizens LP: 2500

"The realms flames do not hurt, but his do.." Demistria finally commanded. "Huh? Oh, you're right." Macbeth thought that was odd too. "I shall set a card." Surtr was done with his turn again. "Good. I draw!" Urizen looked at his hand. "I activate this spell, Resonator Engine. I can send two Resonators out of the cemetery, to add a level 4 monster in the deck to my hand." He returned Flare and Force Resonator, to take Trap Eater from the deck. "Then I special summon the Trap Eater!" The gluttonous tuner appeared, by devouring the Molten Whirlwind Wall. "Then I normal summon Mad Reloader, and tune him together with Trap Eater." The level 1 Reloader(0/0) and level 4 Eater formed Urizens second synchro monster this duel, Stygian Sergeants(2200/1800). "Without your wall, your monster is weaker!" The sergeant took aim and fired once at the Dragon(2000/1200). "And when the Sergeants shoot down a monster, they get a second shot!" The second sergeant pulled out his gun. "Direct attack!" Urizen shouted. "Pity. You leave me no choice.."

"Trap card.."

(To be Continued in Mark 108: Once in a Red Moon)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Force Resonator<br>Vice Berserker

-  
>Resonator Engine<p>

**Cards used by Surtr**  
>Laval Miller<br>Laval Volcano Handmaiden  
>Laval Lady of the Burning Lake<br>Soaring Eagle of the Searing Land  
>Laval Burner<br>Lavalval Dragoon  
>Laval Phlogis<br>Fire Trooper  
>Laval Cannon<br>Lavalval Dragon

-  
>Molten Whirlwind Wall<br>Fiery Fervor


	108. 108: Once in a Red Moon

**Mark 108: Once in a Red Moon  
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The dead roamed the streets of West City, wandering aimlessly through the black water. These were not just people that had been taken by the darkness, but also those that had died of natural causes in the past few years. "They are not responding to anything at all." Certain people in the city tried to communicate with these apparitions, but could not draw a single reaction from them. "They do not hurt us, they did not notice us." It was less like an invasion of zombies and more a ghost town. These apparitions could be touched and even pushed down, but they would get up right afterwards as if nothing had happened. "I guess this represents Helheim, the realm of the dishonorable dead." In the middle of it all were Kein and Sarah, who did not know whether to be disgusted or terrified by this scenery. "Whatever made these people alive, it is not there anymore." Kein saw them as mere vessels, emptied out by whatever killed them. "This is cruel." Sarah said. "Showing people their lost ones, but only their appearances.."

"Well it is very hard to bring the dead back to life." A rather out of place cheerful voice chimed in. "You!" Kein recognized it. "Hi!" They turned around and saw Helen standing behind them, waving at them with her bony hand. "This is your realm then, eh Helen? Or should I call you Hel now?" Kein started to see a resemblance to that mythological figure now. "You can." The girl giggled as he twirled her fingers through her hair. It became quite clear that the left side of her face lacked both skin and flesh. "It is not a coincidence either, Callisto liked those stories so much she decided to make me look like her even before I got this." She showed off her mark of darkness. "I see. Well then, shall we duel you for it?" Kein took out his disk. "Nuh-uh! You already got Ymirs mark, you can not have two!" Helen flicked her finger. "Then I will duel you." Sarah spoke up. "Well, first you will have to chase me! I want to have a lot more fun with you first!" She abruptly disappeared, only to re-appear on a rooftop. "Catch me if you can!" She laughed before teleporting another distance away. "We do not have time for this." Kein grumbled.

Surtr's LP: 800 Urizens LP: 0

"What? How?" Urizen blinked, and the next thing he knew his lifepoints were gone. "I attacked you! Why did I take damage too?" Stygian Sergeants(3000/1800) had gained a powerboost and a second attack thanks to their effect, and they used their second attack on Surtr directly. "You were too hasty with your damage." But before the attack hit the signer of fire had played a trap card: Needlebug Nest. "That card?" It was a trap that discarded the top 5 cards from a players deck. "One of the cards I tossed away was this one." Surtr revealed a fire monster called Volcanic Counter. "By banishing this monster when damage is done to me, that damage will be given to my opponent as well." Both duelists had taken the 3000 damage from the Sergeants direct attack, but only one could survive such a blow. "Damn it. How did you.. know." But to even discard a Volcanic Counter from the top of the deck took quite the stroke of luck. "That is my marks power, flame sensing." Surtr's sign of fire began to burn. "I can feel which fire elemental monster lurks in my deck, which one burns brighter.."

"Oh no." Macbeth did not expect Urizen to lose, certainly not that quickly. "Now he will..." He had no idea how Surtr would punish him for his loss. "Do with me what you want." Whatever fate it was, Urizen resigned himself to it. "Dear heavens boy, what do you take me for? A monster?" Said the butler made from everlasting flames. "All I have to do is this. To stop you from being a threat." He sent one tiny fireball from his fingertip, which hit Urizens dueldisk. "Gah!" He took it off and tossed it away, only managing to save a few cards in the process. "You.." The rest and the device itself were all burned down to black slag and ashes. "There we go. Do not be so upset, young one. Take solace from the fact that now you do not have to be cursed with a mark again." Surtr smiled. "Screw you! I was not holding back if that is what you think!" Urizen thought he was implying that he _wanted_ to lose, just to avoid getting a mark. "At any rate, I have selected my next opponent." His finger landed on Demistria. "Me?" She sounded surprised.

"Her?" Not as surprised as Macbeth however. "Why are you ignoring me!" The ace protested, he was overlooked twice now. "It is only fair to give those who have lost their mark the first chance to regain it, Tobias." He explained. "How strange, I thought you would be the last person to care?" Demistria detected a hint of worry in Macbeths tone. "That is not what I meant, I am not as chivalrous as Lincoln likes to say I am. But if we lose you.." He did not want her information to be lost. "The penalty seems light. I see no reason to not 'give it a go'." She activated her dueldisk. "Just let her do it." Urizen shrugged. He did not mind either way, not anymore. "Then it is settled."

Demistria's LP: 8000 Surtr's LP: 8000

"Again, I shall set the stage." Surtr drew six cards, Demistria only five. 'Laval Magma Cannoneer." And he summoned a different type of cannonwielder(1700/200). "Up to twice a turn, I can fire off a fire monster in my hand." First he discarded a Laval Lady of the Burning Lake from his hand, and then a Handmaiden of the Laval Volcano. "Each hit takes away 500 points." Demistria's life went down by a thousand. "And since a Laval monster was in my grave as I discarded the Volcano Handmaiden, she can discard another Laval monster from my deck to the grave." He started his chain again, letting three Maidens discard each other with their effect and the last of the three discarded a regular Laval Cannoneer. "End turn."

Demistria's LP: 7000

"Okay." Demistria started her turn with a field spell. "Jurassic World, all dinosaurs gain 300 points of defense and attack." The burning intersection turned into a burning 200 million year old jungle. "Then Jurrac Guaiba." She normal summoned a Guaibasaur(2000/700), who attacked and killed the Cannoneer with its flaming tail. "Ah, you wield the fire too. How appropriate. But I have yet to see if you are as tempered as Urizen over there." He did not even feel the damage it seemed. "Guaiba's effect will summon a monster from the deck." She could call out another Jurrac with 1700 attackpoints or less, though it could not attack this turn. "In defense mode, I summon Jurrac Ptera." She chose the blazing pteranodon(1100/1800).

Surtr's LP: 7700

"I see. If that one is to be attacked, the attacker will be sent back to my hand. A problem, but not one I will fall for." His turn began and he placed two cards down on the field and then Surtr summoned a flamesword wielder(1800/600). "Magflare the Molten Swordsman can banish a Laval to strengthen itself." One of three Laval Handmaidens was banished and the Swordsman(2100/600) sliced through the Guaibasaur, burning its body to cinders. "Attack the defender or not. It does not matter." Demistria started her turn again and sacrificed Ptera. "I just needed one." And she tribute summoned a Jurrac Herra(2600/1800). It slew Magflare without much fanfare. "Ho. You are quite right. But in the end my decision did cause the most damage I could bring." He stated. "Your turn." Demistria said after she placed a card down.

Demistria's LP: 6900

"A trap? Hmm you should know my Lavals can remove that one, if I so choose." He normal summoned a new Laval, a gunner(1200/800). "But instead I shall let myself be tested. Laval Gunner can discard the top 5 cards from my deck, and gains 200 attackpoints for each Laval sent to the graveyard." He discarded the five cards, three of them were Lavals (2x Phlogis, 1x Burner). "Oh how interesting." Now the Gunner gained more than 600 attackpoints." Just now I discarded two Laval Phlogis monsters, you should recall their effects." The Gunner was boosted by a combustion spirits. "Let us go for mutual destruction, I attack Herra." It(2600/800) fired a shot and burned a hole right through the Herrasaur. Who counterattacked and skewered the gunner with its tail spikes. "It is nice to go back and forth for a while, wouldn't you say?"

Surtr's LP: 7500

"I summon Jurrac Velo." But as soon as her turn started she entered her battle phase with a newly summoned Velociraptor(2000/1300). "Direct attack!" It jumped towards the flaming signer. "I will have to disappoint you miss." But suddenly four tokens got in its way. "Searing Fire Wall, I banish Lavals from my cemetery to lit the flame of my Laval tokens." He banished four Lavals (Cannoneer, Burner, Gunner and a Phlogis) to create four tokens(0/0). "..." Demistria pressed on and had her Velo stomp out the leftmost one. "I suppose that ends your turn?" He asked "No." Demistria went into her endphase, yet did not end the turn itself. "Volcanic Eruption." She played a trap card, a volcano surfaced and spewed lava which threatened to wipe out everything on the jurrasic fields. "But that will destroy her own cards too!" Macbeth gasped. "Is she getting desperate already?" He could not tell with the expression she always had on her face. "More like she is sick of his delays." Urizen noted that she had the advantage in hand size, Surtr could only stall.

"Ah. You are testing _me_ now. Very good." But Surtr revealed he had a counter trap set. "Burgeoning Whirliflame. I negate your trap by sending one Laval from my hand to the grave." He discarded a Laval Forest Sprite and blocked the Volcano's eruption. "..Close, but not enough." Surtr then drew his card and summoned a Laval Lancelord(2100/200). "Lancelord can be normal summoned without tributes." He clarified why a level 6 monster appeared like this. "But in that case, it will be destroyed during my endphase." Then the Lance lord threw his weapon into Velo and ended its life. "Velo summons Jurrac Monoloph." Upon the demise of the raptor, another Jurrac monster came from her deck, a monolophosaurus(1800/1500). "Duly noted. I shall end my turn now." The Lancelord selfdestructed. "Oh but whenever Lancelord dies, a banished Laval can return to my hand." He reclaimed the regular Cannoneer that had been banished last turn.

Demistria's LP: 6800

Just then a flash of light hit the jurassic intersection. "Who?" And there Gaunt and Thursday appeared, emerging from the light. "Gaunt?' Urizen did not expect him here. "Sir? I thought you were.." Last Macbeth heard, he was overseeing the whole operation from HQ. "I brought him here at his request." Thursday explained. "I wanted to see this for myself. I left Ansoni in charge for now, he had already eliminated his target." And with Thursday as their ally, it was easy to come and go to R-tech. "Ah then Nidhoggr has fallen. A shame, his psychic abilities were an asset." Saturday shook his head, and almost sounded regretful. "But then why are you here, to challenge him?" Macbeth was starting to wonder if he would even get a chance. 'No. I wanted to see the one who proposed a partnership with us.." He looked at Demistria. "Last time I did not get a good look at you. But I see it now." She looked back, but she did not look like she understood his words. "This can not be a coincidence, you look too much like her, like my former wife."

Urizen flinched. "You see it too?" He did not know his mother as well as Gaunt did, but he too had been bothered by the resemblance. "Who are you, Demistria?" Gaunt asked her directly. "I do not think I can answer that in a way you wish me to." She replied and drew a card from her dueldisk. "I shall try to however, if that is what it takes to convince you of my intentions. But first I have to take care of a common enemy." She summoned a Jurrac Dino(2000/1100). "Trap card: Meteorain." She also flipped her facedown card. "All monsters can inflict piercing damage this turn." The tokens had no defense, so this would hurt a lot. "Monoloph can attack every monster on the field." The crested dinosaur crushed two of the three remaining tokens. "But Dino shall kill as well." Dino slammed its tail down to destroy the last token, rather than letting Monoloph kill it and letting Dino attack directly. "

Surtr's LP: 1900

"Because when Dino has killed, it can sacrifice one Jurrac dinosaur to let his controller draw two cards." Jurrac Dino released its fiery breath on Monoloph and reduced it to ashes. "I draw." And she added two cards to her hand and she ended her turn afterwards. "I see. You are playing conservatively as well. Even if you had used all the attacks available, I would have survived." And now with four cards in her hand, compared to his one, she could set the pace of the game. "Your deck calls for a fiery nature, yet your own heart is very cold. Fire fights fire well, but icy temperatures clash even more with it." He drew a card again and normal summoned Laval Cannon(1600/900). The Cannoneer could use his effect again to revive the banished Laval Volcano Handmaiden(0/0), who was also a level 1 tuner. "I shall use these to summon my Laval Dual Slasher." He synchro summoned a fiery warrior(2400/200) using the monsters 5 levels. And the Twin Slasher was quick to slash down Jurrac Dino. "You are close Demistria, but you are not there yet.."

Demistria's LP: 6400

"But, what if I arranged it like this? What if I told you that I can answer sir Gaunts question better than you?" He smirked. "So why dont you defeat me, to get the answers..from me."

(To be Continued in New Testament 109: Both Ends of the Candle)

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Jurrac Ptera<br>Jurrac Monoloph  
>Jurrac Dino<p>

-  
>Jurrasic World<p>

-  
>Volcanic Eruption<br>Meteorain

**New Cards used by Surtr**  
>Volcanic Counter<br>Laval Magma Cannoneer  
>Magflare the Molten Swordsman<br>Laval Gunner  
>Laval Lancelord<br>Laval Dual Slasher

-  
>Searing Fire Wall<p>

-  
>Needlebug Nest<br>Burgeoning Whirliflame


	109. 109: Both ends of the Candle

**Mark 109: Both ends of the Candle**

"Even if you have no answers, I would have wanted to defeat you..." Demistria replied,

Demistria's LP: 6400 Surtr's LP: 1900

"Jurrac Aeolo." Demistria's turn started and she summoned the hatchling dinosaur(500/500). "I shall tribute it." Aeolo could be sacrificed to revive any level 4 or lower dinosaur from her grave. "And I revive Jurrac Velo." In attack position she called out the velociraptor(2000/1300)."You are well aware of my monsters power." Surtr then could start his turn. "My Laval Twin Slayer can attack again if it destroys a defending monster. And it can pierce through any defense as well." Both the effects of the Twin Slayer(2400/200) became active when there were three or more Lavals in the grave.

"However, you can not avoid all damage by choosing that stance." He summoned a new Laval, the Laval Warrior(1800/500). "Laval Warrior can inflict damage equal to the attackpower of the monsters its destroys. When 4 or more unique Lavals are in my grave." In his cemetery he had 6 (Phlogis, Cannon, Magma Cannoneer, Volcano Handmaiden, Forest Sprite, Lancelord and Burning Lake Lady), so those conditions were met as well. "But it lacks attackpower." Macbeth protested. "Indeed it did. Until now." Surtr banished a monster from his grave, which Laval Gunner had discarded. "Kayenn, the Master Magma Blacksmith can be removed to empower all Lavals." New weapons were forged for the Warrior(2200/500) and Slayer(2800/200). "Burn it and strike it!" The warriors searing sword cut the Velociraptor in half, inflicting 1700 effect damage to Demistria as well. "I will summon a third." The dying Velo used its effect to summon its third copy(2000/200) in attack mode. "That one will go down too." The Twin Slayer melted it down. "That is all for my turn."

Demistria's LP: 3400

"I summon Jurrac Brachis." The level 3 tuner brachiosaur(1300/1300) was what the third and last Velo summoned from her deck. "Then I special summon Gilasaur from my hand." And when her turn started she called out a quicksummonable level 3 dinosaur(1700/700). "In that case..." Though that allowed Surtr to revive one of his monsters too. "I shall relit the flame of Laval Lancelord." The lancer laval(2100/200) showed up on the field. "I can still normal summon." She said as she called out a new Jurrac, the level 4 Iguanon(2000/1000). "And also synchro summon." The ten levels of her three dinosaurs were used up to form a level 10 Jurrac. "Oh!" Macbeth, Gaunt and Urizen looked up into the sky and saw a meteor(3100/2300) descend to the field. "Jurrac Meteor. It will destroy all cards on the field when synchro summoned." The meteor crashed into the ground. "Oh my." Surtr's Lava monsters were vaporized by the resulting explosion, and the Jurrasic World field was scorched off of the surface as well. "Then Meteor revives one tuner monster in my cemetery." Meteor itself died, but it left behind a Jurrac Aeolo(200/200). "I sacrifice it to revive Jurrac Ptera in defense mode." The pterasaur(800/1500) appeared once more. "End turn."

"You could have attacked him!" Urizen yelled. "But I could not have finished him." She replied, none of her level 4 dinosaurs had 1900 or more attackpoints. "Indeed, and my counterattack might have proven fatal. Apropos, since Lancelord was destroyed by a card effect." Surtr could take back a banished Laval once more, he chose Laval Burner this time. "But perhaps now you regret your decision to not have Jurrac Dino attack me directly?" Two turns ago, Demistria could have cut her enemy's life down to 100. But she chose not to, and now she was unable to end the duel this turn. "You can not make me regret, signer of fire. I would not be here now had I not used Dino's effect." She chose not to, because the cards she drew through Dino's effect allowed her to summon Meteor in the first place. "I know what you want to say. But I see nothing to regret in my past.. I took the risk of joining the Infinati because I had nowhere else to go, and they told me who I really was. And what I had to do to keep world in balance. I do not blame them for wanting to get rid of me. Even if I do not like it."

"I see. They did for you, what Callisto did for me. Then 'Demistria' is.." His turn started. "I special summon Laval Coatl and Laval Burner. Both can be special summoned when 3 or more Lavals are in their graves." A fire titan(2100/1000) and a pterasaur(1300/700) of his own appeared. "They become Laval Stennon!" The level 5 Burner and level 2 tuner Coatl were united into a level 7 armored pyro-monster(2400/1800). "As well, I shall normal summon the Royal Firestorm Guard." A reptilian pyro demon(1700/1200) showed up as well. "The royal one shuffles back four pyro monsters, and allows me to draw two cards." The three Laval Maidens and Laval Forest Sprite were sent back to his deck, and he drew twice. "And now the attack." Stennon's armcannon aimed and fired at Demistria's dinosaur. "Stennon can banish one extinguished Laval to negate an effect that targets him!" Jurrac Ptera's ability, which usually sent its assailant back to the players hand, was sealed off as Stennon banished the dead Laval Soldier. Ptera died and she was left defenseless.

"Herra." But not for long. When a defending monster had been killed, the Herrasaur(2300/1500) could crawl out of its grave. "That was a close call, miss Demistria." The Royal Firestorm Guard could not compete with that monster. "I set a card down and end my turn." He passed the turn back to her. "..I do have a question now." She drew and placed a monster down on the field. "Then I hope to answer that question." Surtr smiled pleasantly. "If the lady knows all, and sees all. Does she know what the Infinati can do?" She wondered if Callisto even considered their interference . "Ah yes. She has spoken about them too. As they are, they are of no threat to her. And notions like revenge and retribution are beneath her. They can not do any harm in her new world." Macbeth cringed. "Wait. But Lincoln tried to kill me just an hour ago!" He highly doubted they were no longer capable of taking lives. "What they take from you can be taken back." Was all Surtr said to reassure the bewildered Ace. "But I sense, this question of yours lies closer to the heart."

"..." Demistria said nothing. "Yes, there is no denying it. I will tell you." He pointed a finger at her head. "You too suffer from their curse, your mind is storing falsified experiences. I can not tell what was taken, but I can see what was unchanged." Her eyes widened. "They did it.. to me too?" Earlier she said that she was exempted from the Infinati's memory manipulation measures, but even then she knew she could not have been certain about that. "I would tell you more, but I'd feel you would not keep your mind on the game if I did. As I said, I can give more answers than you, so the bet remains the same. Defeat me, and I will clear this mystery up. For your sake and theirs." He spread his arms, waiting for her attack. "Okay." Herra struck and destroyed the Firestorm Guard. "I play Smashing Ground." Afterwards she destroyed Laval Stennon with a spell card. It worked only because the spell did not let her choose a target, it always went after the monster with the highest defense. "Yes. That is more like it. Embrace the fire within you, young one."

Surtr's LP: 1300

She placed a trap card down and ended her turn. "I shall go all out too!" He flipped his trap card. "Blazing Dust Explosion: I can banish Lavals in my cemetery, to destroy an equal amount of cards on your field!" Three Lavals (Cannon, Stennon and Coatl) were burned to dust. "I shall destroy all cards on your field." An outburst of pyroclastic energy shook the field, and consumed Jurrac Herra along with the two set trap cards. "Then I will have to chain." But both the traps could be activated. "Survival Instinct. I banish all dinosaurs in the cemetery, and gain 400 lifepoints per dinosaur." There were eleven to be banished in total, so her life went up by 4400. "But that will not be enough by far." Surtr played a spell card next. "I activate Sweltering Heat Transmission, I discard two Lavals from my deck." He tossed away a Laval Volcano Handmaiden and a Laval Forest Sprite. "I shall restart the Volcano maid chain." Two more Handmaidens and a Laval Miller were sent to the grave, thanks to the effect of the Volcano maidens. "Now there are enough buried down there. Enough to light the flame of my decisive victory! I activate the spell card: Rekindling!" And then he played the card that allowed him to summon as many fire-type monsters with 200 defense points as he wished.

Demistria's LP: 7800

"Volcano Handmaiden, Forest Sprite, Magma Cannoneer and Lancelord, Twin Slayer, come forth!" He reignited the level 1 tuner(100/200), the level 2 tuner(300/200), the level 4 Magma shooter(1700/200), the level 6 Lance wielder(2100/200) and the level 5 Dual attacker(2400/200). "I shall synchro summon another Laval Stennon and a Laval the Greater!" Lancelord and the Maiden formed a second Stennon synchro(2400/1800) while the Magma Cannoneer and Forest Sprite fused their flames to call out a level 6 blue flame warrior(2400/800)."Forest Sprite's effect is now activated, she adds 200 attackpoints to all Lavals for each dead Laval!" He had 10 Lavals in his grave too. This meant a boost of 1800 attackpoints. "Triple direct attack!" Stennon(4400/1800), Twin Slayer(4400/200) and The Greater(4400/800) combined their forces, forming one large fireball. "Direct attack." The blast hit Demistria but did not hit her for the full 13200 points. "Oh. I see. You activated a second trap as well." Before Blazing Dust had destroyed it, Demistria had activated the trap card: Damage Diet. "I overlooked it, but all damage is halved his turn, right?" He could only do 6600 damage to her. "Then I have no regrets either, I could not have stopped either of those traps. Your survival instincts are strong."

Demistria's LP: 1200

"You said you would not hold back." Demistria was surrounded by flames, yet they felt ice cold to her, soothing even. "I was not. The temperature of the flames depends on the spirit they are burning. I neglected to mention that." Surtr finished his turn at this point. "Are you saying I was too hotheaded?" Urizen snapped. "Still are." Macbeth said under his breath. "Possibly. Either way it means it is you who is still holding back, lady Demistria. I have tempted you with secrets long kept from you, and your blood is still not boiling." He was disappointed. "So that is what you do. You incite the flame within a persons soul, and use it against them? I am sorry to disappoint, but going all out exposes to many weaknesses." She drew a spell and activated it, the spell Fossil Dig. "When I go for the full strength..." Fossil Dig sent a lowlevel dinosaur from the deck to her hand. "It has to count." She summoned said lowlevel monster, Tyranno Infinity(11000/0). "No way!" Macbeth did not see that coming. The tyrannosaur gained 1000 attackpoints for each banished dinosaur, all eleven of them. "_This_ is a decisive victory." Any attack would kill Surtr now, even if he was at full lifepoints.

"So. Tell me what you wanted me to know now." She guessed he would not be able to tell her much after he was defeated. "I did not mean to let the knowledge die with me, miss." Said Surtr who sounded unusually content with his loss. "I must first however ask, what you remember of your family." The woman blinked. "My family? I left them a long time ago." She did not like to talk about that. "But that is where the puzzle starts to fall apart, miss. It is not that you left them, it is that they stayed behind. If you do not realize this, then the Infinati have lied to you in more ways than one." He casted a quick glance in Urizens and Gaunts direction. "But I must clarify myself, you are not the only one here with falsified experiences." The Artani's flinched. "What do you mean? The Infinati never came near us!" Urizen complained. "I never said they were the only ones to change the past to something untrue. This world has lied to you from the very beginning." Two fingers pointed at the three of them. "There is a reason why your two families resemble each other, it is not a coincidence."

Surtr's LP: 0

"Oh.." His mark of fire started to fade. "It appears my time is up. Callisto must have decided to end the duel for me.." The mark reappeared on Demistria's wrist. "I will leave you by saying this, then. You claim that it's mere genetics that created the resemblance between you and Urizen, and in a way you were right." The fires of Surtr started to lose their intensity, his own body was beginning to burn up. "These genes were codes laid down by the creator or lies." Gaunt raised an eyebrow. "You are talking about Wiraqocha Rasca?" Surtr nodded. "Indeed. I once said the god of the sun passed more than his mark. The will of his very might is something that remained even after your judgment. My test confirms this. The fighting spirit is strong in you both, but stronger in hers." He said as only his head remained. "Remember this. The resemblance is a change from the truth, but the change itself reflects the true face of the liar." He closed his eyes.

"This may be your fate too, wielder of Thor. You were always different from us, but still.." He said to Thursday, who just watched in silence as his remains dispersed with the flames around him.

"... What the hell was he talking about? Our families are or are not related?" Urizen scratched his head, he could make neither heads nor tails of this. "Not that I am aware of. I know my father and mother, they are not yours." She was as confused as he. "Unless that memory was altered too." Macbeth suggested. "That can be tested.." Gaunt knew what to do..

"Oh? The park?" Nathan and Sarah had found the only place in the city where the winds did not blow. "This must be the Eye of the hurricane." The storm surrounded them from all sides, but here no leaf from a tree or sprite of grass was touched. "This is where our Battle city began." Ada explained. "Ah right, you and Ali set up that trap here." Nathan heard the story from Jason, back when he still called himself Yale. "I am not proud of that. But I needed the money. And Ali was only glad to help me. He was always there.." She swallowed her own words. "No. He will not be here. But the one who is here.. is you!"

She and Nate turned to the sky and saw a man floating below the clouds. "This tempest is caused by you, so you would have to be at the center of it all!" Xavier descended to the park field. "And you have done well to brave it. But I should have expected you to resist it." He landed before the, his dueldisk at the ready. "Ada, are you still sure about this?" Along the way Ada had insisted that she be the one to challenge Xavier, even though she lost the first time. "I know my enemy better than you, so I stand a better chance still." She activated hers in turn. "But you do not know me to my full extent, I did not get to use my strongest dragon against you last time, Ada. Are you sure your books would recommend taking this risk?" Xavier said. "That you do remember." She hissed and drew her cards. "I am not afraid, I am not going to let my feelings get in the way. You are an enemy now, so I have to get rid of you. Whatever your name is now." Xavier Ali smirked. "Yes, as the signer of wind, I do have a truer name now. You may call me.. Jormungandr."

Ada's LP: 8000 Jormungandr's LP: 8000

(To be Continued in Mark 110: Anytime but Now)

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Jurrac Iguanon<br>Tyranno Infinity

-  
>Smashing Ground<br>Fossil Dig

-  
>Survival Instinct<br>Damage Diet

**New Cards used by Surtr**  
>Laval Warrior<br>Kayenn, the Master Magma Blacksmith  
>Laval Coatl<br>Laval Stennon  
>Royal Firestorm Guards<br>Laval Forest Sprite  
>Laval the Greater<p>

-  
>Sweltering Heat Transmission<br>Rekindling

-  
>Blazing Dust Explosion<p> 


	110. 110: Anytime but Now

**Mark 110: Anytime but Now  
><strong>

At R-tech, all the citizens in capitol city had been gathered and accounted for. "Less then a thousand survived. This is even worse than we expected." Ansoni received the rapport and things looked bleak indeed. "Are the other aces having any luck?" Asked Siren who was with him. "Urizen just returned, they vanquished their target. Kein has located his and we have not heard from Nathan yet." In his case they could assume they were already engaged in a duel. "Macbeth stayed behind to see what he can do about the people of East City. But even if we can get out country under control, the darkness has spread beyond it now." He showed images taken from overshores, that showed the black sky reaching out across the sea. "So, we may not be in time to stop Callisto from getting to the other continents." Even if they could take out her signers, the world stayed twisted and the missing remained missing. "We have to get all the marks.. because that is the only way to get to her. To get to the realm she made for herself."

Meanwhile in the much emptier than usual science department, the last few medics had been given a new task. ''This is the best I could do on such short notice. The darkness took my best colleagues." One person had taken blood from both Demistria, Urizen and Gaunt. "We do not have a lot of time either way." Urizen said, wondering if it had been smart to get sidetracked from the main issue at hand. "What are the results?" Gaunt inquired. "Well, in what we found, we actually did see some similarities. On a genetic level, your blood matches with hers. But.." He added quickly before they could overreact. "The DNA code within your blood, is mismatched.. with each other." Urizens eyes narrowed. "Meaning.. there is a foreign element in our own blood?" He knew enough about biology to understand that much. "No, actually. We dated the samples, and this appears to be the older set. Yet they did not appear until recently.." Demistria tilted her head. "But is that not then a sign of 'gods' blessing? The mark given by Wiraqocha Rasca?"

" That is just it. The marks are supposed to be inherited along with the blood, a signers blood should be older than this. As far as I can tell, neither Demistria or Gaunt were born a signer." Even though up until this point, they had assumed the marks could only pass on to another person through inheritance. "Maybe.." Gaunt tried to make sense of this. "Maybe gods blood stayed dormant, until they reawakened?" But the scientist shook his head. "The blood is not that young either, I cant date it specifically, but its between ten and twenty years old." So there went that theory. "And the Castillo family had known about the mark for ages... Demistria, when did your mark awaken?" His and Ansoni's had only started burning the day Malcean had unleashed the earthbound the first time around. "On the same day as yours, three years ago. But.. I knew about it beforehand, because the Infinati had taken me in." She explained quickly. "And all that time, you were content to just take their orders, even if it meant killing?" Urizen snapped. "It is not 'killing'." She retorted calmly. "This discussion can wait, Urizen." Gaunt came in between. "But we can not trust her!" Urizen felt like they were wasting time with this investigation and just wanted her thrown in a cell.

"That may be, but we need her. She has the mark of fire now." Urizen however could not deny that and calmed himself. "Then I have a question.." He touched his own wrist. "Demistria you said the Infinati told you about your mark. Did they also tell you how they knew you had a mark? Because you seemed surprised to find out that I had one, back when we dueled." And that surprise was what kept him alive at that time. "The Infinati can analyze and manipulate the mind and body of man to the deepest of extents. They can tell through the DNA. The council does not share the how with the lower circles, they just hand out the orders and technology." She placed her dueldisk on the table. "This device has eliminated its own modified tech, but you may find something inside still." She turned to Gaunt. "I see what you want to ask. You want to know how long the marks have truly existed. And if the marks did not come from our ancestors, where did they come from? I believe the Infinati creed has one answer.. The Infinati believe that the world should be freed of its shackles, that mankind has break through the lies of religion and reach out for the infinite through their technology..."

"The marks are one such lie. As is their age of a thousand years..."

..

Ada's LP: 8000 Jormungandr's LP: 8000

"I will set a monster down and two trap cards." Ada took the first turn. "Defense as usual." Xavier/Jormungandr scoffed as he took his turn. "You already know duelist do not leave openings on the first turn." She retorted. "Well most.." Nathan added in sheepishly. "It does not matter in the face of my overwhelming power." Xavier played a spell card. "Terraforming. I add a field spell from my deck to my hand." He took out the Malefic World of course. "I play Malefic World." And the sky once again turned yellow, as time around them froze. "Worry not, Ace of Hearts. You shall be allowed to keep up with this duel." Nathan apparently was inside the zone where time still ran. "Ehr thanks?" But he was too astounded by the effect itself to even pay attention to the duel. "How can you do this?" He had to ask. "Malefic World represents the decay of reality. Even the passing seconds are a lie, so it is the simplest of tricks to halt their movement. I can not explain it in greater detail, your minds are still trapped on this linear time flow." But now nobody would be able to interrupt this duel. "I guess this is just your power, but amplified by your mark. And there goes my plan to just call your mother on you." Ada snarked, even if she never had any intention of telling his mother what she had to do.

"Just continue the game, Jormungandr." Ada was not here for stories. "I agree. We will figure this out later." Nathan said, while thinking how he was even supposed to pronounce Xaviers new name. "If that is your wish." He activated another spell card, Lighten the Load. "This permanent spells sends the highlevel monsters I do not need, back to my deck." He used it to send a Rainbow Dragon in his hand to his deck, and afterwards he could draw a new card. "I banish Cyber End Dragon from my extra deck, to special summon Malefic Cyber End Dragon!" The mechanical three-headed dragon(4000/2800) appeared, decked out in black armor plating as well now. "That thing does not pierce does it?" Nathan gulped. "No. It is not like his regular counterpart." Ada had not seen him use this Malefic dragon before, but she was quick to read the card text. "Attack." The three heads destroyed the facedown monster, a Masked Dragon(1400/1100). "I special summon a dragon from my deck, Influence Dragunity." A very thin green dragon(900/300) showed up.

_Influence Dragunity, 3/900/300 Wind/Dragon/Tuner  
>If this card is used as a synchro material monster, other wind-attribute monsters used in the synchro summon are treated as winged-beast-type monsters.<em>

"I shall end my turn." Jormungandr had done enough. "Okay. Next I summon Reborn Tengu!" A certain immortal crow warrior(1700/600) stepped into the grass. "But that is neither dragon nor winged beast." Xaviers memories did not tell him about her using monsters outside of those two orders. "It is wind elemental, that is good enough. As my tuner dragon will make Tengu into a winged beast!" She tuned the level 3 Influential tuner with the level 4 winged Tengu, and synchro summoned a level 7 dragon. "Dragunity Knight - Trident." A trident wielding dragon rider(2400/1700) appeared. "Tengu meanwhile can revive itself twice, it summons a copy whenever it leaves the field." The Tengu warrior summoned its second self(1700/600). "What will this accomplish?" Jormungandr was not exactly afraid of these weak monsters. "You will see." Ada flipped up her trap card. "Gravelstorm! I send a spell you control and a spell I control back to our hands!" One card she set was returned. "!" As was Malefic World. "I know the weakness of your Malefics!" Malefic Cyber End Dragon fell apart. "They can not exist without field spells!" And then her monsters attacked the signer directly. "Good one!" Nathan cheered. "Ggh. Half my life gone in one hit." He did not expect this.

Jormungandr's LP: 3900

"I am not done yet. Trident can send cards from my field to the grave, to send cards from your extra deck away." She placed the card she returned to her hand facedown again. "I send Tengu and my trap, to cast out your two remaining Cyber End Dragons from your extra deck." Two cards left the field, the latter of which summoned a third copy(1700/600) of itself to her field in defense mode. "You need to banish Cyber End Dragons to summon them, you can not do this anymore!" She smirked and ended her turn. "This is just a minor hindrance. I have many more corrupted dragons, Ada." He drew a card and reset Malefic World on the field. "I banish Rainbow Dragon!" And he special summoned the second most powerful corrupted dragon, the sinful rainbow dragon(4000/0). "I attack." He entered the battle phase and his monster blew up the Dragon knight with seven beams of dark energy. "It can not be 'reborn' again." He then activated another continuous spell. "Especially not now. I activate Kaiser Colosseum." The round wall of a roman arena surrounded the thee duelists. "Uh oh." This was a card they both knew. "As I control just one monster, you can not control more monsters than me. Ergo, you can not synchro summon anymore!"

Ada's LP: 6400

_"Argh. Something like that had to be coming."_ Ada found this a clever move, as the Malefics had another weakness. Only one could be on the field at all times, but the Colosseum now made use of their solitary nature. "My turn!" But she had other ways to draw out power. "I set a monster.. by sacrificing Dragunity Trident!" A higher level monster was tribute summoned, but she did not show her opponent what it was. "A set level 5 or 6 monster? Even if it is something new, I can estimate what it could be. Using your style as the key clue." Jormungandr started his turn, he used Malefic World's effect to take 3 Malefic monsters from his deck, he picked three Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragons. ".." So she did not really have much of a choice. _"Lighten the Load fuel, I presume."_ He took one and wordlessly reshuffled it back into his deck through the reloading spell. "..I attack." And then Rainbow Dragon struck her hidden monster, the dark energy tore craterized the ground around it. "Ha! You triggered its effect!" But it did not get destroyed.

"Handcuffs dragon?" Nathan saw it now, a dragon with a long cuff-like beak(1800/1800), which wrapped itself around and weakened Malefic Rainbow Dragon(2200/0). "When you attack the Handcuff dragon, it will equip itself to its killer and reduce its attackpoints by 1800!" Ada's trap had worked. "Hmph. Ridiculous." Jormungandr placed one card down. "My turn!" All Ada had to do now was summon a monster strong enough to kill Rainbow Dragon. "Stardust Shimmer." Or she could revive one. "I banish Reborn Tengu and Masked Dragon from my cemetery, to special summon a synchro monster whose level equals theirs combined." Tridents seven stars matched up to their seven, so he(2400/1700) could escape the grave. "I attack!" The trident pierced through Rainbow Dragons body, shattering it into pieces of all seven colors. "And Handcuff Dragon returns to my field at this point!" The wrapping dragon unwrapped itself. "And attacks directly!" It lashed at the enemy with its tail. "I set a card and end my turn." The lead was still very comfortable.

Jormungandr's LP: 1900

"Wait. how come you can have two monsters now?" Nathan thought the Colosseum made sure that she could not have more monsters than the other duelist. "That spell only works as long as he has at least one monster on the field. And monsters already alive do not get kicked out." So even if he did summon a new Malefic, both her monsters were in the clear. "I suppose I can take you seriously after all, Ada." Xavier choe three cards again through Malefic World. "!" They were three Malefic Truth Dragons. "Oh no. Ada, look out. That monster can be special summoned when a Malefic monster is destroyed." The ace had seen him use this monster to kill Demistria in one turn. "Is that so?" Ada could not stop Xavier from adding that monster to his hand, but at least now she knew what to expect. "Malefic Stardust Dragon." But first he summoned a weaker Malefic(2500/2000) by banishing a Stardust Dragon from his extra deck. "It attacks Trident." The dragon flew towards the dragon rider. "I will not be afraid of it!" However Ada flipped a spell. "Forbidden Lance!" She gave Stardust a lance, which made it immune to spell and trap cards, but also weakened it(1700/2000). "That..was a mistake." Malefic Stardust was killed by the counterstrike of the Trident.

Jormungandr's LP: 1200

"I shall pay half my lifeforce to summon Malefic Truth Dragon!" The golden dragon(5000/5000) emerged from his hand. "We continue our attack!" Malefic Truth Dragon swallowed Trident whole in one gulp. "And now his effect activates!" A dozen blood spikes were shaped underneath the dragons wings. "When one monster dies before Truth Dragon, all shall fall!" The spikes rained down on Ada's side, killing Handcuffs Dragon instantly. "Ah!" The rest cracked the ground around her, one nearly hit Nathan. "I hope you know what you are doing, Ada." Nathan said. "I do." She replied, but did not sound too confident.

Ada's LP: 3800 Jormungandr's LP: 600

"I set a monster card down and end my turn." Ada said. "Hmph. So this far is how much your preparations can push you, your limits are too low." He did not even wait and sent Truth Dragon to attack again. "Your connection to his body is no more, that is why you will fail." But the blast from the golden dragon could not destroy the facedown monster, a Shield Wing(0/900). "I will bring him back, even if I have to destroy you, I will!" Ada yelled back. "Nonsense. Xavier Ali never existed, you are looking at who he was all along." Jormungandr placed a trap down. "You remember nothing more than dreams. A dream that has distracted you from the corruption of the real world." He ended his turn. "It happened, that is what matters! Nothing can change that!" She said and drew a card. "..That can not be denied. But that is also why I was one of the fortunate." He placed his hand on his chest. "I do owe your love for the lie, Ada." She just stared at him. "What? Love?" He did not get him at all. "Yes.. Love. Your love.. showed the lady that she could be loved too."

(To be Continued in Mark 111: Little Love Lost)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**_  
>Influence Dragunity<em>  
>Reborn Tengu<br>Dragunity Knight Trident  
>Handcuffs Dragon<p>

-  
>Stardust Shimmer<p>

**New Cards used by Jormungandr**  
>Malefic Cyber End Dragon<p>

-  
>Terraforming<br>Lighten the Load  
>Kaiser Colosseum<p> 


	111. 111: Little Love Lost

**Mark 111: Little Love Lost  
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"I assume you know the answer to that." Jason was watching the windows again, this time he looked at the conversation between Gaunt, Demistria and Urizen. "I mean I already know where Malcean got his mark from. But them.. they were living as commoners until that day.." Even the HQ of R-tech had a dimensional window looking into it. "And why are you even letting them group up like this? You teleported them across the globe before, why not do it again?" He disliked being stuck here, but he disliked inefficiency even more. "Are you even listening?" His sister was not however paying attention to that scene, or to him. "What are you looking at now?" She gazed wordlessly at the window looking out over the duel between Ada and Xavier. "Oh those two. I do not know why you would find that interesting. Even when I was with them, they were a bore." Saying that apparently did catch her attention as her head jerked to her left. "?" She gave him a short look and turned back to the window. "It was never the same, was it?" She sighed. "What was?" He asked. "Love.."

Ada's LP: 3800 Jormungandr's LP: 600

"Love?"

"Yes, Love.. Do not try to deny it." Jormungandr said with a confident tone. "What are you.. what is he talking about?" Ada turned to Nathan. "Well I ehr.." But he did not feel like replying or that he was the person that had to tell her. "Are you telling me, he loved me?" She figured out part of it, herself. "It seems even you can not see the signs. Or you are too stubborn to admit it. But then he did not realize either." Jormungandr touched his chest. "Maybe it was cut short before you two could flesh it out, but there was a love between the two of you. And she saw it, she saw it a hundred times over." Ada started to tremble. "I..love him?" A suggestion so simple, yet she had never accepted it. "Is that why she made you? Because she was jealous of our bond?" But Ada caught on quickly enough. "You are right. She was jealous, because none loved her like you did each other. It is a different kind of love than a fathers love for his daughter, it is something she wanted. So she took me, told me who I really was, all so I could love her."

"Tch. And do you? Do you love her like that? To me it sounds more like a bond between mother and son. After all she 'made' you." Ada yelled, she did not agree at all. "We all love her, for making this world for us, and for eliminating all lies. You will come to love her too." He smiled. "Not on her life!" Ada finally went on with her turn. "I reject her like Raiza here will reject the monsters she gave you!" She sacrificed Shield Wing(0/900) for Raiza the Storm Monarch(2400/1000), whose tribute summoned effect pushed Malefic Truth Dragon(5000/5000) back to the top of Jormungandr's deck. "Malefic Claw Stream!" But before the Malefic one disappeared, he revealed a trap that could be used in conjunction with a Malefic monster. "Damn it." Ada watched as the claw stream destroyed Raiza, denying her the opportunity to attack the defenseless signer of wind and leaving her wide open in return. And she had to end her turn. "I said that emotions lead to creation, you are pushing your own aside in favor of reasoning and logic. Such things lead to stagnation."

"Malefic World." Jormungandr activated the field spell again, taking three Malefic monsters from his deck. "Blue-Eyes." She could choose from two Malefic Rainbow Dragons or one Malefic White Dragon, and she chose the one that would not take away all her lifepoints. "Direct attack." So after he banished a regular Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his deck, the sinful version(3000/2500) was special summoned and attacked Ada directly. "Agh." The blast caused her to fell to the ground. "Are you alright?" Nathan did not know how much more she could take. "I will be.." She crawled her way back up. "I do not believe it. Emotions can be a powerful thing, but sometimes too powerful." She said as he placed a trap down. "You love your creator, and you swear to protect this realm at all costs. But that has left you vulnerable, Jormungandr." She then took her turn, summoned a Decoy Dragon(300/200) and played a spell card. "Dragons Gunfire! Since I control a dragon I can take away 800 lifepoints!" The Decoy Dragon shot a bullet of flames at the enemy.

Ada's LP: 800

"Dark Bribe." And a counter trap was all Jormungandr needed to make the fire disappear. "No!" Her spell was negated, though now she could at least draw a new card. "I set a card and end my turn." Her only defense was a trap and a decoy. But as long as he could only have one Malefic monster on the field, even one defense was enough. "Malefic World." The field spell was used again, making Ada choose between three Malefic Truth dragons. "Oh no." Nate knew now that if she somehow managed to kill Blue-Eyes, the Truth Dragon would reappear. "Malefic Selector." And he also played a spell. "I banish two Malefics, to add two to my hand." He banished Malefic Cyber End and Malefic Rainbow Dragon, to add Malefic Parallel Gear and a second Malefic White Dragon. "That one too?" He was setting up for Paradox Dragon too. "Attack." As he knew he would not be able to finish her off this turn. "Decoy Dragons effect activates! He summons a 'decoy' from the grave!" A highlevel dragon could be revived to draw in and absorb the attack, and she brought back Dragunity Knight - Trident(2400/1700) in defense mode. "That will only help you hide, you can not defeat me this way." Trident was blown to pieces by the burst stream Malefic Blue-Eyes sent its way.

_Malefic Selector, Normal Spell  
>Remove from play 2 "Malefic" monsters from your graveyard. Add 2 "Malefic" monsters from your deck to your hand. Those monsters can not be summoned this turn.<em>

"You think you know everything don't you?" She hissed. "I know enough. I even know why you refuse to accept your feelings." He ended his turn. "Oh yeah?" She asked as she sacrificed the Decoy dragon to summon Strongwind Dragon(2550/1000). "It is because you can live with yourself this way, live in your own world. If you convince yourself you never loved him, you can kill me. And since killing me will not bring Ali back, you do not regret it.. regret never having confessed to him." A silence fell. "...Am I not right?" She lowered her head, but he kept pushing. "Ada.." Nathan did not know what to say. "You.. bastard." Ada flipped her facedown card. "You did this, this is your fault!" It was the Wingbeat of Giant Dragon card, she could return the highlevel Strongwind Dragon to her hand to destroy all spells and traps on the field. "You want me emotional, fine! But you will suffer because of it!" Strongwind flapped its wings and shattered all of Xaviers cards, the Kaiser Colosseum, Lighten the Load and the Malefic World field.

Afterwards Strongwind flew back into her hand. "Nice! Without a field spell, no Malefics can be summoned at all!" Nathan saw Malefic Blue-Eyes die, and no Malefic Truth Dragon could be summoned. "Maybe I did love him, but that would be a real thing then! You and your creator have no right to call it a lie and take it away!" She placed another trap down and ended her turn. "I did not say it was a lie. After all it was your love that also gave you the strength that defeated her. That is how she learned more about love. And she loves the world enough to change it for the better." In his turn he played a spell. "..Trade In." Jormungandr discarded Malefic Stardust Dragon from his hand, and drew two new cards: Malefic World and Malefic Stardust Dragon. "...!" He played the field spell and then Malefic Parallel Gear(0/0). "You can not defeat her anymore, let alone me." He performed the synchro summon, using the Gear tuner and the star dragon in his hand. "Malefic Paradox will decide your fate once again!" The Paradox(4000/4000) returned.

Paradox had the ability to revive a dead synchro monster of its opponent and control it."Descending Lost Star!" However there was only one synchro monster in Ada's graveyard, the Trident Knight(2400/1700). "Ah Now I get it, why you had so many revival cards." Nathan understood that Ada had taken measures to prevent a loss similar to her first one. "So Paradox can not summon anything.." In one move she had saved herself from two attacks, as Dragunity Trident was now the defending monster that took the attack from the Malefic synchro monster. "I just realized something, Jormungandr." After Paradox killed the knight, her turn started again. "The power that allowed me to defeat your creator back then, the shooting star that she did not see. I would never have summoned it, had a voice not spoken to me." She drew her card. "That voice was his. Those words are all the proof I need, to believe in the return of Xavier Ali." She summoned a Debris Dragon(1000/2000), and the level 4 tuner used its effect to revive the level 2 Shield Wing.

"Synchro summon." The two were put together. "Here is something you probably did not see coming either." A chinese winged dragon(2300/1000) was the result. "Orient Dragon!" And this dragon spread out its claws, tearing a hole open in time and space. "What?" The dimensional tear pulled in and erased Malefic Paradox Dragon from the field. "Orient Dragon can banish a synchro monster, when it is summoned." She said. "Then I..have lost. I have failed her.." Jormungandr had no defenses left, and she could still attack. "Callisto exchanged her future sight for the power of creation, but now she can not help you like she helped herself in the past. You and the other signers could have expected failure. No matter how perfect your tactics are, one thing can always ruin it." She spoke from experience in that case. "That is not how I failed her. I.. can no longer be with her now. I can not love her anymore." Ada paused. "No longer..where will you.." But she shook it off, this had to be done. "Direct attack!" Orient Dragon took out his remaining life.

Jormungandr's LP: 0

"Ugh.. I suppose. I will have to where my true name was born." Jormungandr stumbled backwards, but regained his footing. "Your love, was greater than mine. And I see why now. I think I wanted this duel to happen, that is why I was here." A the hurricane winds around them slowed down, the mark of air left his body. "You would die for him, wouldn't you?" He asked Ada, as his body became transparent. "Yes. I would." Was her short yet decisive answer. "Than perhaps, yours is the right love after all. Lady Callisto gave life to me, but I do not think she would be able to give her life for me. That is why I lost." He took a deep breath. "I see it all so clearly now." He said with closed eyes. "Better than her even..as much as she wants it to be, this world will never be free of lies. Not if she is making them as well." Ada could barely look at him as he was fading out of existence. "What do you mean?" But she could not leave it like this, she had to know more. "I am neither your Ali of the true Ali. I am hers. But I do not think.. I would have been under the right circumstances. You are strong, smart, beautiful. I could have loved you too." He extended a hand. "And if you truly did hear his voice, then the one you are looking for may still be out there. A place even my lady can not see."

"Tell his mother, that Ali will be back.."

And then.. he was gone. One more signer had fallen.

"Oh. This is not fun at all." The last of Helens signers said, as she was cornered on the beach of West City. "Never learned to swim?" Kein joked as he and Sarah surrounded her. "No, you were not supposed to help her! Two-on-one hide and seek is not fair!" Helen fumed. "We have no time for games, and you were the one who hid in this wide-open location." This girl was getting on Keins very last nerve. "If it is me you want, I will gladly go first." Sarah added as she activated her dueldisk. "I do want you. Ymir already lost to Kein, I told you." Helen snapped her bony fingers and produced a deck from the the darkness. "Oh, but I can feel it. She however dismissed most cards from that deck and summoned new ones. "I am the last one. Guess i gotta take this seriously." She took the deck. "Last one?" Sarah figured this was good news for them, in general. "Hey." but apparently abd news for them personally, as Helen started to surround herself with dark energy. "Look around you, this is Helheim. The land of the dead, not a childrens playground."

And the darkness changed her, made her grow, made her mature. "What the?" The hair fell down her face, revealing the skull half of her head. "Hel, I presume." Kein adressed this new Helen, who fit the description of that mythological figure far more. "I did enjoy my time as Helen, but time moves on here." A stone slab emerged from the sand, a tomb on which she placed her deck. "And if you defeat me in this form, I will gave you a treat. She drew five cards, telekinetically lifting them to her hand. "A guardian of a realm is supposed to take the first turn, but Callisto will not mind if I play the rules a little loose. You can start, Sarah rain." A grin was formed by the right half of her mouth. "I did not think I would be going for the mark of darkness, but here I am. And I do not want my city to stay this way." She drew six cards. "I activate the Electromagnetic Barrier, and set one monster down!" A shield of lightning surrounded her field. "Level 3 or lower Thunder monsters in defense mode can not be destroyed as a result of battle now." She also placed a trap and ended her turn. "Interesting. You provide the spark of life, than I .." Hel drew her sixth card, which glowed in a black light. "Shall provide the terrain." A field spell was placed down. "Zombie World is activated."

Hels LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"Okay. If you will not tell me that. It must all be part of your game. At least explain me this.." Jason meanwhile still tried to get his sister to clear some things up, even though she just kept watching the duels going on. "How did you even make Helen? The others were just bodies who you revived, but she was a doll. She is not a person, why give her life?" He thought she only liked things that were 'real', which Helen certainly was not. "What are you talking about, brother. Helen was as real to Callisto as you were." She responded with a tone that had neither sarcasm nor jest. "You, really believe that?" He took a step back, this was getting a bit too much for him. "Why do you say that?" She looked at him now. "Never mind." He did not want to get her upset, so he backed off. "But, if this Helheim can bring back the dead, why haven't you brought back father.. or mother?" This had been Malceans original plan for his first act as god. "Revive..father..and mother?" She tilted her head. "But their deaths have not been a lie."

"But Callisto does miss him.. so maybe, they can be lies?"

(To be Continued in Mark 112: You had me at Hell)

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Decoy Dragon<br>Orient Dragon

**New Cards used by Jormungandr**_  
>Malefic Selector (+)<em>  
>Trade In<p>

-  
>Dark Bribe<p>

**New Cards used by Sarah**  
>Electromagnetic Barrier<p>

**New cards used by Hel**  
>Zombie World<p>

_(+) Based on the Spell used by Paradox in YGO 3D, Bonds Beyond Time_


	112. 112: You had me at Hell

**Mark 112: You had me at Hell **

"So, one remains." Gaunt said, having heard from Nathan. " Then should I bring them here?" Thursday could quickly and easily teleport them back to R-tech. "No. They said they had some business to tie up. Family related. You could however check up on Schiver and Rain later... Everyone else of importance I have brought here for this meeting." Indeed, every duelist had gathered here. "Demistria?" Even Dean was there, who did not expect to see another Infinati here. "When did they get you?" He barely recognized her without the the mask, but the red hair gave her away. "I didn't.. I turned myself over." She explained. "What, why do they trust you and not me?" He objected. he was out of his cell because the people of capitol city needed the space. " Sit down." But he was still in shackles and guarded by one of the few troopers left in the building. "Fine." Gaunt then cleared his throat. "As I was saying, I brought you all here so everyone can give their input. We are nearing the time of our attack on the threat to the whole world."

He presented another slideshow of recently taken pictures. "The world is still in disarray, even after we have taken the four signs, the realms Callisto has made remain the same." East City was still on fire for instance, and the capitol was still frozen. "Most remaining officials have fled to their bunkers, but there is nothing to keep the country in check anymore. Especially not with the change we all experienced." They knew what he was talking about now. "We can not die anymore, at least not by external means. Age may still draw lives away, but we can not confirm that. At any rate, the people of this country have figured this out too and gone wild. They are destroying property, taking whatever they can find. They believe it is the end of days. And we lack the means to calm the public down. So.." He pointed at the image at the center. "We have to hit the root of it all. The world tree she has created." The picture had been taken just an hour ago, and it showed that the tree had doubled in size and its roots were as large as small towns.

"So how do we get in there?" Macbeth asked. "I believe the new signers will be able to get to her." Thursday replied. "Kein, Ansoni, Demistria and Ada, and possibly Sarah, I will have to break one of the lies you believe in, to teach you how to move like I do. Then you can take all the forces you need to lady Callisto, and confront her." Urizen then stood up. "But how can we even confront her? She seems untouchable now!" He did not how they could do any good with a direct assault. "She may have power, but she is also still Callisto. She wishes us no harm, and we can use that to reason with her. To get her to explain why she is doing all of this." If they knew that much, they could better persuade her to stop. "She is still just a young girl. She may not even understand fully what she is doing." Ansoni said, as even he did not really understand what her plans were. "I want her to undo what she did as much as anyone. But we have to be careful, this is a delicate situation." The question was.. "If it comes down to a duel, who can and will challenge her?"

Hels LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"Zombie world?" Sarah blinked and the next instant the beach had turned into a nightmare; the sea turned bloodred, skulls and withered trees popped up from gray sands. "That is its name, the underworld given card form. All creatures become the undead, whether they are living or deceased." She then summoned a monster. "Paladin of the Cursed Dragon." A white knight riding a fleshless dragon(1900/1200) emerged, rising from the ground like a true zombie. "And since all have forsaken life, they are under my control." Hel entered the battle phase. "When a Paladin slays what does not live, I can bring it to my field." The paladins lance stabbed Sarahs monster. "Hey now, did you think I would not set down a level 3 thunder monster?" But it turned out to be a Rai-Rider(1200/1400), albeit a rotting zombified version of it. "Electromagnetic Barrier will keep 'Killacycle' alive." Her spells electricity repelled the lance. "And any monster that battles Rai-Rider can not declare another attack." The Rider paralyzed the Paladin with a blast of high voltage.

"So this is your ploy.." Hel ended her turn. "My hand told me to go for it, so I did." Sarah shrugged and drew again. "Ah, and now it is telling me to do this!" She played another permanent spell, a cannon. "Wave-Motion Cannon! Every turn this thing gets more power, and I can destroy it to unleash that power on you." She said as the cannon started charging. "Are you sure she will let you?" Kein was worried, since Sarah had no other means of damaging Hel. The Electric barrier would be destroyed as soon as Sarah summoned a monster in attack position. "Only one way to find out." Sarah ended her turn.

"Goblin Zombie." Another zombie crawled out of the earth, the ghoulish goblin(1100/1050). "If we can not end your monsters lives, we will draw life from you. Spell card: Overpowering Eyes." A flash came from the Goblins eyes. "A zombie can attack directly this turn." The zombie's gaze forced Rai-Rider to submit and stand aside. "Uh oh." Allowing the Goblin to score a direct hit on her with his sword. "Ack!" The blade phased right through her, as it swung across her neck. "Worry not. I may have the power to visualize, but I shall not turn you into one of the dead..yet. But, something else shall." When Goblin Zombies caused damage, the one who lost life would have to discard the top card of their deck. "I know." Sarah discarded the top card which turned out to be a Wattkiwi. "Wonderful." Hel placed a trap card down and ended her turn. "I do not like where this is going." Kein said. "I feel the same way." Sarah in her turn placed a monster down, just to be on a safer side. "End turn." Meanwhile the Wave-cannon gained its second charge.

Sarahs LP: 6800

"It begins." Hel drew a card and summoned her third zombie. "The plague carrier is here, to spread death." It was Plaguespreader Zombie(400/200) the pivotal zombie tuner monster. "A synchro summon of unlife." It and the stunned Paladin were joined together, two level stars and four level stars were consumed by the gray ground. "Doom Kaiser Dragon." And from it came the dragon emperor of death(2400/1500). "Doomkaiser, when special summoned, revives one zombie from either grave." Sarah gasped as her disk started to light up. "The monsters in the grave have become zombies too?" She did not notice that part of Zombie World's effect text. "Wattkiwi." And a half-decayed tiny bird(600/100) was resurrected. "And now, Trap of the Imperial Tomb." Hel revealed her set card, a tomb was summoned and the lid opened. "When one of your dead revives itself to my field, two of your cards shall be swallowed by the underworld." Wave-Motion Cannon and Electromagnetic Barrier were cast into the tomb, which then sank back into the sands. "So that is why she needed the Goblin Zombie." Sarah realized she set this up one turn ago, and she would not have had monsters in her cemetery had it not been for Goblin Zombie.

"By sending a card back to the top of my deck, the Plaguespreader can be reanimated." She sent back a Bone Crusher, and the carrier tuner returned in the flesh. "Another synchro summon?" Sarah and Kein watched as this time the Plague zombie combined with the level 4 Goblin Zombie. "Revived King Ha Des." And the late king of the underworld itself, Ha Des(2450/0), came to the field as a zombie. "Goblin Zombie's effect is triggered." Because Goblin Zombie was sent to its grave, Hel could add another Zombie to her hand. "I take this one." She claimed a Zombie Master and then entered her battle phase. "Ha des negates the effects of the monsters all zombies' victims." The revived king slaughtered Rai-Rider with ease, and dismissed the paralyzing voltage 'Killacycle' left behind. "All of them?" Sarah gulped, as her second monster would suffer Ha des' effect as well. "All of them." Doomkaiser attacked and killed a Shining Angel(1400/800). Its effect was also negated by Ha des. So Sarah could not summon a new light elemental. "Wattkiwi attacks directly." And the kiwi snapped at her former master with its beak. "Agh..how could you, Snap? This does not look good at all." After that hels guardian ended her turn. _"Come on Sarah, we need to focus." _

Sarahs LP: 6200

Sarah drew again and gained a rather good card. _"Honest?... idea!"_ She summoned her zombified Wattsquirrel(700/100). "Crackle can attack twice a turn!" She sent the squirrel after Ha Des. "What are you doing!" Kein cried out. "This!" And Sarah activated Honests effect; discarding the angel from her hand allowed her to power up the Squirrel(3150/100). "Hades' attackpoints are added to Crackle's!" The squirrel used its incisors to fatally injure the Revived King. "And that powerboost stays until the endphase.. so." And after that the Squirrel leaped up to the Doomkaiser and electrocuted it. "How's that!" She laughed as she had killed both her synchros in one turn. "Also I activate Level Limit Area B! All monsters with a level of four and above are switched to defense position." Neither remaining Watt critter were affected, but the Kiwi was weaker than the Squirrel, so she had little to fear. "That is more like the dueling you'd expect from a former signer." Hel smiled. "Hey, even when I became a signer, I did not get that much better." She protested.

Hels LP: 6600

"Oh, you can not lie to me. It was your mark that allowed you to survive this long. You must have noticed it at least once, how it twisted fate for you." Hel said as Sarah placed a card down. "Once? Well.." Sarah did now recall one such moment. "Against the hummingbird.." When she dueled Aslla Piscu, she had drawn three thunder monsters in a row through Dynamic Generator. That took a lot of luck. "Urizen is not the only one who had the blessing of god. But he was the first second generation signer." Hel started her turn and added Bone Crusher from the top of her deck back to her hand. "But is it right to call it a blessing or curse? Wiraqocha Rasca's essence was spread out over six humans. To become one again, those humans only had to lose. Yet in that state he was not aware of what his signers were threatened by. The seventh earthbound was controlled by his survival instincts. The same one that made him flee to this world." She switched the zombified Wattkiwi to defense mode. "The same instinct all mortals possess."

"But nothing can run, from death." And she summoned the Zombie Master(1800/0) to her hand, who was forced to defense mode by Level Limit Area B. "I discard Bone Crusher from my hand, and revive a zombie in my grave." The necromancer decided to revive the cemetery's latest guest, Bone Crusher(1600/200). "If Bone Crusher is freed from his coffin, a spell or trap will be imprisoned by it." He swung his hammer down, crushing the Level Limit Area. "But your monster was still switched to defense mode!" Sarah stated, as the limit was put in effect at the same time. "So it is. I end my turn." During her endphase, Bone Crusher had to return to the grave. It could only be revived for one turn. "So what you are saying is that I can not win without my mark, or something like that? Because people told me that, even before I lost the mark."

Sarah drew again. _"D'oh."_ She did not want to admit that her draws were rather lack-luster now. "Raigeki Bottle!" She flipped her trap card, summoning a empty bottle. "This bottle draws in the energy from attacks, and when I have attacked four times, I can unleash the stored energy to destroy your monsters!" Wattsquirrel struck twice, killing the defending Wattkiwi and Zombie Master. "That is two down, two to go." Two counters were put inside her bottle. "Your turn." Hels turn started. "End turn." But she did nothing with it. "Huh.. You drew a bad card too?" Sarah was surprised a signer could have that happen to her. "Draw." Sarah took another card from her deck, but again it was not a monster. "Oh come on guys. She is wide open and everything." She moaned, her Wattsquirrel would have to do. "Crackle, hit her with a double direct attack!" It zapped around Hel and bfit both of her legs. "That tickles." The woman said unflinchingly. "Well now I have two more counters." Sarahs Raigeki Bottle had enough energy to imitate the real Raigeki.

Hels LP: 5200

"I found you." Just then a voice spoke up, followed by a bright light. "Ah, the hiccup is here."Hel turned her head to let her one good eye look at the new arrival. "I do wonder why you keep bringing your friends to the sidelines. They can not help each other, and will all fall one by one." She said to Thursday, who had shown up on the beach along with Ada, Ansoni and Demistria. "I see you brought the rest here too." His choices seemed logical, he had brought the other signers. "Wait.. who is she?" For Sarah, this was the first time she saw Demistria without her mask on. "That' s the Infinati signer. You brought her here?" Kein was not at all thrilled with this development. "Neither Urizen nor Macbeth could claim the mark of fire. It is a long story." Demistria said. "Ada, you are a signer too now?" Sarah then turned to the new signer of wind. "So was it not Xavier who guarded the realm of wind, or.." But from the look in her eyes, sarah could learn a lot. "No. He is alive, I am sure of that now. I defeated someone else." Ada however shook it off. "Now you have to do it too, so we can get to Callisto as quickly as possible." She pointed at Hel. "And you wi...dear god what happened to her face?" Her determination was fonly a bit undermined by her enemy's appearance.

"You are all here. That is fine with me, this is how it should be. Now I can tell you all at once, how to win this game.. if you defeat me of course." She giggled and drew a new card. "Game? is that what this is?" Ansoni utterly disliked that implication. "She just wanted you to have some fun, some adeventures to cultivate hope before the big change." She made a fist with her skeletal hand. "You may have noticed that this is Helheim, the realm of the unworthy dead. The lies.. Only those that have died in battle can move on to paradise, to the halls of Valhalla." Ansoni's eyes narrowed. "But why, why do only we get chosen? Why not my father, why not alol those other people walking out there? What makes them unworthy!"

"Oh. Do not tell me you never even figured it out." Hel looked honestly amazed. "Why do the earthbound only possess duelists; did you never ask this question?" She shook her head. "Only those..that died in battle.. can move on.."

(To be Continued in Mark 113: Define Heaven)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain  
><strong>Rai-Rider  
>Wattkiwi<p>

-  
>Wave-Motion Cannon<br>Level Limit Area B

-  
>Raigeki Bottle<p>

**New Cards used by Hel  
><strong>Paladin of the Cursed Dragon  
>Goblin Zombie<br>Plaguespreader Zombie  
>Doom Kaiser Dragon<br>Revived King Hades  
>Zombie Master<br>Bone Crusher

-  
>Overpowering Eye<p>

-  
>Trap of the Imperial Tomb<p> 


	113. 113: Define Heaven

**Mark 113: Define Heaven**

"Are you suggesting that.. only we can survive? That only a duelist is real?" Ansoni thought he understood what Hel was saying, but that did not mean he agreed with it. "Only those with their heart set on battle, truly exist. Those out there are merely shades with no passion or drive, they are empty." The guardian of Helheim said. "Wait, That does not add up! Macbeth told me about his friends, Ranger E was a duelist too and he was taken as well!" Kein protested. "You are looking at it the wrong way, Kein Schiver, it is not 'all duelists are real', it is 'all that is real is a duelist'. Some lies were created by this world to make it an easier place to live in. Your foster father adopted you, because you needed a new parent. Ranger Eric joined the other rangers because the world saw Macbeth wanted to leave the rangers." She pointed her finger bone at the city behind them. "Go ahead, look. You will find the bodies of your friends there. In my realm they are what they always have been.. mirages." Ansoni clenched his hand. "Do not mock their memories.."

Hels LP: 5200 Sarahs LP: 6200

"But I have said enough. The rest is up tothe lady to divulge." Hel activated a spell. "Sarah, I allowed you that last hit because I had to set something up." It was the Book of Life, which revived Zombie Master(1800/0) from her cemetery, while banishing Rai-Rider from Sarahs. "I discard a Beast of the Pharaoh, to revive a Beast of the Pharaoh" A masked oxbeast(400/600) emerged from the sands. "Then I normal summon the Pain Painter." And also an undead painter(400/200) joined her zombie army. "Pain Painter counts as a 'Plaguespreader Zombie' in name, so this tuner can be used to synchro summon my special zombies. And Pain Painter can change the levels of other monsters on the field." The painter drew the number two on the Pharaoh Beast and Zombie Master, tunring them into level 2 monsters. "Synchro summon!." These two along with the level 2 Pain Painter, were sent to the grave to bring a level 6 skull zombie from the extra deck. "Archfiend Zombie Skull!" A zombified summoned skull(2500/1200) arose.

"Now the zombies truly become the undying, Zombie Skull makes them immune to destruction effects." Hel explained. "What? But my trap card.." Now Sarahs Raigeki Bottle could not use its effect against them. "There is more." The ground split open once more, pushing out another coffin. "Beast of the Pharaoh can revive another undead, when it gives its life for a synchro summon." Hel resurrected the Paladin of the Cursed Knight(1900/1200). "Paladin strikes first." The dead dragon rider skewered a zombified Wattsquirrel(700/100) with his lance. "And.." Then Zombie Skull struck directly, hitting Sarah with black lightning. "And the Paladin can take control of any zombie he has killed." Wattsquirrel crawled out of its grave and joined Hels side of the field. "I though the squirrel was a thunder type?" Ada felt like she was missing something. "She has a field spell active, it turns all monsters into zombies. Living or dead." Kein explained. "These skulls and trees are part of it, she played it at the start of the duel."

Sarahs LP: 2500

"Then I just have to get rid of that." Sarah said as she started her turn. "I activate my own field spell: Wattcastle!" The decayed and withering forest of the dead was replaced by a shining beacon of light, an electric castle. "That is one way to get rid of it." Ada smirked. "Wattdragonfly!" And so she summoned the electric dragonfly(900/100). "Zeppo, snap Crackle out of it!" She sent the bug out to destroy the Wattsquirrel the Paladin had stolen from her. "Sorry Crackle." The squirrel died, and she ended her turn. "Ah. This does make things problematic, your castle will weaken my zombies if they slay one of the Watt family line. And your dragonfly can summon another watt spirit upon its own demise. You fought back well.. But not well enough yet." Hel drew a card again, and summoned that card. "Immortal Ruler." A Hades-like zombie demon(1800/200) slipped out of her shadow. "By sacrificing himself, the ruler can unearth a field spell that was taken from me." The zombie crumbled into a pile of bones and dust. "Zombie World?"

And Sarahs castle was quickly forced off the beach, by the second advent of the undead field spell. "No matter how much energy you put into your life, eventually it will all run out. And alll spirits remain.. mortal." Zombie Skull obliterated the thunder insect with a bolt of darkness. "I summon Wattlemur from my deck!" But even a zombified Wattdragonfly still had its effect. "Hmm?" A halfdead Lemur(800/100) came from her deck. "You want to postpone your death?" The Paladin killed the Lemur, and brought it back to his mistress' field. "Now her battle phase is sealed for one turn.." Ansoni knew about the Lemurs effect and realized Sarah was buying herself time. "Your lady is making heaven, isn't she? So death will not be around anymore, ?" Sarah asked as she drew again. "Indeed. You just have to break the shackles you have with the untrue people, and accept this." Hel smiled at her. "I do not feel ready for that yet!"

Sarahs LP: 900

Sarah summoned a Watt Cobra(1000/500). "Go Venomstreak! Attack her directly!" The Cobra could make direct attacks, so it slithered around the zombies and bit Helens leg with its fangs. "You do not have to choose. The choice is already made for you." But Hel again did not feel a thing. "Are you trying to suggest that we are already dead?" Said Demistria suddenly, considering the bleak option as well. "That would make no sense." Ada complained. "In a way, that is the truth." Yet Hel did not deny that theory. "The lady has seen gods world, there is nothing but death there. Mortals left that world to come to this realm and live as immortals, that would be the same as you dying and passing on to the eternal afterlife. They turned this world into their valhalla, now she will turn it into ours." Sarah shuddered. "Why can't I like that idea." She ended her turn after using the Cobra's second effect. Because it inflicted direct damage, she could add a Watt monster from her deck to her hand. "But then, what about you, Hel?" Thursday spoke up

Hels LP: 4200

"I saw what happened to others like us, Ymir, Nidhoggr, Surtr, they all vanished. How could that happen in a world with no death?" He did not know what fate awaited him or her, not anymore. "Are you affraid? You know your true self, your true home. If we guardians lose here, then we were not worthy either. And we will return to the way we were before Callisto gave us purpose." Sarah flinched. "Wait, a second. That is terrible. And you.." As she knew what Hel used to be, before Callisto gave her life. "You must understand, wer are different from you. We were not alive to begin with. Alphonse, Xavier, Geoffrey, their souls were all consumed by the lying god so they could create that gateway. This world considers them as lost." Ansoni's eyes widened. "Wait, you are.."He remembered now, the story Jason told them about the doll Helen. "Now I understand, you were never different from the others." Everyone else looked at the signer, waiting for the story to be shared with the rest. "It's you, you're the woman that gave her that doll. Or what is left of you.."

"After our first duel I had our people run a background check in psychiatric areas, as we could use all the information we could find. They had a file on her, a mrs. Sing. She had been in a coma for the last seven years. At the time I gave up on the subject, considering it a dead end. But now you are here.." Hel just stared. "No.. That.. was the lie." Her one eye twitched. "I was her first, the first she wanted to turn into a friend." She sounded upset. "So she took your soul and kept it inside a card. That cards soul was also consumed by the ritual of her father Malcean." Ansoni figured out how it all went down. "No.. I am Helen. I am Hel." The woman insisted. "She returned you to life, called you Helen, probably saw you and the doll you gave her as one and the same." "NO!" The woman snapped, she was seething. "I was her first, her first new life! She made me, there is nothing before that!" Thursday winced, she said the same words he used to believe in. "I am not a hiccup like the others!" Hel placed a trap card and ended her turn. Because Wattlemur forced her to skip her next battle phase, Hel could do do nothing else this round. "Lie all you want, that changes nothing, either past was but a dream. The lady can give life to as many as she pleases,

"This ends in only one of two ways." She pointed at Sarah. "I must guard this mark of darkness and this realm, until I am vanquished. So vanquish me!" She replied. "I wish there was another way, but there does not seem to be any.." She summoned the Wattberyx(300/0) she had added to her hand last turn. "..I am sorry." Sarah sighed and performed a synchro summon, she combined the level 4 Cobra with the level 3 fish tuner. "Watthydra!" The sevenheaded thunder crococile(1500/1500). "Judgment of Thunder!" And then she played her trap. "When a thunder monster is summoned, one card you control can be destroyed!" Thunder came down from the black clouds. "I know Zombie Skull protects your monsters, but not your spells!" The thunder destroyed the Zombie World spell card. "No." Hel cried out, as Wtthydra was de-zombified. "Excellent, now that no monsters of mine are corpses anymore, I can use this spell too." She activated Wattcube, a square box of electricity surrounded her synchro. "I can send this card, equipped to Watthydra, to the grave to have it gain 1000 attackpoints." Hydra powered up. "Crocoshock, direct attack!" And it converted itself into electric energy, shocking Hel. "One more direct attack to go." She placed a trap and ended her turn.

Hels LP: 1700

"You will not get that far. You have angered me, so I shall end this now." She entered her battle phase. "Even if I have to sacrifice one zombie to measure up to your synchro monster, I shall make you taste death." Zombie Skull charged its lightning, "Its a suicidal charge, Crocoshock! Endure it!" The Hydra's heads bit into the rotting flesh of the Archfiend, black and yellow thunder clashed. "Paladin!" The two perished, leaving Sarah wide open. "Gravity Bind!" Sarahs continuous trap forced the level 4 Paladin to halt its attack. "You could have used that earlier. You let me kill the Zombie Skull, just so you could use your Raigeki Bottle against me?" The low level Wattlemur attacked Sarah directly. "Your hope is misplaced." Hel then summoned another Pain Painter(400/200) from her hand. "What, you drew that card just now? Is your signer power to draw a zombie whenever you need one, or what?" Kein started to question her luck with her deck. "Something like that." Pain Painter turned Wattlemur and the Paladin into level 2 monsters, so that it could combine with them and form the Doomkaiser Dragon(2400/1500).

Sarahs LP: 100

"I will show you my full power." She also activated a trap card. "Assault Mode Activate!" A trap that gave Doomkaiser new armor and a stronger body. "Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode. When summoned, the field will be filled with the undead." She couuld revive as many zombie monsters as she wished, and she selected to bring back Revived King Ha Des(2450/0), the first Doomkaiser Dragon(2400/1500), the Skull Zombie(2500/1200) and a Bone Crusher(1600/200). The latter used its effect to destroy Gravity Bind. "This should be easy for you, you do not want to take my life, so just surrender. And accept the life my lady gives you." She ended her turn. "Hel..en." Sarah did not know what to do now, Raigeki Bottle was still useless and she had no other cards. "I.. draw." But there was one spell in her deck that could get her out of this, and she found it. "Thunder.. Short?" It was a spell card, one that inflicted 400 damage to the opponent for each monster they controlled. Hel controlled five so she would take 2000 damage. "Hel, I think I have won." And she showed the spell to her opponent. "How.. how did she get that?" The others were stunned.

And seeing that, was enough to calm Hel down. "So fate decided it was my turn to go after all." She closed her eyes. "Use it. I shall not fight it anymore." Sarah hesitated, even now. "Helen. This is not the end." Ada said all of the sudden. "Xavier, her Xavier, told us that our Xavier was still out there. There are things even Callisto can not see, this may not be the end for you." Even if Hel could not accept her past, she would still live on through it. "I do not know if that helps me." She looked at Thursday. "But I do know, now, that you are different. You are only dead on the physical level, your essence is elsewhere. That is why, you could go against her." Thursday said nothing. "You already know how to meet her, the power is now yours." Her mark of darkness skipped over to Sarahs wrist. "So do it. Give me the last death of this world." Sarah took a deep breath. "Okay..." Sarah activated Thunder Short, and Hels lifepoints were shocked to zero. "Oh.. now I understand." Was all Hel said, as her body melted into the ground..

Hels LP: 0

"Callisto can not.. find them." Said the new creator of the world. "Can you see, brother?" Her tone was desperate enough to even catch Jasons attention. "Where.. are you looking?" He saw her gaze into an open window, but there was nothing but blackness behind the glass. "I see.. nothing." He did not know eher to begin looking, or what she was seeing in it. "Callisto should have.. guessed brother wouldn't." She reached for her head. "Callisto is losing her friends, something does not feel the same." Jason saw it too now, he witnessed the end of Sarahs duel. "Helen as well? So all your signers are dead now huh?" But upon saying that, his sister flinched into an upright position. "Dead? No.. nobody dies here.. Not if they are real." She got out of her bed. "Not if they are real! And Callisto's family is real, her friends are real!" She snapped her fingers and suddenly her room was filled with dozens and dozens of servants; maids and soldiers. "What?" Eve the five signers were all back, returned to their regular human forms. "Nobody dies. Death is a lie, death is a lie.." And she snapper her fingers once again. "Brother was right, father should be alive. Father will show them, father will.." Another figure entered the room. "Fa..ther?" Jason looked behind him..

(To be Continued in Mark 114: Wednesday)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Wattcobra<p>

-  
>Wattcube<br>Thunder Short

**New Cards used by Hel**  
>Beast of the Pharaoh<br>Pain Painter  
>Archfiend Zombie Skull<br>Immortal Ruler  
>DoomKaiser DragonAssault Mode

-  
>Book of Life<p>

-  
>Assault Mode Activate<p> 


	114. 114: Wednesday

**Mark 114: Wednesday**

"I did not think her words had merit, but it seems to hold true." Everyone had heard Hel say that only duelists survived the darkness, so as soon as they returned to the tower they asked around if the other survivors of capitol city had dueled in the past. "Each of them, even you, has dueled." Ansoni said to the last remaining scientist. "Only once or twice during college." He responded sheepishly, as he had never mentioned this when it became clear that the gods could possess duelists. "It was inevitable that some with 'the duel' in their heart would come to work here. Your emotions must not have been enough for them to take over." That was his theory. "Still, there has to be someone who hasn't dueled." Ansoni found the notion hard to swallow. "Maybe, but we do not have the time to test that. We are going to settle the crisis now." In the mean time Gaunt had gathered everyone that was willing to go to Callisto's location. "This time I can not even deny them." Kein was worried about Ada and Sarah who had to come along as they had their marks too now. "And I am keeping an eye on you.' He said to Demistria. "This is not fair at all." Dean meanwhile sat in the corner, guarded and fuming. "She gets her second chance, yet I do not." Demistria ignored him, but Ada did not. "For what its worth, Dean, you are acting more like the little brat I know you for." She could almost feel sorry for him. "And for what my word is worth, I hope you come out of this okay." The ex-reaper said back. "..Thanks." Though his words still made Ada a bit uncomfortable, given his past.

"Now then, it is decided who goes and stays." Thursday adressed the new signers, along with Urizen, Macbeth and Nathan. "I can not take you to Yggdrasil, but I shall try to tell you how. It is best for the first time, to close your eyes." Ada, Ansoni, Demistria, Kein and Sarah did so. "Focus on the destination, keep the image of the great tree in your mind. Put all else aside, forget the distances you normally would have to cross, pretend like it just one step away." They all pictured it the way he said to. "Hey." And their marks started to glow. "Good. It is responding. Now the rest must make contact with them." Urizen, Nathan, Macbeth and each placed their hands on one of the signers shoulders. "We are ready." Thursday did the same. "Then I wish you all the fortune in the world." Gaunt and the others all took a step back. "Yeah, with whatever you're doing.." Ian had no idea what he was about to see. "So when do we.." Sarah started a sentence, but disappeared in the middle of it. "!" A flash filled the room, and took nine people away.

"Move?" Sarah opened her eyes again. "Oh." Wherever they were, this was not the tower anymore. "It worked. We have arrived." Ansoni looked behind him and saw the tree in all its glory. "The world tree, here is where its roots and branches originate." They stood on one of its many branches, each was as wide as a house and as long as a skyscraper. "What a drop." Nathan crouched to look down and saw that they were quite far up as well. "I know we can survive such a fall now, but I'd hate to have to climb back up here." He shivered. "If you fall, I am not picking you back up." Kein smirked. "Harsh." Nathan got back up. "So where is she supposed to be? Did the tree envelop the castle, or did the castle get lifted up by it?" Urizen hoped that they did not have to explore the whole tree to find Callisto. "Maybe we can use the scanners." Macbeth took out the foreign energy detector. "Gah!" But it went berserk, giving off readings that it could not handle. "Off the charts. The energy is at its highest here." So that device was of no use to them either.

"Before you gain an audience with the lady, you must face one more challenge." A loud voice echoed across the tree branches. "What now?" Urizen cursed. They did not see who was talking yet. "Who now, is the correct question." But the mystery man did not take too much time in the shadows. He emerged from the bark, shocking everyone. "It can't be!" Because the face this man wore, was the face of Malcean himself. "Her father? But she said he was dead!" Sarah flinched. "So.. she did the same thing to him, as she did to the others?" This Malcean wore a new outfit too, a coat like Thursday which was golden brown in color. "His eye." And over one eye he wore a patch. "The lady created me, to serve as her custodian. Malcean was the previous name I held, now you may call me Wednesday." He smiled at Thursday. "So.. you are my immediate replacement." Thursday did not know if he liked this or not. "But you are not the real.. you are not her real father." Ada did not consider him to be the same as the actual Malcean. "'I do whatever my lady wishes, if she wants me as her father, I shall enact that role. But for now.." She revealed a mark on his arm. "! The mark of light!" They now realized who had become the last of the six signers. "For now, I am the master of Asgard.."

"Above this horizon, lies the realm of gods, the home of my creator. You can not warp there until you have obtained my mark. But since you came this far, I will allow you to choose. You decide which one will fight me for my mark." Right now they only had four choices. "Then this is, my responsibility." Thursday stepped up. "I pushed back her blessing, and now it is yours. I should be the one to risk his life for it." He stroked his arm. "And I still have, part of her original scar." He knew what to bargain against Wednesday. "Are you sure? We do not know what will happen to you if you lose. I could.." Macbeth was about to offer himself. "No. It will be fine." Thursday rejected the offer. "You are eager to throw your life away it seems. Is it because you think you have nothing to live for?" Wednesday created his deck, from thin air as usual. "I have my past memories to live for. Richard.." Thursday followed his example. "Then, today you will stop being Thursday, or stop being Richard. Either way, one shall suffer." They drew their cards.

Meanwhile up above, Jason and Callisto were observing this duel as well. _"I can not believe she thinks that's our father."_ He thought to himself, Wednesday only looked like Malcean but acted nothing like him. "Tch. Your first servant against another one of your servants. I have seen this already." But he did not want to share his thoughts with his sister, as there was no telling what she would do. "Brother has a point." So he tried to change the subject. "Huh?" And it worked too, to his surprise. "Their spirit can not be tested with the exact same challenge again. Brother has been so helpful andgood lately.." She looked at him with big eyes. "Callisto thinks.. brother deserves a treat!" She clapped her hands. "What are you.." And before he knew it, a deck appeared in his hands. "..doing?" He searched through the cards, and saw quite some surprises. "It would not be fair if brother did not get a chance to have one mark at least, brother is family. And this can make it more interesting for them too." Jason just started grinning. "Well. If you insist, dear sister."

..

"Gah!" And a second later, he stood on the same tree branch as the others. "She could at least give me a warning, when she does that." He counted his blessings that she did not just teleport him on the edge. "Jason?" Everyone else was naturally quite amazed to see him after such a long time. "How did you.." Urizen did not feel good about this for even a second. "Well, what do you think? You want to take out my sister, so I am here to defend her." He showed off his deck. "She gave me new powers, so how could I refuse." He chuckled. "Ugh. I knew it." Urizen could have counted on this guy to disgust him. "But if you will help Wednesday, then we should.." Macbeth was again primed to jump in and assist Thursday. "I would not dream of it, Macbeth. I am not here to assist this 'father' of mine." Jason took one look at Wednesday and shuddered. "I am here for my own sake, to show my sister that the best 'friend' she has, is her actual brother." He shuffled his cards. "Not some fake, or some 'hiccup'. This is not two against one. This is one for all."

Jasons LP: 8000 Thursday's LP: 8000 Wednesday's LP: 8000

"So be it." Wednesday did not seem to mind. "..." Thursday did not vocalize any objections either. "I will begin." but he did make sure to get the first turn. "I summon the Fabled Dyf and place one trap down." A sage-like fiend(1400/1700) appeared in front of the duelist. "Oh yes, a fabled deck. How fitting for a creation of my sister. She only ever liked decks that had the light attribute." Jason took his turn and summoned a Mystic Tomato(1400/1100). "I have outgrown that phase now." He placed two trap cards down and ended his turn. "Darkness?" Demistria knew that Jasons normal decks relied on light monsters, so it would be hard to predict what deck he used now. "And now for my turn." Wednesday placed one monster down and one trap card. "Now the battle can truly begin, Jason and Thursday." He ended his turn too.

"Yes. Let us begin." Thursday started off his turn with a spell. "Photon Veil. I send three cards in my hand, back to my deck. And I take out three Light-monsters of the same name." He sent back two spell cards and a monster and took out three Fabled Grimros. "Because I control a Fabled monster, I can send Fabled Grimro to my grave and add a new Fabled monster to my hand." He discarded all three Grimro cards, and selected three different Fableds from his deck. "Fabled Soulkius, Fabled Krus and Fabled Cerburrel." And then he discarded two of them. "By sending two Fableds in my hand to the grave, Soulkius can be special summoned." A half dragon demon(2200/2100) showed up after Krus and Cerburrel were sent away. "This of course triggers their effects." The Cerburrel tuner(1000/1400) summoned himself when discarded. Krus revived a level 4 Fabled when discarded, one of the three Grimro's(1700/1000). "Synchro summon." And then the level 2 cerberus and the level 6 Soulkius became the fallen angel Fabled Valkyrus(2900/1700).

"Now, Valkyrus can discard one Fabled monster from my hand, making room for a new card." He drew and discarded a Fabled Catsith. "Fabled Catsith's effect activates!" The cat tried clawed out Mystic Tomato. "Nice try." But Jason flipped one of his trap cards. "Soul Rope! I special summon another Mystic Tomato from my deck!" He gave up 1000 lifepoints just to bring out a second Tomato(1400/1100). "..Then I shall use the effect of Fabled Dyf." The sage selfcombusted. "Dyf can tribute his own life, to resurrect one of the discarded Fableds." Catsith had just been thrown away, so it(800/600) showed up in place of Dyf. "I set a spell down and then I shall Synchro summon." The level 1 cat and the level 4 Grimro turned into synchro materials. "Again?" Jason cried out as he saw Thursday summon a Fabled Ragin(2300/1800). "Because I have no cards in my hand, I can draw twice." Thursday did so. "And now, I shall special summon The Fabled Chawa, by discarding a Fabled Ganashia from my hand." A demon riding a chihuahua(200/100) could summon itself, by discarding an elephant who could also summon itself(1600/200) because it had been discarded. "Synchro summon." Chawa was a level 1 tuner, so it and the level 3 Ganashia could be used for a third synchro summon.

Jasons LP: 7000

"Fabled Kudababi." Now a demon appeared riding a veiled horse(2200/1200). "We attack." Kudababi moved towards the Mystic Tomato. "I thought you would never come." Jason though had a second trap ready. "Nordic Relic, Brisingamen!" His trap card equipped the Tomato with a necklace. "Your monsters attackpoints become my monsters attackpoints!" The necklace empowered the dark fruit(2200/1100). "But when no cards are in my hand, Kudababi can not be slain." Thursday retorted, as the two monsters clashed with each other. "He can't? " This surprised Jason, only his monster died in the struggle. "And I have not forgotten about you!"

Fabled Valkyrus and Ragin charged the side of Wednesday. One took down his set monster, a Mimir of the Nordic Ascendant(600/0). The strongest of the two struck Wednesday directly. "Nordic Ascendant?" But afterwards he looked at the card had had destroyed, he did not recognize it. "Over here." Jason pointed out his monster which Mystic Tomato had summoned from his deck, a Nordic Alfar called Svartalfar(1400/1600). "They are Nordic monsters, like Thursday's!" Nathan gasped. "But if his Nordic Beasts are monsters to summon Thor, then.." This pretty much announced the fact that Jason and Wednesday had god synchro cards.

Wednesday's LP: 5200

"I'd say you have had more than enough fun, Thursday." Jason could start his turn now. "You synchro summoned three times, but you did not use god. So I suppose I have to set the standard." He summoned a second Nordic Alfar, an old dwarf spirit called Dvegr(100/1000). "During a turn Dvegr is summoned, another Alfar can be summoned." Jason explained before putting a third Nordic spirit on the field, Ljosalfar the light elf spirit(1400/1200). "A gods summon requires three materials, you know this." He combined the level 1 dwarf with the level 4 light elf and level 5 dark elf tuner. "Ten levels for a ten star god!" From his extra deck came the card his sister gave him just fifteen minutes ago. "Lord of the Aesir, Loki!" The prankster god of Asgard, Loki(3300/3000), showed his face on the field. "How appropriate." Ada thought that god suited the two-faced Jason quite well. "What power! This is magnificent! When Loki attacks, he can negate traps!" An estatic Jason entered the battle phase. "No!" And Thursday's cards were unable to stop the attack, a black hole that devoured the Fabled Valkyrus. "This is incredible, Callisto. With this I can not lose!" He coughed and settled down a bit. "Anyway, I can use Dvegr's effect now. I sent it to the grave, so I can take back a Nordic relic." Jason reclaimed Brisingamen from his cemetery. "I place another two traps down and end my turn."

Thursday's LP: 7500

"...You have doen well Jason, mastering god this quickly." Wednesday drew a card. "Quiet. i do not need compliments from you." Jason rasped. "Now now. Respect your elders. Even gods wielder has its ancestor." Wednesday flipped his trap card. "Gleipnir, Fetters of Fenrir. Take one Nordic monster from my deck and lend it to me!" Golden chains were summoned and they dug into the light signers deck. "It takes Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant. And I shall summon her." A sword wielding angel(400/800) was who the Gleipnir trap card dragged out. "When no other cards exist on my field, she can banish two cards in my hand." He removed two Nordic monsters from his hand. "To create two Einherjar statues." Two level 4 tokens(1000/1000) were created by the Valkyrie. "And she is a level 2 tuner monster." Jason was aware of what was going on here. "He is.." The Valkyrie and the Einherjar warriors flew into the air. "Going to summon his god!" Sarah and the others looked up.

"Come forth, Odin, Father of the Aesir!"

(To be Continued in Mark 115: When in Asgard)

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Fabled Dyf<br>Fabled Soulkius  
>Fabled Kudababi<p>

-  
>Photon Veil<p>

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Mystic Tomato<br>Svartalfar of the Nordic Ascendant  
>Dvegr of the Nordic Ascendant<br>Ljosalfar of the Nordic Ascendant  
>Loki, Lord of the Aesir<p>

-  
>Soul Rope<br>Nordic Relic Brisingamen

**Cards used by Wednesday**  
>Mimir of the Nordic Ascendant<br>Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant

-  
>Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir<p> 


	115. 115: All Ways lead to Ragnarok

**Mark 115: ****All Ways lead to Ragnarok **

Jasons LP: 7000 Thursday's LP: 7500 Wednesday's LP: 5200

"Odin, come forth!" Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendants, along with her two Einherjar tokens, joined together to form a level ten god synchro monster. "Father of the Aesir!" Wednesday summoned Odin(4000/3500) to his field, or rather to the field as a whole as the god was too large to even stand on the tree's branches. "Wow." He hovered behind the new Malcean, and raised his staff. "Once, Odin can make all Aesir immune to spells and traps." A golden aura covered the norse god. "Tch." Thursday's traps were now useless against this god too. "Strike down Ragin." And Odin summoned runic symbols underneath the Fabled Knight(2300/1800), creating a field of pure energy that atomized Thursday's synchro monster. "Hey, you are picking on him!" Sarah complained. "I thought this was a battle royal." Up until now Jason and Wednesday had been teaming up on Thursday. "I did not ask for his help." Jason countered. "But as your father, I can not strike against you at random. Jason." Wednesday placed two traps down and ended his turn.f

Thursday's LP: 5800

"Do not call me that." Jason muttered. Meanwhile Thursday placed a card down on the field and switched Fabled Kudababi(2200/1100) to defense mode. "Hmph. As long as its master has no cards in his hand. It can not be destroyed." Jason did not forget about the effect of Kudababi, so he knew who to target this turn. "Brinsingamen!" He flipped his Nordic Relic trap, which boosted the attack of his god card: Loki(4000/3000), until he became Odins equal. "If you will not attack me, I will attack you!" The trickster god attacked the father god. Jason understood very well the analogue he was drawing here, Odin was not Loki's true father either. "..." Loki and Odin slew each other, leaving both their summoners fields bare. "I set a trap down and end my turn." But during the endphase, the gods of course could activate their revival abilities. "I banish Svartalfar." Jason removed his tuner for Loki. "Valkyrie." Wednesday did the same. "When Loki returns, I can get a trap back from my grave." Jason explained as he took back the Relic Brisingamen. "And when Odin returns, a card can be drawn." Wednesday now had three cards in his hand. _"But they can need to banish Nordic tuners.." _Demistria saw that they had no dead tuners left, so would this be the end of the gods immortality?

"Odins Eye." As soon as Wednesday's turn came up again, he flipped his trap. "An Aesir can cancel out his own powers, to divine the future." A new eye was implanted behind Odins eyepatch, and his renewed gaze scanned the field. "All your set cards are revealed to me." He saw the cards Jason and Thursday had set on their fields, but they could not see each others cards. "So this is how it is laid out." Thursday's cards could destroy Odin if he attacked, as could Jasons. "Burial from a different dimension." So he took measures to get around Odins demise. "I shall free three of my monsters from the other dimension." He returned Valkyrie, and two more Nordic Ascendant tuners. "Damn, he must have banished to make those Einherjar tokens." Kein realized Wednesday would get to revive Odin three more times this way. "And then Heavens Lost Property." The dueldisk started to light up. "All players may draw thrice, but have to discard twice." Three cards came from Thursday's dueldisk and Jason took out three cards as well. "What is up with Malceans and broken drawing spells?" Urizen had already seen Malcean use Spellbooks from Inside the Pot, and now this as well. "And that means.." Thursday had one card in his hand now. "Odin.."

Wednesday's LP: 4200

_Heavens Lost Property, Normal Spell  
><em>_Both players draw 3 cards and then discard 2 cards._

Odin casted another rune down on the field, which destroyed the last of Thursday's synchro monsters, Kudababi. "But now I can summon a monster!" Thursday said as he put the card he kept on the field. "Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts, he can be called upon when a monster of mine is killed." A level 3 goat(800/1100) appeared on his field. "My turn!" He drew and gained another Nordic Beast. "Tanngrisnir!" The black goat was joined by the white goat(1200/800) of the same level. "Then by switching the position of Tanngnjostr, he can bring out a third Nordic Beast from my deck." Tanngnjostr switched to attack position and his effect was used to special summon Guldfaxe(1600/1000), the level 4 tuner. "Synchro summon!" And at last he too managed to summon his god card. "Lord of Aesir - Thor!" The thunder god(3500/2800) now too took part in this war of deities. "He declares an attack against his brother, Loki!" Thor drew in lightning from the heavens.

"As if I'd let a corpse call me his equal, let alone superior!" But as the thunder was unleashed, Jason revealed the trap that Odins Eye had warned Wednesday about. "Nordic Relic, Megingjord?" A belt, which belonged to Thor according to the norse storybooks, was attached to Loki. And the tricksters(6000/3000) power doubled instantly. "Gah." The lightning bolt was sucked up by a black hole, which Loki created then sent his 'brothers' way. "It looks like Callisto invented even more cards to fit your deck, but since you left she gave them to me instead." Jason smirked. "That may be, but I have relics of my own still." Thursday revealed Nordic Relic Laevateinn. "The sword trap?" Because Loki had battled this turn, the blade Laevateinn could counterattack and slashed the god in half. "Yes. He is out of tuners!" Macbeth cheered him on, as he believed Loki would stay dead this time. "Poor fool. You did not use this trap against Odin last turn, because he would just revive himself, right?" Yet Jason activated another trap. "But, so do I, now. I activate Doomsday Key!"

Thursday's LP: 2700 Jasons LP: 6200

_Doomsday Key, Normal Trap  
><em>_Return all banished dark monsters to their owners' graveyards._

"All dark monsters?" A key appeared which unlocked a door to another dimension, from that dimension came the banished Nordic Alfar tuner, Svartalfar. "So he can keep this up forever." Ada knew that Loki recycled trap cards, and this trap could could recycle Loki's ability to do that. "I wager Callisto did not realize the weakness in the aesirs design, when she gave you your cards Your deck is still flawed." During the endphase both gods returned, Loki's revival effect allowed Jason to reclaim Doomsday Key, while Thor inflicted 800 damage to Jason. But Jason did not even feel bothered by the hit. "Now your god is out of tuners to banish, while Wednesday has a limited number. And I..have infinite." He laughed to himself, until he saw Thursday activate a spell card from his field. "Light of Redemption, I pay 800 lifepoints to retake a light-type monster I banished." The light freed Guldfaxe from the grave. "What is your plan here?" His turn ended with that move. "Attack me, and see." Thursday goaded him. "Well father, I guess I shall oblige!"

Thursday's LP: 1900

He first placed the two trap cards Loki reclaimed for him down, along with a third. "Draupnir!" Jason equipped his monster with yet another Nordic Relic, the gauntlet Draupnir was fastened to Loki's arm and boosted his powers once more. "I see now, my god is the weakest of the three, so he takes all the relics to strengthen himself." He entered his battle phase. "Raigeki Break." But before he could declare an attack, Thursday flipped his trap. "What?" He discarded Guldfaxe again, and unleashed destructive lightning upon Loki. "Ugh. You had two destruction traps all along?" Loki was blown to pieces by the thunder_. "Ha. Now he can not revive Loki. He can not use the Doomsday Key this turn."_ Ada mentally congratulated Thursday for this clever ploy. "Nice try." But Jason activated Monster Reborn. "I wanted to save this for when I killed your god, but now I have to use it on mine." Loki was raised back to life, only without Draupnir it could not match Thor in a fight. But he did not need to banish an Alfar tuner for this revival. "I shall end my turn."

"You tried, son. You tried." Wednesday took his turn and did not hesitate to strike down Thor with Odin. "I softened him up, is what you mean." Jason grumbled. But then his 'father' made a move Jason did not expect. "Then prove to me you can use this monster as well." He activated a spell called Gotterdammerung. "I damn my own god, to allow you the chance to finish our mutual enemy off." The spell gave Jason control of Odin. "What, why would he do that?" Macbeth gasped, this was not good for anyone but Jason. "..." After that the field spell, The Nordic Lights, was placed on the field. And a monster and trap were set facedown. "What is your angle.. father." Jason did not like this either, but Thursday felt worse. "I revive Thor." He could bring back his god and use it to damage Wednesday by 800 points, but when his turn started he had nothing left to play. "I switch him to defense mode." Attacking either Loki or Wednesday's set monster would be pointless, as he knew Wednesday's field spell protected Nordic monsters from destruction. And Wednesday most likely had a Nordic monster set.

Thurday's LP: 1400 Wednesday's LP: 4400

But Thursday also placed a monster down before he ended his turn.. "Feh. So That is it, hide behind a wall of light, make me unable to destroy your monsters." If Thursday had set a Nordic monster too, the field spell would aid him as well. "I can see right through you both. Especially you father; I know the negative side effect of your spell." He was talking about Gotterdammerung. "It will destroy Odin during my endphase, and remove all other cards I control. This way Loki will be sealed beyond death, permanently." He had to hand it to this old man, he almost measured up to Malceans craftyness. "Unfortunately. I will not be held back by that, father." He summoned a D.D. Warrior Lady(1500/1600). "I did not only take her monsters when I built this deck." He smiled as he let Odin use his effect to shield himself from trap and spell effects. "Battle. " Next he sent the lady to attack Malceans facedown. "You would strike down your own father?" Wednesday shouted as the facedown Mimir(600/0) was removed from play along with the lady. "No. So it is a good thing you are not my father! Direct attack!" Odin raised his scepter. "Dromi the Shackles of Fenrir." Yet before he could do so, golden chains showed up to bind all three gods. "What? You waited for me to destroy your monster?"

_Dromi the Shackles of Fenrir, Normal Trap  
>Activate when a "Nordic" or "Aesir" monster would be removed from the field by an attack or card effect. Banish that monster then inflict damage to both players equal to the total ATK of all "Nordic" and "Aesir" monsters they control<em>

"No way. Impossible!" The trap could not be stopped. "You wanted me to get these monsters, damn you!" He would take 7300 damage and Thursday would take 3500. "Leyding!" But Thursday had a trap as well. "Huh?" Another set of shackles showed up, also attached to Loki, weakening him(1300/3000). "You?" Thursday then took the full brunt of the damage sent his way. "Richard!" Macbeth and Kein yelled, as they saw the former ace fall to the ground. "Why.." A stunned Jason only took 5300 damage. "Amazing. He knows he could not win, so he lets you take the victory." Even when weakened, Loki and Odin were more than strong enough to finish the job. "I have had enough of you, father." He sent Odin in first, who created a rune to blast Wednesday with. "And I have also had enough of your games, sister. If you are watching this. Listen.." Loki summoned a black hole. "I was never going to play along with whatever world you want to make!" And the dark god used it on Wednesday, draining away his last few lifepoints.

Thursday's LP: 0 Wednesday's LP: 0

_Leyding, the Curse of Fenrir, Normal Trap  
>If you control a face-up "Aesir" or "Nordic" monster you can select 1 monster. That monster loses 2000 ATK and DEF and is unaffected by the effects of your opponent's spell and trap cards, until the end phase.<em>

"Richard!" The others rushed to Thursday's side, while Jason kept his eyes on his dying 'father'. "Why did you, why didn't you.." Macbeth did not know why he helped Jason in the end. "Even if I wanted to, I could not." But the Ace of Diamonds did not realize the curse of Leyding would not have saved Thursday at all, his lifepoints were already too low. "Where, will you go now?" Ansoni asked him. "I do not know. I believe I would return to my original world, but.." Thursday thought back to the encounters with Helen and also Xavier. "I may not even be the real Richard. I do not believe the lady realizes..that she still can not create true life." He looked at Ada. "If you are sure that the real Ali is still out there, then the real Richard is still out there as well. But, the memories I have of him, were never with Callisto." At that point his body began to disappear, just like with the others. "The Infinati, have his life." His hand reached for Demistria. "You, must help them find it." She just nodded silently. "Okay. Knowing this, I can.. leave."

And then, he was gone.. his body turned to shimmering sand. "Thursday.."

"And he never even gave his real name." Jason said from the sidelines. "Like that matters!" Macbeth snapped at him. "Whatever name he has, how little of Richard he remembered, he still helped us. He was more of a friend than." The ace shouted. "Settle down, Macbeth. I was not the one to kill him." Jason cut him off and put his deck in his coat. "You were going to, you wanted to be one to win." Urizen pointed at the mark on his wrist, he was the new signer of light now. "And? Both Richard and my father were dead already. Don't I deserve it more?" He smirked and turned away. "Besides, with how messed up she has gotten, I doubt this is the end for your friend or my 'father'." He looked down on Wednesday, who turned to dust without even saying a word. "They are just imitations of the flesh, these two at least. The easiest to recreate." He walked over to the man. "But their soul has been stripped away, they are as fake as those sleeper personalities she made." He kicked the man, and reduced the rest of his body into sand.

"...Whatever you want to say to her, I will not stop you. But, I want to have a try at her first. After all." He snapped his fingers. "I am her last true relative." That sound was followed by a burst of light, and the sight of a new location. "Where?" They were higher up in the tree now, above the canopy of the clouds. "This is Asgard?" In front of them lied a white and golden city, as majestic as it was flawless. And centered in between all streets and houses was a large pristine castle, which was vaguely reminiscent of the Castillo stately home. "We must have breached the final barrier, Jason brought us to the realm of the new god." Ansoni said. "But where has he gone off too?" Neither Urizen nor anyone else saw Jason anymore. "Has he e gone head to challenge Callisto?" Nathan thought he would need a lot of luck with that.

...

"I am back, sister." Jason had teleported to her bedroom, and Callisto was still where he last saw her. "And now that I have earned part of your power, I think I need to make something quite clear.."

(To be Continued in Mark 116: The Alpha and Omega)

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Tanngjostr of the Nordic Beasts<p>

-  
>Light of Redemption<p>

_-  
>Leyding, the Curse of Fenrir (+)<em>

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Nordic Relic Draupnir<br>Monster Reborn

-  
>Nordic Relic Megingjord<em><br>Doomsday Key_

**Cards used by Wednesday**  
>Odin, Father of the Aesir<p>

-  
>Burial from the Different Dimension<em><br>Heavens Lost Property(++)_  
>Gotterdammerung<br>The Nordic Lights

-  
>Odins Eye<em><br>Dromi, the Shackles of Fenrir (+)_

_(+) Based on the traps used by Team Ragnarok in YGO 5Ds, albeit modified  
>(++) Based on the spell used by Reggie Mackenzie in the YGO GX Manga<em>


	116. 116: The Alpha and Omega

**Mark 116: The Alpha and Omega **

"So tell me." Jason stared right into the eyes of his sister, behind those golden pools of innocense he could see the vision of a maniac. "Did you honestly believe that I had accepted what you were doing? You predicted my every move before this, and now you want me to believe that you did not_ know_ I would use this marks power against you." The many servants behind her advanced. "Tch." But by displaying his mark bearing hand, he made them back off. "I was right, wasn't I? One who has your mark, can not be controlled by you anymore. Your signers can come and go to this world of gods as they please, so they can ignore your barriers and your other manipulations of this world and create their own." He clenched his fist and a random window on the wall shattered. "So answer me, Callisto. Why did you give me this freedom?" He had power again, and yet he could not trust any of it. "Callisto did not.. want to trick you. She wanted to test you. Callisto wanted to be friends with her brother again, since he helped her so much already."

Jasons left eye twitched. "I helped you? You used me!" He directed his hand towards her, and blasted a hole in the wall right next to her head. "You never did understand did you, what friendship really means! That therapist, our governess, all those teachers and students at the dresden academy, you just took their minds and put them into cards or twisted them into something that would like you!" She kept looking at him, not even moving a finger. "Isn't that what father and brother did too?" Jason flinched, he did not expect that sentence. "Father bought friends with money, brother made friends by pretending to be someone else. That is how you came to be loved." She looked behind her. "Callisto's love for father, and fathers love for Callisto, that is the truest bond, the unconditional love. Everything else is based on conditions, every other bond is a lie. If Callisto tells the whole world to love her, they will." Jason began to shiver. "So is that why you are remaking the world? To get everyone to love you for it? Do you know how insane you sound?"

"I guess not, I will have to save you from yourself. What you are doing is wrong, what you are making is not reality. You are just adding more to the lies." Saying those words got a different reaction from Callisto. "No!" She got up from her bed. "Callisto has gotten rid of all the lies, all the dreams and nightmares! There is no tomorrow that is today, there is no yesterday that is today. Callisto has the codes, Callisto knows the true names, they are real. They are all real." She shouted. "Milady." And the rest of her entourage flocked to her. "Is he upsetting you, do you want us to take back his mark?" Said the new copy of Saturday. "Feh, throw as many underlings at me as you want Callisto. They are meaningless. I will continue to come at you until you listen to reason." He took out his deck of cards. "Or you can just cut straight to the heart of the situation and take me head on. I never did defeat you in a duel, so why be affraid of me now?" He discarded his cards and made a new deck. "I will even use my old deck, the Vylon deck. Just so it can be like the good old days. Isn't that what you want?" He asked as he held back a nervous sweat, in truth he did not like his chances with all of these 'friends of hers', so he hoped she would take his bluff.

"But.. brother will lose." Said Callisto with a calmer tone. "Like I said, no reason to hesitate is there?" It seemed like the bluff was working. "...Everyone." Callisto then adressed the others, and Jason held his breath. "Go greet the guests outside." But they soon moved out, clearing the room entirely in an instant. "Thank you, sister." He could breathe easily again, but maintained his determined expression. "Callisto does not see what brother intends to do with this duel." Callisto did the same, telekinetically adding cards from across the room to her hand. She drew five only. "Brother never wins, not with words or with cards. Does brother want to suffer?" She sounded reluctant to duel even now, and as usual felt enough pity to let him take the first turn. "Not as such, no. I have my reasons for wanting to face you now." He drew six cards. "You said it yourself, you no longer have the curse of foresight. You may be able to control what we humans do, but you can not predict what we will do." She stared at him. "You..humans?"

Callisto's LP: 8000 Jasons LP: 8000

"Is brother saying, his sister is not human anymore?" She drew her cards "You are what father wanted to be, a creator. I thought at first that you would follow in his footsteps, but it's like you do not even know what you are doing." Jason said as he summoned a Vylon Stigma(1600/1000). "Callisto knows what Callisto wants." Then her turn came and she placed a monster face down. She also activated the continuous spell card: Fountain in the Sky, placing a floating fountain above her head. "And people say I was the one who wanted too much. You are just doing this all for yourself! Just 'turning off' pain, disease and death does not fix everything! That does not give you the right to change how the world looks!" He started his turn. "But can brother say he would not have done the same?" Callisto asked. " Would I have?" He hated to admit it, but if he had the powers she had right now, it might have gone to his head too. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As the saying goes.." He sighed. " Yes I probably would have been 'corrupted'. So thanks again, sister, for saving me from that insanity."

..

Back outside, the other duelists walked across the golden pathway towards Asgards main castle. "Can't we just warp there?" Nathan complained about the distance all the way. "We tried that. We could not get closer that way" Kein snapped back. "Either there are more barriers in place, or we did not learn this trick well enough." They did not know where Callisto was right now anyway. "Hey, I think we got company." Sarah pointed at the skies. "What now?" Urizen grumbled as several characters floated down to streets. "It can't be!" And Ada gasped as she saw that Xavier was one of them. "Them again?" Ansoni also saw Alphonse, Saturday, Ymir and Helen among the masses. The rest were more R-tech soldiers or house staff members; all the previous victims of the ritual. "This is as far as you go. The lady is not to be disturbed." Saturday said as they surrounded the duelists. "You have got to be kidding me." Urizen cursed. "But to come back..." Demistria spoke up. "These people, they must be ' false content'."

The duel continued "Vylon Charger!" A pillar angel(1000/1000), hovering between golden halos, was summoned from Jasons hand. "I equip Charger with Vylon Component and Vylon Material." Charger(1600/1000) gained a powerboost and piercing abilities. "As you know Charger gives 300 additional attackpoints to light-monsters for each equip spell equipped to it." Stigma(2200/1000) and Charger (2200/1000) powered up a second time. "Attack!" Charger fired a piercing laser at callisto's set haloid(1400/800). "Of course, a Nova Summoner." Jason knew the monster could summon another light-monster. "But you still take piercing damage." Yet for another reason her lifepoints stayed the same. "The Fountain in the Sky..." Whenever a light monster died, the Fountain would banish it and give the monsters attackpoints to Callisto as lifepoints.

Callisto's LP: 8000

"You gained and lost 1400 lifepoints at the same time huh? In that case.." As the dying Nova Summoner summoned its second copy from Callisto's deck, Vylon Stigma's claws grabbed hold of Chargers Component. "Stigma can move equipment cards once per turn!" Now Stigma(1900/1000) could pierce too, though Charger's(1900/1000) powerboost had diminished. "Strike!" Stigma clawed through the second Nova angel, inflicting 1100 piercing damage. "Brother.." Callisto summoned a third Nova Summoner, and the Fountain restored her life by 1400 points. "..would have been better off, not attacking." In the end she gained more than she lost. "Like I will take your advise now." He ended his turn.

Callisto's LP: 8300

"Darklord.. Desire." And she immediately sacrificed Nova Summoner to normal summon a fallen angel(3000/2800). "Desire? That one can be tribute summoned with just one angel tribute." Jason remembered that card as well. "Now an attack.." Desire used his black armor gauntlets to cut Vylon Charger in half. But at the last second Stigma managed to give Charger(2200/1000) its Component back to strengthen its charge, so the damage was marginally cut down. "And then since two Vylon equip cards were sent to the grave, I can add two Vylon spell cards from the deck to my hand." Jason explained as he took out Vylon Element and Filament. "Callisto knows." She entered main phase 2. "And Brother knows Desire's power." Desire shaved off 1000 of his(2000/2800) attackpoints. "Yes, it sacrifices strength for destruction." Desire did this to it could drag Vylon Stigma(1600/1000) into the graveyard. "Callisto ends her turn."

Jasons LP: 7200

_"Strange.." _Jason thought as he drew. _"She has not set a single trap yet."_ He was used to Callisto spamming counter traps like no other. Was this what it was like, to duel callisto when she could not perfectly predict a duels flow? "Vylon Ohm!" He summoned a winged metal angel(1500/1200). "When normal summoned, he will send choose one equip spell and send it back to my hand one turn later." He selected Vylon Component. "Then I equip him with Vylon Filament and attack!" Ohm fired energy from its hands. "And I discard Honest along the way!" He powered up Ohm, letting it(3500/1200) steal Desire's attackpoints. The Vylon angel easily obliterated the fallen one. Though again the fountain healed her afterwards. "Damn. I forgot it counted original attack." Callisto gained 3000 lifepoints back as she banished Desire as well. "I activate Vylon Element and set a card down." Jason ended his turn, he was not making much progress yet.

Callisto's LP: 9800

"Valhalla." And in her turn she played the same continuous spell he had played. "Darklord Asmodeus." And she used it to special summon a new fallen angel from her hand, Asmodeus of the twilight(3000/2500). "This always happens too." He cringed. "Layard the Liberator." And after that angel, a weaker one was normal summoned: the many-armed Layard(1400/1500). "A counter support angel.." Now he definitely expected her to play traps. "Attack." But first Asmodeus assaulted Ohm with rays of black and white energy. "Hmph. You are playing right into my hand this way, sis." But both Vylon Element and Vylon Filaments effects were triggered by the death of Ohm. "With Filament sent away I add a Vylon Segment to my hand. And Vylon Element can special summon a Vylon tuner monster from my deck." He summoned the level 4 tuner: Vylon Prism from his deck, the prisma angel(1500/1500) could not be killed by Layard. "Callisto sets a card and ends her turn." And at last she had placed down a trap.

Jasons LP: 5500

"Well sister, normally you would have crippled my field by this point. But now.." He retook Vylon Component from his cemetery, thanks to Ohms effect. "I am free to set up a perfect army." He first played the field spell, Divine Armory, so he could place as many spells as possible on his field. Then he normal summoned a union monster, Vylon Tesseract(800/600) and put the spell Component and spell Segment on Vylon Prism. "Unite!" The Tesseract then converted itself into an equip card for the Prism, which caused the two spell equip cards to lose their host and selfdestruct. "Element activates again, I can summon two more Vylon tuners from my deck!" He was about to summon two tuners. "Dark Bribe.." When Callisto tried to stop the spell with a counter-trap. "I saw that coming, sister! I flip Counter Counter!" But Jasons counter countered hers before hers could counter his spell. ""I know that the Liberator can 'liberate' two banished angels when a counter trap is used." Jason knew she was going to use its effect to take back Darklord Desire and Nova Summoner, before she actually did so. "But my spell stays intact." Element then summoned the level 3 Vylon Stella(1400/200) and level 2 Vylon Tetrah(900/900). "And I can take two more Vylon spells out of my deck." Jason again added Vylon Segment and a Vylon Polytype spell to his hand.

"Then Prism attacks!" The prisma vylon scattered gems of energy throughout the halls, which destroyed Layard the Liberator. It too was banished by the Fountain and the spell healed Callisto by 1400 points. "But when a Vylon equipped with the Tesseract kills an opponents monster, a Vylon can be raised from the graveyard!" The Tesseract re-energized the destroyed Vylon Ohm(1500/1200). "Now then, main phase 2. I activate the spell Vylon Polytope. It can loosen one Vylon from another." The polytope unequipped the Tesseract from the Prism. "Then I equip Tesseract with Vylon Segment again." He wondered if she could see where this was going. "Synchro summon." He tuned the level 4 Prism and 2 Tetrah tuners with the level 4 Tesseract, and brought out his ultimate Vylon. "Vylon Omega." The ten star angel titan (3200/1900) emerged from the extra deck. "Tetrah or Prism can equip themselves to a monster when they hit the grave, at the mere cost of 500 lifepoints." Jason paid 1000 lifepoints and selected Vylon Tetra and Prism to be attached to Omega.

Callisto's LP: 11100 Jasons LP: 4500

"Not done yet!" Vylon Element reacted to the selfdestruction of Tesseract's equip card again, special summoning another Vylon Tetrah(900/900) from his deck. And at the same time he added a Vylon Matter from his deck to his hand thanks to Vylon Segments own ability. "Double synchro summon!" He tuned the level 3 Stella and level 4 Ohm together to form a Vylon Delta(1700/2800). But that level 7 synchro was soon tuned together with the second Vylon Tetrah to form a synchro monster he had not used in a while. "Vylon Alpha." Alpha(2200/2100), the level 9 counterpart tof Omega, appeared on the field. "Alpha can take one spell in my grave and equip it to itself." Alpha reclaimed Vylon Segment and attached it to itself. "Plus I use the effect of Vylon Tetrah and Stella." He paid 500 LP another time to equip the Tetroid tuner to Alpha. "Omega can take one Vylon monster and equip it to itself." Omega took the Stella tuner and made it a part of its armor. "Maybe now, with you pinned down like this, I can get through to that head of yours?"

Jasons LP: 4000

(To be Continued in Mark 117: Just like Old Times)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Vylon Charger<br>Vylon Ohm  
>Vylon Tesseract<br>Vylon Alpha

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>Vylon Polytope<p>

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>Counter Counter<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Layard the Liberator<br>Darklord Desire

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>Fountain in the Sky<p> 


	117. 117: Just like Old Times

**Mark 117: Just like Old Times**

Callisto's LP: 11100 Jasons LP: 4000

Jason had summoned Vylon Alpha(2200/2100) and Vylon Omega(3200/1900), and they were equipped with Vylon cards from top to bottom. "Oh lets not forget." Now he activated the last card in his hand. "Vylon Matter. I return three equip spells to destroy one card you control." He sent back Vylon Filament, Material and Component, and destroyed her Darklord Asmodeus(3000/2500). "Asmodeus' effect." Callisto attempted to activate the ability of the fallen one, its ability to create an Asmo and Deus token upon its destruction. "..is negated!" But Jason loudly denied her the opportunity. "Omega can negate any monster effect by sacrificing one of the Vylons equipped to himself!" Omega discarded the Vylon Prism it had attached to himself, and prevented Asmodeus from splitting up. "You will not get out of this one, sister. So either start listening to me now, or sit back and wait until I defeat you." He ended his turn. "Either way you will learn that you are wrong about this world. We are real, the things you create are not real!"

"No. They are!" Callisto drew her card. "Callisto told them who they really were, they remember now!" Jason just shook his head. "You can make them remember all they want, but the truth is that those friends of yours, are already dead. They were consumed by the ritual, Callisto. I have seen your 'Malcean' up close, he was a far cry from the real deal." Callisto just stared. "No." For the first time in a long time, he could actually see fear in her eyes. "..Cards from the Sky." She played a spell card. "Callisto banishes Darklord Desire, to draw cards." An angel had to be removed, so she could draw twice. "Callisto can not special summon or attack during the turn 'Cards from the Sky' is used." She still had Valhalla on her side, but she would have to wait one turn now. "Callisto..sets this." She placed a monster down and ended her turn. _"That must be Nova Summoner.."_ Jason remembered her adding that angel back to her hand with Layard's effect. The Nova angels effect he could not negate, as it activated during the damage step. _"Tch. She is gone back into hiding." _

"Omega!" Vylon Omega took back the Tesseract and equipped it to itself. "Vylon Alpha attacks first!" The white metal angel let golden energy rain down. "Nova Summoner." And as predicted, the Nova angel(1400/800) was killed. "But she is out of those.." Nova Summoner could only special summon another angel from her deck, Honest(1100/1900) in this case. "Hmph." Vylon Omega than killed that monster. "Tesseract's effect activates now." Because a monster equipped with the Tesseract union angel had destroyed a monster in battle, a level 4 or lower Vylon could be special summoned from the grave. "Sigma!" In this case the gold angel(1600/1000) returned and used its claws to swipe directly at Callisto. While she lost 1600 lifepoints, she had gained 2500 lifepoints due to her Fountain in the Sky spell card. "Sister, just give up. You can not hide forever." Jason ended his turn again. "Why.." She asked him in return. "Why? Because.." He had his answers ready, but he did not hear the full question yet. "Why can't brother just love the world Callisto is making?"

Callisto's LP: 12000

"Love it? Why would I.. I liked the world the way it was." He insisted. "Then why help father. Was it just for the power, or did brother.." Her eyes lighted up, Jason did not like that expression one bit. "If Callisto brings back mother, he will surely love her. And then they can all be a happy family again!" She clapped her hands. "Callisto.." Jason did not know what to expect. But then he heard footsteps coming from the next room. "Callisto should have done this sooner. This was what father always wanted." The footsteps came closer, they moved for the front door. "Stop.." Jason did not want this, he did not want to see this. "Stop it Callisto!" But when the doors opened he could not get himself to look away. "No.." A lady entered the room, dressed in pure white. "That is not..her." He knew that this woman could not be his mother, it was not possible. Yet her face, her smile, it was exactly like he remembered it. "Mother.." Callisto sat down on the bed, and her 'mother' joined her, embraced her in her arms. "What does brother say now?" She asked with a cheerful tone. "You have outdone yourself, sister." Jason lowered his head. "But, I will not accept her either!" He screamed. "Stop living in a dream, Callisto!"

The girls eyes widened, but only momentarily. "Brother still does not want to join mother and sister." She drew her card, continuing the duel while the woman stroked her daughters hair. "Then she will have to crush him." She activated Valhalla and special summoned Meltiel, the Sage of Sky(1600/1200) from her hand. And after that she normal summoned Counselor Lily, a tuner monster. "Please, brother, do not choose suffering." And she tuned the level 3 Lily with the level 4 Meltiel. "Oh no." And Jason realized that there was one kind of effect Omega could not stop, a continuous effect. "Ancient Sacred Wyvern!" He gasped as the powerful dragon angel(10100/2000) appeared on her field. Its attack was always boosted by the difference between their lifepoints. "I will not let you end it now!" He discarded Effect Veiler from his hand. "I negate his effects!" Veiler however could seal off passive effects, so the holy wyvern(2100/2000) returned to its base power. "Counselor Lily will still add 1000 attack to it, if Callisto pays 500 lifepoints." The tuner had an effect too. "No she wont!" But Omega could negate Lily's effect too, after he sent the Vylon Tetra equipped to it to the grave. "Still it shall attack." Her synchro monster raised its wings, towards Vylon Alfa. "What?"

Callisto's LP: 11500

_"No! Ancient Sacred Wyvern has a second effect!"_ If the wyvern were ever to die in battle, she could revive it by paying 1000 lifepoints. This was another damage step effect that vylon Omega could not negate. _"She intends to ram her monster into Alpha and kill it. But once she revives it, it wont be the monster Effect Veiler 'affected' anymore." _He reacted quickly. "Stigma switches Vylon Stella's position!" Stigma could re-arrange spells equipped to Vylons, right now it moved Stella from Omega to Alfa. "Vylon Stella destroys the monsters that do battle with its wielder!" The stelloid shielded Alpha with a golden aura, which covered the Wyverns body upon impact and reduced it to stardust. "The wyvern can not revive himself if he dies by card effects." So she was wide open now. ".." Callisto merely set a trap card down and ended her turn.

_"I have to end this quickly."_ He drew a card and placed it down. And he also activated a Field Barrier, just in case she was thinking about destroying the Divine Armory and all the spells it kept intact. "Direct attack!" Omega, Alpha and Stigma all charged up their holy energy and sent it scattering across the room. "Sorry." But then he heard her say _that _word. "No!" And saw her use the counter trap, Negate Attack, which ended the battle phase. _"Damn. One spell speed ahead of me." _He reluctantly gave up his battle phase and switched Stigma and Alfa to defense mode. "I also unequip the Tesseract from Omega." He summoned the union Vylon(800/600) in defense mode as well. And he let Stigma move the Vylon Segment spell and Vylon Tetra tuner from Alpha to Omega, since Omega was now out of equip cards to sacrifice in case she used monster effects again.

"Can't you see it, sister? That woman behind you, she is not real. I loved her as much as you did, but now.." He felt nothing for this person, he sensed no love from her either. "Brother said, words will not get you out of this." She ignored his pleas and drew her next card. "Ancient Leaf." She played a spell that allowed her to draw twice, by taking away 2000 lifepoints from more than 9000 lifepoints. "Valhalla." And again an angel descended from the halls of the slain. Her continuous spell special summoned Athena(2600/2100) from her hand. "?" And then she normal summoned a Fairy Archer(1400/600). "Is she.." And then she flipped her other trap card, Fairy Wind. "Sorry.." All face-up spells and traps on the field were destroyed, the Vylon tuners, Vylon Segment and Element, Field Barrier, Valhalla and the Fountain in the Sky. All seven swept away by the wind. "Gggh." And both duelists took 300 damage for each lost spell and trap. "Now brother can not stop this anymore." Fairy Archer placed an arrow on its bow.

Jasons LP: 1900 Callisto's LP: 7100

"Hallowed Life Barrier!" But Jason could activate his trap now. "I discard Vylon Filament from my hand!" The Life Barrier was a card that required a discard, and thankfully he added one card to his hand when Vylon Segment had been destroyed. "Now all damage this turn is negated!" The arrow fizzled out when it hit the barrier. "Life.. will run out. If brother has his way." Her turn continued, and she used Athena's effect now. "Sacrifice one angel, to revive another." The archer was sent to the grave, to release Darklord Superbia(2900/2400). "She discarded that one with Asmodeus' effect?" This fallen angel could revive another angel if it were to escape from its grave. "Callisto wants the Wyvern." And from its jar-like body, Superbia delivered the holy dragon(7600/2000), who was still a powerful threat. "Even if they can not do harm, they can end lives." Superbia, Athena and the Sacred Wyvern attacked, destroying Vylon Alfa, Stigma and Omega respectively with holy and unholy magic. _"Arrggh. She is still too good."_ In one turn Jason had lost all advantages.

It all depended on his next card. "Draw!" But what he gained was a card he did not expect to see. _"What? A Morphtronic?"_ It was Morphtronic Scopen, the level 3 microscope tuner. _"But I thought, I had thrown them away ages ago?"_ But something else caught his eye. "My mark?" the mark of light was glowing. "The god of fate, wants to show brother the right path?" Callisto was just as amazed as her brother. "Heh. I get it.." He summoned Scopen(800/1400) to the field. "I know which monster to summon." He tuned it together with the level 4 Tesseract. "Power Tool Dragon!" And his machine dragon synchro(2300/2500) came from the extra deck once more. "Brothers.. favorite." Callisto looked at it with slight awe. "Yes. So get ready, Callisto. I am going to break down your light spirits one by one!" Power Tool activate its effect, three Rainbow Veil equip spell cards were taken from his deck, so he could keep one. "I equip my dragon with the Rainbow Veil! Which makes it negate all monster effects when it does battle!" Powertool(3300/2500) entered battle with Ancient Sacred Wyvern. "Attack!" The holy dragon(2100/2000)'s effects were sealed, including its ability to revive itself, so Powertool could finish it off in an instant. But even if it were to revive, it could not get passed the Rainbow Veil.

Callisto's LP: 5900

"Now this truly is like the old times." Jason felt elated, he had never dueled this well against her. "The old days." Callisto turned to her mother. "Brother wants it to be like that. Does mother want that too?" The woman nodded. "Then so it shall be." Callisto reused Athena's effect, sacrificing Superbia to bring back Counselor Lily. "Agh." Athena's effect to inflict 600 damage every time an angel was special summoned became active too, since the Hallowed Life Barrier had left the field already. "Harvest." Callisto also normal summoned the level 4 Angel of Wisdom(1800/1000). "Synchro summon." And this time she used seven stars to synchro summon Ancient Fairy Dragon(2100/3000). "Your..favorite?" The dragon(2600/3000) was powered up by Counselor Lily as well. And Athena unleashed another set of 600 damage to Jasons points. "Callisto watched brothers duel with the god fusion, she remembers now." Ancient Fairy Dragon used its field destroying effect, removing the Divine Armory from Jasons side. "No.." And after that Ancient Fairy Dragon took a field spell from Callisto's deck and placed it on her side. "Luminous Spark." It was the very first field spell she ever played, before Sanctuary in the Sky even. It made both Athena(3100/400) and the Fairy dragon(3100/2600) stronger attackpoint-wise. "No. No..No!" Jason could not believe this. This was exactly how he lost their first duel together. "Like old times, right brother?" Athena and the Ancient Fairy struck powertool twice, destroying him and getting rid of all his masters lifepoints.

Jasons LP: 0 Callisto's LP: 6400

"How.." Alphonse grunted as he fell down, disappearing into the ground beneath the streets. "Their marks give them too much advantage." Saturday collapsed as well. "..That was too easy." Several duels had taken place in rapid succession, but Sarah, demistria, Ada, Ansoni and Kein took every challenge and made quick work of them. "These marks, they must be helping us." Ansoni was certain he had drawn good card after good card, because of the sign of earth. "Maybe it just likes our element." Ada found it pretty convenient that she was the one to inherit the mark of wind, it was pretty convenient for most other duelists too if the mark corresponded to the attribute of a deck. "But I was getting good draws too, and I dont use dark monsters." Sarah did not think it was only because of that. "Well we still have more to deal with." Urizen looked around, there were still some servants left. "They are just throwing their lives away at this point. Let us deal with them and you try to move on!" Ansoni yelled. "I will not say no to that." Nathan ran off, Macbeth and Urizen followed.

"Oh give us a break." But they had to stop in front of two large golden gates. "I can guess where she is." The doors would not budge, they could not enter this palace in front of them. "Who do we have to duel this time to get further!" Urizen shouted. And as did, two more shadows showed up in the sky. "Well at least they respond quickly." The two landed on the streets. "No way.." But it was Malcean and Richard who stood before them. "Richard.. or Thursday?" Macbeth did not expect this, or know what to expect next. "Neither." 'Thursday' said. "I am who I was, before those memories polluted my mind.."

(To be Continued in Mark 118: When in Asgard)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Field Barrier<br>Rainbow Veil

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>Hallowed Life Barrier<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Counselor Lily<br>Darklord Superbia  
>Ancient Fairy Dragon<p>

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>Cards from the Sky<br>Luminous Spark

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>Fairy Wind<p> 


	118. 118: When in Asgard

**Mark 118: When in Asgard**

"The memories of Richard.. they are all gone?" Before the three duelists stood Thursday, but he was again not the man they remembered him as. "I was led astray by fabricated experiences. I returned to the right side when I lost that duel against the other wielders of god." He took out a dueldisk. "And I will continue to protect our creator, until I can duel no more." Wednesday also activated his dueldisk. "We are servants eternal, much like our spirits. Death itself has been exposed as a liar." Nathan and Urizen responded likewise. "How many times do we have to defeat you, I thought we already passed the judgment of the signers?" Urizen yelled at the two. "Jason was the one who passed the trials, not you." Wednesday and Thursday took their cards and shuffled them into their disks. "Wait, Urizen. Let me do this." Macbeth also turned on his device. "This is my responsibility, this should be a duel for Aces." Nathan nodded, while Urizen took a step back. "I will not get in your way then." He turned his disk off again. "Just do not screw it up."

Macbeths LP: 8000 Nathans LP: 8000

Thursday's LP: 8000 Wednesday'sLP: 8000

"Wait. We are not joining our lifepoints?" Nathan knew this was a tagduel, but normally both teams would combine their 8000 lifepoints into 16000. "No. Since you cling to the falsifications, we shall honor them by making this duel like the one that ended my existence as 'Richard'." Thursday drew five cards, he would let his partner go first. "But at first you said you did not remember at all, that Callisto had created you." Macbeth and Nathan also drew five cards. "He has always been different, the Infinati took away his lifeforce before Callisto found his body. In essence, she had to start all over for him." Wednesday explained. "There were a few others like me, more victims of the Infinity emperors. But I was the first of the true. I hope Ithat has enlightened you well enough, shall we begin?" Thursday said as his tag partner Wednesday drew six cards.

"I set two cards and activate the spell Photon Veil; I shall return three cards to my deck, to claim three light monsters." It was the same spell Thursday had used last duel, he sent two monsters and a spell back to take three Nordic Ascendants from his deck. "Come, Vanadis." A goddess(1200/400) entered the streets of Asgard. "Vanadis can send one Nordic spirit from my deck to the grave every turn, and assume its level." Wednesday used her effect on one of the Nordic Ascendant Mimirs in his deck, and Vanadis went from level 4 to level 2. "Then the spell, Heavens Lost Property." The charitable spell from last duel was used again too, each player could draw three cards but had to send two cards from their hand away. "I shall discard the remaining Ascendants." Two Vanadis cards were discarded from Wednesday's hand. At the same time Thursday sent away two Guldfaxe Nordic Beasts. "I see. Milling tuner monsters to set up for your gods revival effects." Macbeth counted the cards, if they were to summon the gods, Odin and Thor could be raised from the dead three times. "But you have not summoned them yet." Macbeth discarded Gemknight Alexandrite and Gemknight Fusion, He discarded a Junk Blader and Symphonic Warrior Drums.

"My turn!" Nathan drew and summoned a small metallic orb(0/0), which hid a creature inside. "Unknown Synchron. This tuner monster can be special summoned if only my enemies control monsters." And after that he summoned a Rapid Warrior(1200/400). "Level 1 Unknown Synchron and level 4 Rapid Warrior, unite into the Hyper Librarian!" He synchro summoned a Tech Genus spellcaster, the level 5 Librarian(2400/1800). "Now every time a player synchro summons, I can draw one card." With Odin and Thor around, he expected some good use from this ability. "I set two cards and end my turn."

"Then, if my opponent controls a synchro monster and I control no monster." Thursday special summoned another Guldfaxe(1600/1200), since its summoning conditions were met. "And I normal summon Ljosalf." Next came the level 4 blue Alfar(1400/1200). "Wait. The Alfar series, but those were Jasons cards." Urizen protested. "But Jason is no longer with us." He said ominously before continuing his turn. "Ljosalf's effect activates, it can summon a monster from my hand, if its level is lower than that of another monster I control." Guldfaxe was level 4, so Ljosalf could special summon the level 2 Mimir of the Nordic Ascendants(600/0) from his hand. "Ascendants too?" And he immediately tuned them together. "Descend, mighty Thor!" A bolt of lightning screamed down towards the city of Asgard, hitting the ground and revealing the god of thunder(3500/2800) within its light. "That was fast." Nathan did not think they would summon god on the first turn, but at least Hyper Librarian gave him a new card to used. "One card is set, and my turn ends." Thursday passed the turn to Macbeth.

"..I set a trap/spell card down, and a monster." But his turn was short compared to everyone else's. "With every field prepared, now the battle phases are unsealed." And Wednesday was first. "Since I already control one Nordic monster, Mimir shall be raised in exchange for a spell." By discarding a Nordic Lights field spell, Wednesday's Mimir(600/0) could be special summoned from the grave. And then he normal summoned a level 3 Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts(800/1100). "And Vanadis, selects Svartalf." Meanwhile his dark goddess assumed the 5th level by sending the level 5 red Alfar tuner to the cemetery. _"So he has every Nordic monster too."_ Macbeth thought, both their decks had been changed since the last time. "Defend your realm, lord of lords!" Now Wednesday had ten stars total on his field, and one tuner. "Odin!" Vanadis, Mimir and Tanngnjostr were all replaced by the father of the Aesir, Odin(4000/3500). Nathan in the mean time drew another card from his 'library' of cards.

"Odins Eye." Wednesday's trap unlocked Odins second eye, now he could scan all set cards. "I see." Nathan had TG1-EM1 and TGSX1 set, Tech Genus support cards. Macbeth had the trap Common Charity. "Odin has decided." The god raised his scepter and summoned a magic rune underneath Hyper Librarian. "Trap card!" Nathan attempted to counter the attack. "TG1-EM1; the control of our synchro monsters is switched!" But Thursday flipped a trap too. "Divine Authority." Thor smashed Nathans card with his hand. "No card effects may target god for the next two turns." Nathan was not 'authorized' to stop Odins execution of Hyper Librarian. The rune destroyed the Tech synchro.

Nathans LP: 6500

"Dang, there goes my chance to own a god." Nathan sighed. "Junk Synchron." In his turn he summoned his trusty level 3 tuner(1300/500), who as always revived a level 2 monster from his graveyard. "I revive Drumss!" The symphonic drumming machine(700/700) was the only level 2 monster in his grave right now, so that was what he chose. "Then I special summon Tech Genus Warwolf." The level 3 wolf cyborg could be summoned because another monster was special summoned. "And finally, when I control a Junk monster, I can summon Junk Servant from my hand." His fourth monster was a level 4 machine(1500/1000) made from various parts. "Double synchro summon!" He tuned Junk Synchron together with Junk Servant, and Drumss with Warwolf. "Junk Berserker!" The first result was a level 7 berserker knight(2700/1800) in red armor. "Wonder Magician!" The second result was the level 5 Tech genus mage(1900/0). "Wonder Magician destroys a spell or trap when it is synchro summoned!" She casted a spell that shattered Divine Authority.

"Now I can target gods again, Berserker can banish Junk monsters in my graveyard to take their attackpoints and subtract them from my opponents monsters." He had three monsters, including his discarded Junk Blader(1800 atk). "I remove Blader to weaken Odin, and remove Synchron and Servant to weaken Thor." The two gods were powered down by the berserkers effect (Thor = 700 atk, Odin: 2200 atk). "Since your gods will just revive, I have to hit you as hard as I can. I attack!" And in his battle phase, Berserker cut down Odin while Wonder Magician blew up Thor. "Now I can use this trap, TGSX1. It resummons a tech genus synchro monster, when a Tech Genus has sent another monster to the grave." Wonder Magicians victory allowed Hyper Librarian(2400/1800) to return to life. "Direct attack." He fired a spell from his books at Wednesday.

Thursday's LP: 6800 Wednesday's LP: 5100

"How was that?" Nathan smiled. "You are brave, but you were fooled." Wednesday flipped a trap card. "The Golden Apples." His lifepoints were restored as he took a bite from the golden fruit. "What?" And the rest of the fruit became a rainbow colored wisp token(2400/0) "The Golden Apples undoes the damage done by one who struck me directly. And creates a spirit of equal power, a Malus." The Malus Token had copied Hyper Librarians attackpoints. "Oh, great." Nathan laughed nervously as he ended his turn. "I take that back, Nathan do not screw it up!" Urizen did not know who to be more worried about. And of course in the endphase, both Thor and Odin revived themselves by banishing one Guldfaxe and Vanadis respectively. Wednesday could draw a card, while Thursday could inflict 800 damage to Nathans lifepoints.

Nathans LP: 5700 Wednesday's LP: 7500

"Garmr." Thursday then summoned a new Nordic beast, a red wolf(800/1900). "This beast returns all low level monsters back to a players hand, if it battles them." Thursday wasted no time and attacked Macbeths set monster. "But damage calculation still takes place!" It turned out to be a jewel-tusked elephant(400/1900) with high defenses. "I can discard a normal monster from my hand, to boost its defense!" Macbeth discarded Gemknight Saphire and Garmr's fags broke on the elephant(400/2900)'s hide, but the Gem beast was thrown off the streets regardless. "..Thor, smite him." Thus Macbeth had to soak up the thunder from the thunder gods hammer. "You are not showing me any mercy." Macbeth coughed. "Mercy is not needed here." Thursday replied. "I wish I could say the same." Macbeth replied and activated Common Charity. "I banish Gemknight Garnet in my hand, to draw two cards." His hand looked better than his field right now. "My turn, I draw." He almost had everything he wanted. "By banishing a Gemknight in my graveyard, Saphire in this case, I can take back Gemknight Fusion." And with the fusion spell reclaimed, he was ready. "Fusion!" He fused Gemknight Obsidian and Gemknight Amber in his hand, to fusion summon Gemknight Prism Aura.

Macbeths LP: 4500

Because Gemknight Obsidian had been sent to the grave by an effect, Macbeth could revive another normal Gemknight. And he summoned the gemini-gem warrior, Amber(1600/1400). But the duelists focused more on the fusion monster. "Remember this card, Thursday?" It was the same crystal knight(2450/1400) that allowed Macbeth to summon Wisel. "Remember its effect?" He banished Gemknight Obsidian from his grave, to again take Gemknight Fusion back. "I can discard a Gemknight card." Macbeth threw the fusion spell away. "To destroy a monster on the field." Prismaura sent a beam of energy from its shield, which pierced Odins body. "But you are not attacking me." Thor however was left alive. "No. First I will take care of him here." His battle phase started. "Prismatic slash!" The fusion knight sliced the Malus token into colored shreds. "Resinite raze!" And Gemknight Amber peppered Wednesday with shards of amber crystals. "And I am not done yet." Main phase 2 followed. "Amber can take one banished gem-knight and one gem-knight in my hand, and swap them." Macbeth discarded Gem-knight Tormaline to release Gem-knight Obsidian from the other dimension. "I set two cards and end my turn."

Wednesday's LP: 5850

Of course, Odin did not stay dead this time either, the god-father resurrected after the second Vanadis was banished. "So you still honor the bond with his form." Wednesday said as he drew. "Aren't you doing the same?" Macbeth retorted. "You are Jason and Callisto's father, right? Why is that not a lie, when our friendship with Richard is!" He demanded an explanation for that contradiction. "Family is the only bond this world can not take away. Even knowing my real name, does not change the fact that she is my daughter." He summoned another Nordic Alfar, a black spirit called Mara(1000/500). "And that Jason is my son." Mara was a level 2 tuner. "Wait, is he.." And Urizen knew which god Alfar tuners belonged to. "Mara can be tuned with Nordic monsters in ones hand." Wednesday revealed two Tyrs of the Nordic Champions monster cards. Tyr was of the fourth level. "Show yourself, false Aesir." And so Mara could initiate the synchro summon of Loki(3300/3000). "He inherited that god too!" Urizen cursed. "Be gone, Junk Berserker and Prism Aura." Odin layed waste to Nathans synchro and Macbeths Gem-knight shattered thanks to Loki. "It is not possible for you to win this. You who value a mortal existence can not withstand immortality."

Macbeths LP: 3650 Nathans LP: 4400

"So. Is this another reason for your dedication to her?" Another voice asked. "I did not think of it like that before, but to be live forever sounds like a good reward in exchange for servitude." Ansoni and the remaining duelists who stayed behind were at the gates of the palace as well now. "You defeated all of them?" Wednesday was surprised to see none of Callisto's servants around. "We did not enjoy it. But with how easily they came back before, we did not hold back." Ada said. She was getting tired of seeing Xavier disappear before her eyes. "But you have no choice but to do what she says, don't you? In the old world you were already gone, and if we go back to the old world, you will cease to exist." They would become like every person that the darkness had taken, they would become 'not real'. "As if anyone of you could ever compare to her, even if you defeat us, she is beyond all." Thursday said with utmost confidence. "Then why defend her at all?" Nathan did not understand that part yet. "It is what she asks of us. God loves us, but god does not love strife. She never loved being a duelist." That is why she needed us." Wednesday ended his turn. "But this world was founded on the very concept, the desire to duel is imprinted in your blood. The cards reflect the true nature.."

(To be Continued in Mark 119: Survival Revival)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Unknown Synchron<br>Junk Servant  
>Junk Berserker<p>

-  
>TGSX-1<p>

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem Elephant<br>Gem-Knight Obsidian

**New Cards used by Wednesday**  
>Tanngnjostr of the Nordic Beasts|<br>Svartalf of the Nordic Alfar  
>Mara of the Nordic Alfar<br>Tyr of the Nordic Champions  
>Loki, Lord of the Aesir<p>

-  
>Photon Veil<p>

-  
>The Golden Apples<p>

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Ljosalf of the Nordic Alfar<br>Mimir of the Nordic Ascendant  
>Garmr of the Nordic Beasts<p>

-  
>Solemn Authority<p> 


	119. 119: Survival Revival

**Mark 119: Survival Revival**

Macbeths LP: 3650 Nathans LP: 4400

Thursday's LP: 6800 Wednesday's LP: 5850

"So what you are saying is that the world is rotting because we duel?" Ansoni asked. "It is in mans nature to compete, to measure their own selfworth against that of another. Be it through games or wars, mortal mankind will never find true peace." Wednesday spread his arms out. "That is why the lady is creating heaven on earth, without death and pain there can be no point to war. One soul can not kill or harm another, one can not overpower another. All shall be equal, all she be at peace." He stopped talking and waited for them to respond. " If you ask me." Most thought it over, but Nathan did not need to give it much thought. "That sounds even worse." Nathan started his turn. "Just because we can not hurt each other physically, does not mean man will stop hurting each other alltogether. I do not like saying this, but there will always be people who want to be better than others. They will find ways to take advantage, find ways to improve their own lives over the backs of others." Nathan had seen the cities, right now half the remaining population was tearing everything apart and taking all they could for themselves. "And if everyone lives forever, that means they can keep doing that forever. I do not see this working out at all, not unless she can change the way we think too."

"And if that idea even crossed her mind, I definitely do not want her to succeed!" Nathan took his two tech Genus cards. "Wonder Magician is a synchro tuner, I tune it with Hyper Librarian!" The two level 5 monsters combined into one level 10 cyborg(3300/2200)."Accel synchro monster: Blade Blaster! He attacks Garmr!" The cyber gunner put Thursday's Nordic Beast Garmr(800/1100) in its sights and destroyed it with one shot. "Anyway, maybe the world would not be so bad if you did not take away all the 'nondueling' people. Helen told us that only duelists, even those that played once or twice, they stay in her Valhalla. But those sound exactly like the kind of people who'd want to prove themselves to be better." He placed two traps down and ended his turn. "That can not be helped, Nathan Ashworth. You and all other duelists live in this world precisely because of your will to fight, and survive."

Thursday's LP: 4300

"Thor." Thursday's god(3500/2800) charged up lightning with its hammer. "Destroy." And he swung it down on Blade Blaster. "Not so fast!" But Blade Blaster suddenly left the field. "My Accel synchro can remove himself from the field for one turn, if I banish a Tech genus monster in my graveyard!" He had removed T.G. Warwolf. "It will come back next turn." With that target gone, Thors hammer only had one monster left to smash; Gemknight Amber(1600/1400). "Half-Shut!" But Macbeth would protect his monster his way. "This is what I mean, you struggle to keep up, your defiance is impressive. But futile against we who do not tire." Thursday activated a quickplay spell. "March towards Ragnarok. Spells can not be used against my god anymore." Thors body was coated with divine light. "Who said I was using it on your monster?" Macbeth smiled as he used Halfshut on Amber(800/1400) instead. "What?" The hammer slammed into the weakened Amber warrior, but not even a fracture was caused by the impact. "Halfshut halves a monsters attackpoints, but also makes it indestructible for one turn." He figured it was better to keep a monster alive, than to halve the damage he would take. "I guess you are right about us being survivalists."

Macbeths LP: 950

"But we want to do more than survive, we want to fight back!" Macbeths turn started again after Thursday had placed a card in his hand down. "..This card?" He gained a spell, a very _very_ good spell to have right now. He had a plan. "I banish gemknight Alexandrite in the grave, to add Gemknight Fusion back to my hand." That was step one. "Then I reuse Ambers effect!" The no longer halved Gemknight(1600/1400) could discard a Gemknight to take back one that had been banished. "I discard Obsidian from my hand to take back Alexandrite, who I just banished." He took back the white jewel knight and threw away the black jewel knight. Obsidians effect was triggered because of this. "Obsidian revives a monster from the grave." Gem-Knight Tormaline(1600/1800) was put back on the field. "Then I normal summon Gemknight Alexandrite and use its effect." Alexandrite could sacrifice himself to switch places with any Gemknight in the deck. "Crystal!" Macbeth chose the powerful level 7 knight(2450/1950). "And now, Particle Fusion!"

"This spell can fuse Gemknights on the field." Tormaline and Crystal began to merge. "And then one of the fusion materials can give its attackpower to the resulting fusion monster." He fused them into Gem-Knight Topaz(4250/1800), who had gained Crystals 2450 attackpoints. "!" And Sarah, having been one of the duelist that tasted Topaz's powers, knew what his plan was. "Your intentions are clear, but I will not let it get to that point." Wednesday revealed his latest trap. "Nordic Relic Gungnir! A god on the field shall be banished for two turns, and a monster shall be destroyed." Loki grabbed hold of Odins spear, and was about to throw it at Topaz. "No dice, I can not let such a good combo go to waste. "But Nathan flipped his own trap, the continuous trap: Imperial Iron Wall. "Cards can not be banished!" Gungnir asked for god to be sealed in another dimension, so this trap shut it down entirely. "And to think you only used that trap to support Bolt Hedgehog." Kein was always glad to see clever Nathan could be if he put in effort.

"Thanks Nate. And now.. Take this, Wednesday Top Lightning Twin Slash." Topaz could attack twice in one turn, the lightning blade in its left hand cleaved Loki(3300/3000) in half. "Ugh." But Wednesday took more than battle damage. "Topaz inflicts damage equal to the attackpoints of its victims as well!" Wednesday had lost 3300 lifepoints, equal to Loki's attackpoints. "Even if your gods are eternal, even if you are, there will always be conditions for winning and losing!" Topaz completed its second slash, cutting down Odin(4000/3500) just as easily and taking 4250 lifepoints away again. "Incredible." Thursday just stood there and watched his partner fall. "This is not.. the end. I am as eternal as the truth.." Malcean, or Wednesday, or whoever he had been this time, collapsed and disappeared. "One down" Urizen smirked. "One to go." To cap off his turn, Macbeth placed a trap and played the regular Gemknight Fusion spell. "Rock and gem to form Zirconia!" He fused the Gem Elephant in his hand with Amber, to fusion summon a Gemknight Zirconia(2900/2500).

Wednesday's LP: 0

Unfortunately Topaz(1800/1800)'s powerboost only lasted for one turn."Since Wednesday's turn is skipped, I can go again." Nathan laughed and drew a card. "It looks like Odin and Loki are not going to come back either, guess you need to be alive to activate their effects." So Thor was the last obstacle. "Blade Blaster returns." Nathans accel synchro monster came back to his field. "And I activate TGX300!" A continuous spell was played, which boosted the Tech Gunman(3600/2200). "Tech genus monsters gain a 300 attackpoint boost for each Tech Genus monster on my field. It is a meager boost, but I take what I can get." Blade Buster aimed his gun at Thor. "Fire!" A shot was released. "Leyding." But the shooter was chained down by golden chains. "What the.." And the attackpower was converted into healing energy, restoring Thursday's lifepoints. "That card does not seem to fit the theme you had going." Nathan complained. "You presume that our decks are as constant as yours. You do not have a mark, so you would not understand its blessings."

Thursday's LP: 7900

"Mark? Blessing, but you are not.." Macbeth could have sworn Thursday never received one of the six elemental marks. "I have always been, her signer." Only now did they notice, a light shining underneath his coat. "The light mark!" A white glow came from his wrist. "Are you telling me Jason lost that mark already?" Ada concluded that Jason must have challenged his sister and lost, but she did not expect it to happen this fast. "This mark is fueled by gods will. Even the immortals are driven by the need to achieve." He drew his card. "But for a while now, my deck has regressed. It must not consider you worthy of my full power anymore." He placed one card down. "Now.." Thursday summoned a masked demon girl(500/200). "Fabled Topi?" She was one of the Fabled monsters. They had not see him use one of those in a while. "Topi can sacrifice herself, to destroy two spells or traps my opponent controls." To unlock this ability he had to reveal one Fabled monster (Fabled Oltro) in his hand and needed to have 2 less cards than Nathan. Since Nathan had three and he only had Fabled Oltro, the conditions were right. "Oh no." And Topi dive-bombed into TGX300 and Imperial Iron Wall, powering Blade Blaster(3300/2200) down.

"Thor attacks. But he shall not attack your creation." He charged up thunder and released it, on Gem-Knight Topaz. "Crap." The Justibreak trap Macbeth had set could not exactly save him. "You did well, you defeated my successor. But this is where your path ends." The hammer came down and fragments of the topaz crystal scattered all over the place. "Ugh, I knew this would happen. Bluffs never work anymore.. I leave this in your hands, Nate." Macbeths remaining lifepoints dropped to zero. "What is going to happen now?" Sarah hesitated to ask what Thursday did to the people he defeated. "All life is hallowed and waits for eternity, you shall merely be punished." Thursday closed his fist. "Wha.." And a ball of lightning from the sky hit Macbeth, reducing him to a black spot on the street. "What, did you do to him!" Ada screamed. "As I said, I shall not kill. I exiled him from Asgard. He will not be able to help you anymore." He ended his turn. "Let us proceed with this survival for the fittest."

Macbeths LP: 0

"Yes. Let's." Nathan drew a card. "Quickdraw Synchron!" And he discarded a Dandylion from his hand to special summon the gunslinger synchron(700/1400). "Since I sent dandylion to the grave, I can make two fluff-tokens." Two fluffseeds were left behind by the dandelion lion. "Then I activate De-Synchro! I cancel the synchro summon of Blade Blaster!" Blade Blaster split back into Hyper Librarian(2400/1800) and Wonder Magician(1900/0). "Oh? Are you going to summon your ultimate synchro monster?" Kein asked, as he knew the deck he had given his fellow ace well. "I would, if I had a level 1 tuner ready." He primarily de-synchro'd Blade Blaster just to get Hyper Librarians draw effect for his next synchro summon. "Besides I have a better choice." He combined the level 5 Quickdraw with one of the level 1 tokens. "Turbo Warrior!" He let the synchron stand in for Turbo Synchron, so that the red vehicle warrior(2500/1500) could be synchro summoned. "That one works too." Kein said as he saw Turbo Warrior use its ability against Thor(1750/2800). "Turbo Warrior halves the attackpoints of any level 6 or higher synchro monster it battles!" The Turbo warrior dashed through the weakened Thor like he was made of paper. "And!" After that the Tech Genus synchros attacked Thursday directly.

Thursday's LP: 2850

"Even if you kill Thor.." Nathan placed a trap again and the two moved to the endphase, and Thursday banished another Guldfaxe in his grave. "Save the speech!" But as Thor appeared from his grave, Turbo Warrior was sent back into his. "Gravity Collapse! I tribute a Synchro monster to negate your special summon!" Both synchro monsters were dragged back into the cracked ground by the pull of gravity. "And you can not summon for the rest of the turn, so no matter how many tuners you banish, you can no longer revive Thor!" Nathan yelled. "Awesome!" The others cheered him on. "God has been sealed." Thursday said, though he did not look too shocked. "If so. I shall have to lay waste to your field through the mortal spirits." He activated his facedown card, Reckless Greed, drawing two new cards. _"He is skipping his next two draw phases?" _The trap had a downside to it, so Nathan figured he was staking everything on this turn.

"Field spell card, Gates of Dark World." One of those cards was played a spell which boosted all fiends attack and defense by 300 points. _"The card of the earthbound? He took it for himself?" _Sarah recognized it and knew what else it could do. But he did not use that effect yet. "Fabled Oltro" First he summoned a level 2 tuner, a baby demon(1100/800). "By sending one card in my hand, a Fabled of the 3rd level can be summoned." He discarded Fabled Soulkius and special summoned Fabled Dyf(1700/2000), the dragon elder demon. "Synchro summon." Naturally he tuned the two to summon Fabled Ragin(2600/2100), so he could draw until he had 2 cards in his hand. "Fabled Grimro." He discarded another Fabled, which allowed him to add Fabled Krus from his deck to his hand. "Fabled Chawa can be special summoned with one discard." He then discarded Krus to special summon a Fabled Chawa(200/100). "Krus' effect; when discarded a fabled spirit revives itself." The little girl demon used her abilities on Grimro and brought her(2000/1300) back to life. "Synchro summon." These two were then also tuned to form a Fabled Ragin(2600/2100), letting him draw two more cards. _"Geez, will his turn ever end?" _Nathan thought to himself, as did a lot of the others.

"I discard Fabled Miztoji. By discarding this monster, another Fabled monster becomes a tuner monster." He explained as he turned one Ragin into a tuner, and then tuned both together. "Fabled Leviathan." He summoned the crimson fallen angel(3300/2300). "Dang. That thing is as strong as Blade Blaster." Nathan knew, that even if he tuned his two tech monsters together again, he would only get both monsters killed. "And I have seen him use Leviathans effect once before." When Leviathan died, three Fabled monsters could be taken back from the grave. "With Fabled Soulkius already in his graveyard, he could pull all kinds of stunts." And he did not want to risk leaving himself wide open either. "Attack." So he allowed the Leviathan to slay Hyper Librarian. "Nathan Ashworth. This is your last chance." Thursday placed one trap card down. "The rest of you, I see now that I have no chance of stopping you. This is no longer a duel of defending the lady, it is a duel of defending her gift to me." He held his hand on his mark. "Nathan, become the new signer of light. Or.. abandon all survival instinct you ever had." He ended his turn.

(To be Continued in Mark 120: Neither Rhyme nor Reason)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Dandylion<p>

-  
>TGX300<br>De-Synchro

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Zirconia<p>

-  
>Half-Shut<p>

-  
>Particle Fusion<p>

**New Cards used by Wednesday**  
>Nordic Relic Gungnir<p>

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Fabled Topi<br>Fabled Oltro  
>Fabled Miztoji<p>

-  
>March towards Ragnarok<br>The Gates of Dark World

-  
>Draining Shield<br>Reckless Greed


	120. 120: Neither Rhyme nor Reason

**Mark 120: Neither Rhyme nor Reason**

Nathans LP: 3500 Thursday's LP: 2850

"I am getting such a feeling of deja vu right now." Nathan looked at the field before him, Fabled Leviathan(3300/2600), Gates of Dark World and a set card, the latter of the three felt hauntingly familiar. _"If that is what I think it is.. Gah no!"_ Nathan shook his head. "Overthinking caused me to lose last time too." He glanced at Demistria for a second. "...?" She noticed the stare but did not question it. "My turn then!" He drew a spell. "Tuning!" And activated it. "I take one Synchron monster from my deck and add it to my hand!" He took a Changer Synchron out and summoned the level 1 monster(0/0). "Also I have to discard the top card from my deck." He discarded a Quillbolt Hedgehog. "Synchro summon!" He tuned Changer Synchron together with the remaining dandylion fluff token(0/0). "Formula Synchron!" And he summoned the level 2 synchro tuner(200/1500). "When Changer Synchron is used as a synchro material, one monsters position is changed!" The Leviathan switched to a defense position. Though even its defense was too much for T.G. Wonder Magician(1900/0)

"But Formula Synchron also lets me draw a card." Nathan drew a spell again. _"TGX-HL1?"_ It was a quickplay card that allowed him to destroy one spell or trap. _"But.. what if he can chain to it?"_ He needed to half the attackpoints of his Wonder Magician(1900/0) to activate the spell. "Wait. I know. I synchro summon again!" He revived the level 2 Quillbolt Hedgehog(800/800) from his cemetery and tuned it along with the Formula tuner. "Armory Arm!" He called the level 4 claw machine(1900/1600) from his extra deck. "I equip this Union synchro monster to Wonder Magician, she will gain attackpoints." The mage(2900/0)'s left hand was given a metallic gauntlet. ".. and the ability to give my enemy damage, equal to the strength of the monsters she will kill!" He placed one card down and entered the battle phase. "Thursday, this is nothing personal. But get out of my way!" The mage and her Armory Arm sliced through the crimson deity. "What?" But no damage was given to the enemy. "Did you think my trap required a discard?" Thursday revealed his trap, Nature's Reflection. "All effect damage will be reflected to Nathan?" Ada gasped as the flames armory Arm unleashed were blown back to the Ace of Hearts. "Gah. It was a chainable card after all."

Because Leviathan had been destroyed, three Fabled cards could be taken from the grave. "There is nothing stopping him now." Demistria said, acting like Nathan had already lost. "He wishes!" But Nate was as determined as ever. "TGX-HL1" He played the quickplay spell from his hand. "I destroy my own facedown card!" Wonder Magicians(1400/0) attack was halved, and a trap was destroyed. "Your own?" Thursday did not understand. "Limiter Overload. Whenever it is sent to the grave, this trap summons a Speed Warrior from my hand or deck." Speed Warrior(900/400) emerged. "Direct attack!" They were still in the battle phase, so Speed Warriors kick could take Thursdays life down a notch. "What will this accomplish?" Thursday however was still leading. "Oh come on, you know what I am best at." Nate flashed a happy grin and unveiled the trap he had set last turn. "Urgent Tuning! I can synchro summon in the battle phase!" Wonder Magician was also a synchro tuner, of the 5th level. "Lightning Warrior!" She and the level 2 speed warrior united into one synchro monster, the warrior of thunder(2400/1200). "Amazing!" The others barely followed this combo. "I am not to be under-estimated, Thursday." He let the warrior finish his attack, and Thursday's remaining life.

Thursday's LP: 0

"Then, the mark is yours." Thursday recovered from the direct lightning hit, but as expected his body began to dissolve. "We will not stop you anymore." Nathans wrist now displayed the last elemental mark. "Not even those who did not pass the trials." He looked at Urizen, the only duelists with no mark. "Like I would let that stop me." He muttered under his breath. "Before you go, can you answer us one last thing?" Ansoni stepped forward. "What happened to the memories, the remains of Richard's existence?" He knew a part of Richard had been freed because Kein had destroyed the machine that stole his life, but he did not know where those were sent after Callisto turned Thursday back into who he was. "I can not say. The infinati can not reclaim them as they have no entrance here. It is up to the me that rests in gods realm. He decided what to remember, and what to forget." He closed his eyes. "As for me, I am already.." But he was gone, before the sentence could be finished. "This has gone on for long enough.." Ansoni sighed.

"Callisto!"

The doors to the great golden palace opened as soon as Thursday vanished. They raced through large halls and chambers, lacking any kind of direction. "She changed everything." If this was supposed to have originally been the Castillo household, it no longer resembled it in any way. "Wait. that is not a painting." And half the walls were decorated with frames that were not actually still. "They are moving?" One frame showed a city, covered in ice. "But that is capitol city.." Ansoni flinched as he made the realization. "These are images of our country?" Sarah saw her own city, drenched in darkness. Another frame showed the burning East City or the ruins of North City. "It even shows places further away." Kein found one frame that displayed the devastation across the ocean. "God knows all and sees all, huh. Callisto has been watching us all this time. And yet she never interfered..." Was this really all that serious to her, or a game after all? "Well, if she knows we are coming for her. Why disappoint her?"

In the end there was only one place she could be, every corridor of the palace twisted itself to lead to the center chamber. There, behind stained glass doors, they found her. "What in the.." But they found a lot of other things that they did not expect to see. "What is the meaning of this?" They were in her bedroom, the same room they had escaped from two days ago. More of the dimensional windows were scattered across the walls, floor and ceiling, but they only had eyes for what was inside this chamber. "Oh. We have guests." Four people sat on a bed, a mother, father and their two children. The mother held a book and the father watched over them. Focusing solely on this image, one could mistake this for an innocent family event. "Malcean, again? We just defeated that guy!" Nathan cried out, as the father was a man who just kept coming back from defeat. "And Jason, what happened to you?" And the son just sat there, vacantly gazing out ahead as if he did not even need to react to his environment. "Callisto, what have you done.."

Only one could explain this, only one had put this together. "Callisto brought back the family, what father had wanted all along. Is that not right, father?" The girl smiled at her 'father'. "Of course my dear, this is the power us Castillos have always dreamed of." He nodded back to her. "..But.." However everyone else could see what was wrong here. "Callisto. That is not.. I mean he does not even sound." Yet she ignored their words. "And brother is happy at long last as well, right brother?" Jason met her sister with an equally lucid expression. "Yes. Now that I know my true name, I know that I was wrong. And that the past does not matter. Only family does." His eyes turned to the duelists. "You can join us. You have waited long enough to hear who you really are. Then you will forget all about the lies you had to put up with for all your lives." The others just stood there, stunned. This situation was a lot more uncomfortable than any could have seen coming. "The lies?" Ansoni broke the silence. "You think.. this is not a lie?"

Callisto blinked. "What does Ansoni mean?" She asked her mother. "No. Do not turn away, I am here. I am real, you admitted that." Ansoni's tone changed, he was tired of all this. "Those people, your mother, your father. They are dead, Callisto. Gone." This seemed to touch a nerve, as Callisto pushed her mother away and stepped down from her bed. "You are only saying that because you do not know any better. But everything has been a lie, mother never died. Mother could not have died." The kindness in her voice started to crack away. "Then what about your father? You said he died in the real world. How can he be back?" Ansoni did not let up. "No. If mothers death was not true, death can not be true. And Callisto has control now, over the lies and truths. She can bring back everyone she wants." She protested, louder this time. "That is the point there, isn't it? It is what you want, Callisto." He pointed at Malcean, Jason and the woman. "You want a father that dotes you, a mother that reads you your favorite stories, a brother that does not fear you. You are not reviving anyone, you are just making new dolls to play with. Like Helen, Thursday and Xavier." Callisto's eye twitched. "No. That is not true. Callisto told them..their names, and they love her now."

"She will show you!" And then the room started to rumble. "Callisto, what... are you doing?" The windows all around them shattered, and walls crumbled down. "Everyone needs to see the world like she sees it. Then they will understand." Only the floor they were standing on remained the same, the rest just all went away. As if the palace had never been around this room. "The tree?" Instead they saw the roots and branches of the great world tree once again, stretching out across the star filled night sky. "Where are we, in space or something?" In fact they did not see any clouds or land at all anymore, it was just them and Yggdrasil. "This is how far the lies go. This is how far Callisto's power extends. Not just this world, but the whole of the galaxy, all of existence. It is but an empty hollow dream." She lifted herself off the floor, pointing to the stars. "It is not just the immortals who were bound to the earth, the mortals were as well. Not once have any of them tried to go beyond the clouds Because than they would see, how fragile it all is."

"What are you saying now? That this is all there is out there?" Ada saw no planets, no stellar matter, not even the moon. This was nothing like the solar system they knew off. "This is why Callisto is needed. To fill the void. Gods realm has already perished, so she will make the new universe here. Starting with our own system." She clapped her hands together and summoned a deck of cards which swirled around her. "She will section the world of lies. All that is true has remains and shall remain forever in valhalla. The rest shall be spread out across the great tree, so that it will never fall apart again." Various points on the tree began to light up, glowing brightred, ice blue or any other color. "But you still do not like it." Callisto had explained all this with crazed enthusiasm, but that all waned away when she saw the expressions on everyone's face. "They know only of one way to settle this." She shook her head. "The cards reflect the truth. So through the cards she can and will show you reality."

She snapped her fingers and now the floor to split open. "Whoa." Nathan nearly fell off, until he realized he could not. "Huh?" The floor was cut into eight pieces, seven for each duelist to stand on and one for the Castillo family. "When Callisto's cards win against theirs, they will understand. So choose the representative." She waited for one of seven to come forward. "I will do it." Ansoni spoke up before others could. "I knew it would come down to this, it always does. I prepared my deck for yours, Callisto." He knew she liked the element of light, and his deck was well equipped to counter that element. "So be it." She waved her hand and Ansoni's platform raised itself to her level. "But as the Creator of this world came before anything else, Callisto will move before any other duelist." She drew six cards. "Zeradias shall be discarded." By discarding the Envoy of Heaven from her hand, Sanctuary of the Sky could be taken out of the deck. "And the Sanctuary shall be played." In the galactic skies, appeared the holy aerial temple.

Callisto's LP: 8000 Ansoni's LP: 8000

"So is she using her old deck?" Ada thought. If she was still using her counter angel deck, Ansoni would be in a lot of trouble. "She shall set a monster, that is all." Yet no traps were played. "Hmm, maybe now that she can not predict the future, she can make mistakes?" Sarah hoped that that was the case, it could explain why Callisto either did not draw many counter traps right away or why she was using a different playing style. "we shall see." Kein knew it was too early to tell. "Koa'ki Meiru Doom!" At any rate, when Ansoni's turn started he summoned the demonic core monster(1700/800). "Doom negates the effects of light and dark monsters during the main phase!" He said, and then ordered his monster to attack. "Destroy the set!" Doom flapped its wings and dark wind gales shredded Callisto's facedown monster. "Wait, what was that?" But what everyone saw getting killed, was an angel dressed in a black cloak(700/1700). And not any angel they had ever seen before. "The Agent of Destiny - Pluto." And as it died, another angel took its place. Pluto could special summon another planetary Agent dressed in red (2100/1900). "And now Agent Uranus?" This one they did not recognize either, the Agent series was not registered.

_The Agent of Destiny - Pluto, 3/700/1700 Light/Fairy  
>When this card is destroyed (either by battle or a card effect) and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon 1 level 4 or lower "The Agent" monster from your Deck.<br>If "The Sanctuary in the Sky" is face-up on the field, you can special summon any "The Agent" monster instead._

_The Agent of Truth - Uranus, 5/2100/1900 Light/Fairy  
>Fairy-type monsters you control can not attack during the turn they are summoned. Each time a fairy-type monster(s) is summoned, increase your lifepoints by 500.<br>If "The Sanctuary in the Sky" is face-up on the field, you can tribute other face-up fairy-type monsters to inflict 500 damage to your opponent._

"What are these, monsters? Are they like the Malefic set and Aesir god cards?" Ansoni placed a spell down and ended his turn, revealing Koa'ki Meiru Valafar in his hand to keep Doom alive on his field. "Yes. God made the first generation of cards, man made the second, and Callisto made the third. But in the end they are all alike." Her turn started again and immediately Uranus' spear bore right through the devil Doom . "All are creators in one way or another." She summoned a third Agent monster from her hand. "Agent of Creation - Venus." This one was female(1600/0) and draped in gold. "To create, one must destroy." With Doom dead she could use her agents effects again. "Venus creates." By paying 500 lifepoints, Venus could special summon Mystical Shine Ball(500/500) monsters from the deck. Callisto summoned three. "And Uranus balances the cycle." But every time an angel was summoned, Uranus healed Callisto's life by 500 points. "The cycle of life and death." And then Uranus sacrificed all three tokens, letting the spheres burn up and unleashed their energy against Ansoni. "Gah!" He would have fallen from his platform, had it not been for the odd gravity in this place. "And.. Pluto establishes the border of dreams and reality." And then at the tip of a root that reached the very horizon of space, a black flame started to grow.

Callisto's LP: 8500 Ansoni's LP: 6100

"Watch as a new galaxy is born."

(To be Continued in Mark 121: Break all Worlds)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Changer Synchron<p>

-  
>TGX1-HL1<p>

-  
>Limiter Overload<br>Urgent Tuning

**New Cards used by Thursday**  
>Nature's Reflection<p>

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Doom<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**_  
>The Agent of Destiny - Pluto<br>The Agent of Truth - Uranus_  
>The Agent of Creation - Venus<br>Mystical Shine Ball


	121. 121: Break All Worlds

**Mark 121: Break all Worlds  
><strong>

"Sir? Are you alright, sir?" Macbeth heard a familiar voice, and his eyes opened to a familiar scene. "Where?" He startled himself wide awake, when he discovered where he was. "Siren, boss?" And he saw the faces of Siren and Gaunt, as he rose from the floor. "How did I get here?" He was back in the conference room. "That is what we would ask you." Dean replied from the sidelines. "You just teleported back in here, surprising us all." Last time he checked, Macbeth could not do that on his own. "I was.. dueling. Thursday." He flinched. "Thursday was, Richard was defeated! And.. they took away his memories again." He shook his head, it was throbbing like crazy. "And then he defeated me, he must have sent me back here." He looked at Gaunt. "But the others are still there, the mission has not failed yet!" He quickly told his boss. "That is good to hear. But, there appear to be developments in our own situation." He replied and walked to the window. "Developments?" Gaunt rolled up the blinds. Macbeth saw the black sky, but it was no longer just black. "Our satellites did not pick this up, but it is clearly visible to our eyes." Roots were sprouting up from the ground, reaching into the darkness. And at its tip was a single black sphere. "What.."

Callisto's LP: 8500 Ansoni's LP: 6100

"...is this?" Asked Ansoni as he saw the same thing. The universe they were in was no longer just the world tree and stars, a planet was growing. "Is that supposed to be Pluto?" Sarah looked closer. "Hey that looks like." The color of the planet resembled the black oil that infested West City. "Pluto, Helheim, Callisto can give it any name she wishes. But it will be the first realm in her new kingdom, the planets shall hold the spirits of all kinds." Callisto said as she ended her turn. "Pluto shall be her planet for the remnants of the spirits which were lies, the spirits that were not strong enough to survive the crossing." Ansoni drew a card again. "You mean like my father?" He summoned Koa'ki Meiru Ice(1900/1200) and immediately entered his battle phase, sending the frozen core monster after the Agent of Creation(1600/0). "Like all those people you slaughtered?" Ice killed Venus without a hint of struggle, though any damage he would have done to Venus' owner was nullified by Sanctuary in the Sky.

"Father? But Ansoni has no father, the connection does not count if it is not by blood. And besides... Callisto did not kill them. The crossing was not her doing.. They were already dead." She answered him, sounding quite sincere. "What?" Kein cringed. "Already dead? Those people at R-tech, the ministers. What are you talking about?" Callisto looked down on him. "She means this.." She snapped her fingers and summoned, not a monster, but a person. "Oh!" It was minister Helion himself. "Wh-where.. Ansoni? What is going on?" He saw everyone around, and focused on his adopted son. "Max..I.." Yet before he could even return a full sentence, the man disappeared in the blink of an eye. "A..ah.." Callisto had dismissed him, just like that. "See? He was not real, Callisto can bring him back and destroy him over and over. Because he is not truly alive." Ansoni's stretched out arm was pulled back. "You, how can you.." He balled his hand into a fist. "How can you be this blind!" He activated Koa'ki Meiru Ice's effect, discarding Koa'ki Meiru Valafar from his hand to destroy one monster that had been special summoned. So the Agent Uranus(2100/1900) was destroyed. "You can not tell one life from another, you just choose who you want to be around."

He ended his turn afterwards, revealing a continuous spell in his hand, Shard of Greed, to keep the Ice monster intact. "Two more worlds are destroyed, now there is life and balance in the system." Callisto ignored his fury and turned to see the tree as it grew again. "Svartalfheim and Alfheim these shall be. Home for the spirits of light and darkness." Two more planetary objects sprouted like flowers, Venus and Uranus were now held up by the World Tree along with Pluto. "Light spirits, dark spirits? Who would go there?" Urizen asked, as it did not sound like a place a human could end up in. "Those that do not yet understand the nature of lies and their relation to the cards, can not get that answered." She drew a card. "The universe can not stop here. So let's add the one world every man loves." She summoned Earth - The Agent of Mystery(1000/800). "Earth is the center point, without it, no other worlds could be found." Earth's effect allowed Callisto to move any Agent from her deck to her hand. But with the Sanctuary of the Sky in place, a 'Master Hyperion' could also be added to her hand.

"But before the earth, and all planets.. was the sun." She took Master Hyperion out and special summoned him. "Hyperion, Callisto can summon this spirit by banishing an agent." Uranus was removed from her graveyard, and an angel in red and gold armor took form, Master Hyperion(2600/2100) dwarfed the Earth angel in size. "The suns representative?" Ada had read plenty of myths on her free days, and while Helios was more widely known as the titan of the sun, Hyperion had that title before Helios. "Hyperion shall banish one fairy in the cosmic cemetery, to break up to two cards on the field." Callisto explained, as Hyperion raised his hands. "Ansoni only has two cards, Callisto has many fairies." One of the Mystical Shine Balls was removed by Hyperion, and he sent out solar flares towards Koa'ki Meiru Ice and Ansoni's set spell. "Koa'ki Meiru Initialize! I sacrifice Ice to add the 'Iron Core' to my hand." But his facedown quickplay spell turned this destruction around, generating a new card for the duelist. "But.." However this left him exposed, and the two stellar angels struck Ansoni directly.

Ansoni's LP: 2500

"I am not in the mood for astronomy lessons, Callisto." Then it was his turn again. "One Day of Peace. Both players shall draw one card, but all damage is negated for two turns." The two players drew cards. "Even if more of your universe is made, with every agent I destroy. I shall keep fighting until I get through to you." He ended his turn. Since nothing could damage him yet, he did not want to set any cards just to let Hyperion destroy them. "Fighting. Callisto knows why everyone has to resolve all conflicts this way. It is in the nature of the survivors." Callisto drew again. "But Callisto wants to end this too, this thirst for combat." She summoned another agent, the Agent of Force - Mars(6100/0). "!" The attackpoints of the hammerwielding angel were higher than the zero points his card text prescribed him. "Mars is the agent of severity and cruelty. His power goes up, the more my enemy has lost." The angels attackpoints were equal to the difference between their lifepoints. "Ribbon of Rebirth." And she equipped the Agent with a spell that would revive it, if it ver were to die in battle. "End turn." However she could not damage him, so she skipped her battle phase.

"Rrrgh. Core Compression." In his turn he first activated the draiwng spell, revealing the Iron Core in his hand and discarding a Koa'ki Meiru monster to draw two new cards. "Shard of Greed." His continuous spell was activated by him next, though he could not use the card's effect itself yet. "I summon a monster!" He summoned Koa'ki Meiru Hydro Barrier, a sea vortex monster(1000/1900). "I set the Iron Core I have on top of my deck, so Hydro barrier can seal all your monsters effects until my next turn." Hydro Barrier raised a wall of water around the mystery agent,solar master and hammer agent(0/0). "Mars' effect is sealed now! So I strike that card!" Hydro Barrrier drowned the red planet angel in a prison of water. "Then I set two cards down and end my turn." He hoped to buy himself some time with this move. While during his endphase, Mars(0/0) came back to life thanks to the Rebirth Ribbon, its powers were sealed by a water barrier still.

"If abilities are sealed, brute strength remains. They attack." Hyperion flew towards the Hydro monster, breaking through its barriers of water. "Negate attack!" But Ansoni ended her battle phase before she could deliver the fatal attacks. "Negate Attack?" Calisto blinked, she did not expect that favorite counter trap would be used against her. "As I said, I modified my deck to counter your overwhelming power." Ansoni boasted, as Hyperions flames disappeared in a wormhole. "Then you fear Callisto." She ended her turn. "No, I pity you. Callisto. I activate Core Reinforcements!" Before Ansoni's draw phase came he flipped his other trap. "I revive Koa'ki Meiru Speeder." A jet-fighter machine(1200/2200) was summoned from the grave, it was the card Ansoni had discarded with Core Compression. "Speeders effect allows me to draw again every time I draw the Iron Core during my draw phase!" Hydro Barrier had placed the Iron Core on top of his deck, so he knew he would draw it this turn. "Draw one.." And so he did, and Speeder gave him the ability to draw again. "Two!" And to his shock and pleasant surprise, he actually drew a second Iron Core. "..Three!" So he could draw once more. "Lucky.." Sarah cheered him on. "No." Callisto saw it differently. "His mark, his mark.."

She stared at her opponent, at his wrist. "Oh that is right." Ansoni rolled up the sleeve of his uniform, revealing the glowing mark of earth. "These things have been a great help to us. We would not have gotten here without them. Now they even help us with our draws." Ansoni smirked. His old mark had never helped him this much. "But.. like brother. His mark too. Callisto did not design them that way." The girl did not understand how that was possible. She made the marks, they were her blessings. Why did the marks turn against her? "And now, your agents. I have found their one weakness." Ansoni played the spell he drew. "Your field unlocks most of your agents potential, so I just replace it with my field: Iron Core Specimen Lab." The sanctuary above the two broke into fragments of marble, as a lab room overtook it. "...Now I can inflict damage to you again, when I battle your fairy monsters. And Mars' power is again taken away!" He started his assault. "Hydro barrier, Speeder!" Mars was again killed by a water bubble, Speeder incinerated the Earth agent.

Callisto's LP: 7300

"Well then, this is a start." Ansoni placed a trap down and ended his turn. "I discard one Iron Core from my hand, to keep the Specimen Lab on my field. The other Core I keep in my hand." Because he did not discard, Koa'ki Meiru Speeder destroyed itself. "And when a Koa'ki Meiru monster selfdestructs, the Lab can add another Core monster from my deck to my hand!" He added Koa'ki Meiru Crusader from his deck to his hand. "Well, Callisto. It looks like you do not even understand gods powers yourself." She drew her card. "Planet of fire, and planet of earth." But she went back to ignoring his words and started talking about the two new planets added to the world tree collection. "Muspellheim, Midgard. Four realms remain.." She then again summoned an Agent, a female dressed in green and blue, hiding behind a massive shield(800/2200). "Neptune is the Mercy that allows all lives to be live as they desire." Her presence unsealed Hyperions ability again, the field was treated as if the Sanctuary had never left it.

_The Agent of Mercy - Neptune, 4/800/2200 Light/Fairy  
>When this card is normal or flip Summoned, it is changed to defense position. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the field is treated as "Sanctuary of the Sky"<br>You can tribute this card to select and add 1 field spell card from your graveyard to your hand._

"Hyperion." She banished another Mystical Shine Ball to fuel the solar angels destructive powers. "I was not done talking yet, Callisto!" Yet before Hydro Barrier and his set trap card, the targets of the Master, were burned down to nothingness, a counter trap came into play. "Negaton Core Panel! Since my hand has an iron Core in it, i can negate your monsters effect!" Hyperions prominence turned out to be its undoing, as the negaton trap reflected the flames and turned it back on him. "Because there is one thing I still do not get." Ansoni continued talking, while the death of her monster silenced Callisto. "I do not see why you gave us these marks, or rather the chance to get these marks. Did you think we would be your new friends, if we had this power?" She looked at him. "No, she did not. But.." She placed a card down and ended her turn. "Callisto felt sorry for everyone. Callisto wanted them to have some fun so they would see, the new world would not be all bad. Callisto did not know if the marks, would work for you too.."

"Is that how it is? Deep down you are still treating this like a game." Urizen shouted from below. "This world is a game, there are laws even a god can not get around. Not the earthbound, not Callisto." Meanwhile Ansoni drew again. "So this will end through a game." Now he could activate the Shard of Greed. "Shard of Greed has two counters, one for each draw phase I performed. I can tribute it to to draw two cards." He gained a card for each counter. "I set two cards and switch Hydro Barrier to defense mode." But he sadly had not drawn a monster that could overpower Neptune's defenses. "But if this is a game, then you are familiar with the terms. You consider me as real, as someone actively playing this game." He glared down at her family. "What about them? Your father told me he had never played a game in his life, until the day he initiated the ritual. And your mother, she does not look like a duelist to me." He questioned whether or not they fit the same mold as everyone else that had survived the void.

"We..played. We know how too." Jason said with a smile. "I was not speaking to you." Ansoni turned back to Callisto. "I saw what you did to my father, sir Helion. But ..aren;t you doing the same to yours?" He sighed. "He has been brought back three times now. that you can do that so easily. Does that not say something?" The girls eyes widened. "Ansoni is saying, they are like your fake father?" She started to shiver. "No. No they are different, Callisto knows that." She tributed Neptune as soon as she could, to take back Sanctuary in the Sky. "Callisto does not like your words anymore!" She then played two spells from her hand, the Sanctuary and Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. "So she will end this now!" And with Valhalla's effect, he could summon a new angel from her hand, this time she called forth a stern looking judge(2400/0). "Saturn, agent of Judgment and Understanding. This angel can inflict damage equal to the difference between our Ansoni and Callisto!" Callisto said. "What?" And that was bad news for Ansoni. "Callisto uses this effect now.. disappear, Ansoni!"

(To be Continued in Mark 122: Edge of the Known Universe)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Hydro Barrier<br>Koa'ki Meiru Speeder

-  
>Shard of Greed<p>

-  
>Negate Attack<br>Damage Polarizer

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>The Agent of Mysteries - Earth<br>Master Hyperion  
>The Agent of Force - Mars<em><br>The Agent of Mercy - Neptune_  
>The Agent of Judgment - Saturn<p> 


	122. 122: Edge of the Known Universe

**Mark 122: Edge of the Known Universe**

Callisto's LP: 7300 Ansoni's LP: 1100

The agent of judgment(2400/0) had been special summoned by the halls of Valhalla, and Callisto wanted to pass down Saturns judgment on Ansoni. "Triggered Summon!" But when a monster was special summoned, this trap of Ansoni could be played. "We both summon a level four or lower monster from our hands. I choose the Koa'ki Meiru Guardian." A sentinel of stone(1900/1200) was summoned to his side. "He can negate the effect of a monster by sacrificing himself!" The Guardian raised his sword of rock and cut down Saturn before he could inflict damage to his dueling master. "But it had to end." Callisto protested, as she used the effect of Triggered Summon to summon a Aurora Paragon(1500/1000), who would seal all special summons from now on. "No. This duel shall not end the way you want it to. The mark of light is helping me achieve my purpose as well, the purpose of understanding." His main goal was to get through to her, but it did not hurt to get her enraged. Had she been calmer, she might not have lost Saturn.

"Understand...?" Callisto then placed a monster in face down defense position as well and a spell card. "I draw." Ansoni began his turn_. "Aurora Paragon blocks special summons. But.." _He normal summoned Koa'ki Meiru Crusader(1900/1300), and the Aurora angel burst into spectral energy. "When a monster is normal summoned, Paragon dies." That at least was an angel monster he knew the effect of. "So I can now revive a Koa'ki Meiru monster with my spell, Urgent Synthesis." By sending the Iron Core spell in his cemetery back to his deck, a devil core monster(1700/800) could be re-synthesized. "Doom is summoned!" Then he entered the battle phase, but kept his Hydro Barrier(1000/1900) in defense mode. "Crusader attacks your set monster." Crusader cut her face-down Hecatrice(1500/1100) in half, which activated its effect that let Ansoni take a Koa'ki Meiru monster back from his cemetery. "I reclaim Koa'ki Meiru Valafar, and now Doom will attack you directly!" The demon struck with gales of dark energy.

"I set a card down, and end my turn." During his endphase the Crusader destroyed itself, but Doom could remain on the field as Ansoni had another fiend in his hand thanks to Crusaders effect. "No, not the end. Not yet." But before she accepted the start of her turn, she flipped the quickplay spell on her field. "Photon Lead. One light elemental descends from Callisto's hand." A greenskinned book-holding angel (0/1700) was summoned by Photon Lead. "When Callisto has nothing in her hand, the Agent of Wisdom shall help her with her draws." As her turn started, Mercury allowed Callisto to draw one more card in her standby phase. "Mercury, the first realm of Niflheim, the oldest reside here." She looked behind her, seeing the planets of Saturn and Neptune blossom on the tree of life, while Mercury started to sprout. "Callisto forget to tell you about them: about Vanaheim, the world of Vanir, and Jotunheim the world of ice giants." By now the tree was missing just one planet. "Every soul has its place now. What remains is.."

Callisto's LP: 5600

"Gods new realm." She summoned the ninth and final agent. "Jupiter - Agent of Miracles." A redwinged muscular angel(1800/1000) flew down to stand besides her. "The angel as Asgard, he oversees all domains and controls all its representatives." Though right now Doom prevented her from using the effects of this Agent. " Ansoni has come far, and has helped Callisto summon all planets." Jupiter could easily kill Doom however, letting his master use its abilities in the second main phase. "But he has gone as far as he can go." Callisto discarded a fairy card from her hand. "By sending an angel to the next life, an agent can return to this plane." She released the Agent of Truth - Uranus(2100/1900) from the other dimension, where Hyperion had imprisoned it. "!" And the others remembered what effect that monster had. "She is going to sacrifice her agents to do damage to him!" Ada gasped as already Uranus tributed the Agent of Wisdom, and she only required one more shot to take out Ansoni's remaining lifepoints.

Ansoni's LP: 500

"Energy Absorbing Monolith!" But as Uranus sacrificed himself to give him the fatal shot, a monolith arose to absorb the crimson angels energy. "The damage I take is converted into healing energy!" He gained 500 LP after he lost it from the first shot. "Callisto, as long as I have this mark, my deck will continue to fight for me as well." Ansoni said. "But why.." Callisto still did not get it. "Brothers mark told him to use power tool, Ansoni's mark keeps him alive." She turned her head to look down, her eyes focused on one duelist. "And that one.." Urizen stared back at her. "What about me?" He snapped. "Urizens mark, was also this powerful. Fathers mark was not." Callisto ended her turn. "The earthbound gods are gone, so who is blessing the signers if not Callisto?" She did not know, she wanted an answer. "Gaunt once told me, a mark that has been passed on also passed on the will of its ancestor. That is why Urizens mark was so powerful, the previous owner's survival instinct rested within it." Ansoni drew again. "I doubt these marks you made, that they are fueled by your will. Not actively at least. But perhaps there is a spiritual force even you can not see, that wants me to achieve what I set out to do." He placed one trap card down and ended his turn.

Ansoni's LP: 1000

"That is not possible. Callisto the highest power, there is nothing she can not see!" She yelled. ' And what Callisto can not see, does not exist!" She activated the second effect of her Miracle agent. "Jupiter controls life, but also power. One buried agent can be sealed in another existence, to empower Jupiter." The agent banished Mars, so he(2600/1000) could gain 800 attackpoints. "Ansoni blocked magical damage, then Callisto will attack directly!" And with another planetary Agent stuck in the other dimension, Jupiter could reactive its first skill as well, so Mars the Agent of Force(4600/0) was reborn. "I chain with Automatic Laser to destroy your monster!" But only for a short while, as a trap cards laser, powered by the Iron Core spell in the duelists hand, ripped through the red planet angel. "Man he really is lucky with that mark." Nathan counted 4 lifesavers by now, all in a row. "No. This game is not fun anymore, why will Ansoni not go away!" She sent Jupiter after Hydro Barrier, the aqua Koa'ki meiru was felled with one punch.

"You said this was all a game, didnt you? That even with all the signs and the proof of god, you could not change the nature of this world." The turn passed back to Ansoni, while Jupiter(1800/1000) could no longer keep its boosted attackpoints. "You have taken away everyone who had no fighting spirit, but you could not do anything to us. There must be a reason why everyone who stayed behind is also a duelist, and why there must be signers. You must know the reason. If you can not answer yourself, how could we?" He activated yet another Core Compression, he discarded Koa'ki Meiru Valafar from his hand and drew a pair of cards. "At any rate, you are out of planets to use, Callisto." He summoned the Koa'ki Meiru Beetle(1900/1500). The stagbeetle unleashed eletricity from its horn which fried the mighty Jupiter. "I discard the Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru from my hand to keep the Beetle on my field. And I end my turn." The destruction of the final planet let the ninth flame bloom, the great world tree was finally done growing. "So this is how her universe will be." Demistria sounded impressed.

"Wait. She can not do anything to us.. then how did she.." Sarah pointed at her family, particularly at Jason. "How did she make him so..well.. docile?" Jason being tamed was like this a miracle. "This reminds me..of.." A startling realization hit Ada. "Xavier!" She saw the expression on Jasons face for what it was, it was exactly like the one Xavier wore when he dueled her. "She must have, turned him into a card? You, you killed him!" She yelled at the girl. "No. Callisto made him better, she only remove the negative." Callisto pulled a card out of her dress. "Everything that he was, sister would never get rid of it!" Ansoni was close enough to see who was pictured on that card. "Of course, that is where he went." It was her brother, frozen in fear. "I knew it! It is just like with Xavier, and Helen. You take their memories away and write new personalities for them, just so they can love you!" Ada had never thought she could be this disgusted by a single act. "No, no, no! Callisto only removes the lies, and puts back the truth!" The girl closed her eyes and grabbed her head with both hands, she did not want to hear them anymore. "No! You do not get to play innocent anymore, you twisted these people. You took Ali away, you must still have his card with you too. Show him!"

".." Callisto stopped moving. Whether it was Ada's words or not was unclear, but it looked like she had calmed down. "There is only one way now." She put the Jason card back and took a card from her deck instead. "Ngh!" In that instant, Ansoni felt a heavy weight drop on him, and his heart started pounding twice as fast. "What, was that?" It was the card she had drawn, he was sure of it. "The world tree, the tree of life. It has reached every corner of this existence, it has found the limits of mankinds spirit." The stars around them faded away, their light was absorbed by the nine planets in the solar system. "God reveals himself not just physically, but emotionally. There are ten states of consciousness, ten stages of the divine creation."

"It begins with the Crown..Keter." One star became the brightest; the sun. "Then comes wisdom, Chokmah, and understanding/judgment, Binah." The light from Mercury and Saturn started to spread out across the tree branches. "Chesed is Mercy's Kindness, Gevurah is Force's Severity, and to balance these polar opposites there is the splendor and sincere truth of Tiferet." Neptune, Mars and Uranus gave off their energy as well. "The destined eternity of Netzach, the miraculous glories of Hod, the created foundation of Yesod." Pluto, Jupiter and Venus joined in, leaving just one globe. "And it all ends with Malkut, the kingdom of man, life's greatest mystery. Callisto will show you now, what this all adds up to." She took the card in her hand and summoned it to the field. "When ten or more monsters rest in their tombs, the Ultimate Lord of Time can be special summoned." Hyperion and the ten planetary agents all waited in the grave. "Sephylon, the incarnate of the tree. Be summoned." The light that ran across Yggdrasil like a river came together at one spot, and from that spot a mighty angel(4000/4000) emerged. "Time lord?" It was a creature unlike any other they had ever seen, an angel like they had never seen before. An mechanical pendulum being with hangs and a halo.

"Is that a face?" But there was one part of it tfhat resembled a human, the angels chestplate was made of glass and revealed a face within. "Sephylon can call upon any highlevel angel, living or dead, and share its immense power with it." Master Hyperion(4000/2100) was revived from the graveyard and its attackpoints were raised until it became Sephylons equal. "That much attackpower? There is no way Ansoni can stand against that!" Kein exclaimed. Even with Koa'ki Meiru Beetle's effect to switch all light and dark monsters to defense mode after they were summoned, Ansoni could only buy himself one turn. Especially since the Beetle would destroy himself unless Ansoni could keep feeding it Iron Cores. "Before Callisto ends her turn, she will show you. Tell you. She does not think you are ready for the truth, for your true names. But there is no other way to convince you." The face within Sephylons chest looked down on them. "This god once had a different name. You know him.. as Wiraqocha Rasca,"

Everyone flinched at the same time. "Wiraqocha Rasca? The creator of the world?" Ansoni could not believe it. "But that is.. a humans face!" The sky started to change colors again, everything in the background including the tree of life became transparent, revealing a new scene. "What are we back on earth?" They were inside a building, standing on a solid floor inside a large technical facility. "This can not be normal, what did you do this time!" Urizen could see the outside through a window, the sky was blood red and smoke covered every corner of the horizon. "This was not Callisto's doing." Just then a person in a labcoat walked towards them. "Oye!" But he did not appear to see the duelists or the Castle family, he just walked straight through. "I said.." He even somehow phased through Nathan, as if he were a ghost. "An illusion?" Demistria was the first to catch on. "Yes. What you are witnessing has already happened, this is a preserved memory of the past." The man entered a room, where six other people waited.

"We have secured the grant, the government is going to give us all we need one man said determinedly. "That is great news!" Said a woman. "When shall we begin?" The youngest and also most eager of the group jumped in the air and did a fistpump. "Calm down. We still need to organize this all." An older man sitting in a chair cut the boy off. "It will take months to even get the procedures properly tested, and then there is the selection method." He sighed. "But we lack the time to take things slowly, and I will not let this turn into a game of who can throw the most money at us." The fifth was a man with glasses and receding hairline. "We did not say that. But the question is whether or not we can save everyone in time." And the sixth was a darkhaired and dark-skinned middle-aged man. "Either way, we should start right away. We need to find volunteers for the tests." The one who had brought them the news was the same man whose face showed up in Sephylons chestplate, a man who looked like he was in his 60s, but whose hair was still dark red. "Then.." Ansoni finally spoke up. "Seven people.." It all came together now. "A dying world." He and the others figured out where they were. "Yes. this is gods world."

"These are the seven creators of mans world. Seven mortals.."

(To be Continued in Mark 123: Reality)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Koa'ki Meiru Beetle<p>

-  
>Urgent Synthesis<p>

-  
>Triggered Summon<br>Energy-Absorbing Monolith

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Aurora Paragon<br>The Agent of Wisdom - Mercury  
>The Agent of Miracles - Jupiter<br>Sephylon, the Ultimate Time Lord

-  
>Photon Lead<p> 


	123. 123: Reality

**Mark 123: Reality**

The seven creators of the world, there they were, looking just as human as everyone else. "I..I do not get this." But the duelists dod not comprehend what they saw, they had only known the earthbound as immaterial immortal terrors. "That is earth? They came from earth, to earth?" Despite the bloodred sky, everything else told them they were looking at a scene that had taken place on their planet. "Earth _is_ gods realm." Callisto told them. "Earth was the dying world, the real world." She snapped her fingers and now everyone was back outside again. They could see the state the world had been in. "A disaster of unknown source struck, the skies and waters were poisoned, the clouds became dark as panic spread." They looked down and saw riots in the streets, people breaking into stores to get supplies and food. Others were sheltering in bunkers, or quarantined in cages by riot police. "Something hit the planet, and the end of life came in sight. Their world could no longer sustain them, it became a fight for survival."

Suddenly the scene changed, the sun came up and and went down a dozen times. "But, there was a way to save mankind. The seven 'gods' found a way." They were moved back inside the building, now there stood machines and devices whose functions were a mystery to the duelists. "I have never seen such technology." Ansoni began to wonder in what age this was supposed to take place. "Seven of the brightest minds on the globe joined forces and were given all they needed to create this." Everyone's attention turned to one machine in the building; it was as large as a house, and its cables were as wide as vans. "What did that do?" Sarah looked at it, mesmerized by its sheer presence. "This was what created ..the lie." A bright light filled the hall, coming from the machine. "Callisto does not know the specifics, the mechanics or procedures. But she knows the consequence; the gods managed to make a second world. A world for humanity to live in. It was the only way for everyone to survive, all other options were exhausted."

"The lie? Then, this world we are living in right here and now, is just a copy?" Nathan started to figure out what she was saying, but he still did not believe it entirely. "Less than a copy. It is a figment given physical form. This world was formed by the wills and dreams of all mortals, nothing more. That.." Callisto directed her finger to Ansoni. "..is why Ansoni was born in this world without a loving father and mother. That is why this world is only about as old as two decades but has the history of a million millenia. That is why out of billions, only tens of thousands are still real. If you could call this world anything, you could call it a separation from reality. We are out of tune from time and space..desynchronized. Past, present and future all happen at once. This is why Callisto saw the future, she saw time as it should flow." Her tone turned even bleaker, as if to make clear that she was telling them the truth. "Everyone else was just a dream, a remnant. The world created new lies out of necessity, mortals to fill in the blanks left behind by those who could not cross over. Only those with a strong will to live survived the migration from their world to this one. Competition, dueling; everyone that Callisto has deemed real has some fighting spirit left." She stopped talking, letting it all sink in.

"Impossible..." Ada was the first one to respond to the revelations. "Impossible! You have to be lying!" She did not take it well. "There are too many holes in your story! It can not be true! Why do we not remember any of this? If this migration only happened two decades ago, someone should remember!" She refused to accept this. "Not everyone could make it to this world, not everything could make it either. Memories of the former world were torn up for reasons unknown, everything about ones personal history was erased. The true names were erased..or scrambled." She pointed at Ada. "Your true name, is Aisha Williams." And then the others as well. "Ashton Morrison, Uri Atreshi, Sandra Bennett, Kain Danton and Anthony Summer. Those are the names everyone had in that world. Even though everyone was young when they made the crossing, they survived. Mortals fight to live regardless of their age." The others were still stunned. "Those names, sound close enough to ours." Ansoni started thinking. "If so few people survived, then it makes sense to cut all ties with those family lines and create new ones." Surnames went extinct in the crossing, new ones had to be made. "Are you saying this makes sense?" Urizen snapped at him. "No, but..I can not deny it either."

"People do not remember the crossover itself, fine. But what about the other memories, like how my mother remembers the day she met my father very well." Ada would know, mother could never stop talking it. "Memories were modified, if entire families survived their collected experiences would remain the same in broad strokes. But knowledge and understanding was decreased in size. This existence is smaller, because people's imagination is smaller than all that is known. Tell callisto, has anyone here ever heard of 'America'?" Everyone flinched, but they did not know why. "What is.." The name sounded familiar, yet they had never heard it before in their lives. "That is what Callisto means, the planet has been made simpler. The continents lost their names, the surface of the world was rearranged. Small towns just get names from combining words and terms. No new towns are made, no new areas are found, space is not explored. History is also simplified, some tribes and figures retain their identifyers because parts of them remain in the minds of the survivors. But other names were removed. It is all because this world of lies will break apart if too much of the truth comes inside."

"Then what about the gods? Why did they turn into those monstrocities?" Kein wondered just how much of the legends about them were true. "That is a story of its own. The seven creators of the world became desperate when they discovered their created world could not hold everyone. Their own darkest thoughts took hold of them and drove them to claim the new world before anyone else could. They were its makers, they made it so that only they could influence the world. This delusion became their reality, when they crossed over they forgot about their past selves, abandoned their bodies and accepted that they were truly gods. But before they could take complete control, an unknown power fought back and trapped them." Callisto stroked her own arm. "The code of the highest creator, the one who gave himself the new name of Wiraqocha Rasca, was split up and distributed among six random individuals. So that if the creators were ever to escape the trap, they could not twist the world as they had wanted to do.."

"But now you are doing what they did." Ansoni said. "Callisto never said that she disagreed with the power, only the way in which it was used was wrong." She snapped her fingers and the images were all dismissed. They were back in the cosmic void held up by Yggdrasil. "Now everyone has seen what Callisto saw. The crossing from gods world to this world made everyone forget reality. But now that Callisto is getting rid of all that is not needed, the truth can return to people's minds. And everything else, the lies and the spirits, they can move on to the worlds she created."

Callisto's LP: 5600 Ansoni's LP: 1000

They were back at the scene of the duel, Ansoni's Koa'ki Meiru Beetle(1900/1500) faced off against Callisto's Master Hyperion(4000/2100) and the Ultimate Time Lord Sephylon(4000/4000). "Callisto has shown you thw origin of god. Now god is nothing more than his fighting spirit, condensed in this card." She smiled, as the others now recognized the face of Sephylon as the face of the head scientist from that facility. "Then, where do the cards come from?" Ansoni asked as he drew a card from his deck, and sacrificed the Beetle for Koa'ki Meiru Ghoulungulate(2500/1700). "Ansoni still does not know? The cards are the shattered remains of the former worlds subconscious. They are.. the dreams and hopes, but also nightmares and fears of every spirit that made it through. Even fusions, even synchros, they all symbolize a part of mankinds subsconscious." She touched one card. "To survive, one must fight and have faith. Those that did not survive the crossing failed to defeat their fears or live up to their aspirations, and became nothing. But those that did conquer those figments in their minds, manifested them as cards. The creator of the cards, is all of mankind itself."

"..That is the weirdest thing I have heard so far." Nathans head started to hurt from all these revelations. "So. That is why some cards respond better to us than others? Because we created them subconsciously the day we got here?" Ansoni activated a spell card, Core Blaster. "Yet you still can not explain why the marks are helping us." His mark of earth had glowed again, it wanted Ansoni to draw this spell which was equipped to the Beetle. "Attack!" Ghoulungulate fired a shot from the Core bazooka at the Ultimate Time Lord. "Core Blaster destroys any light or dark monster that engages in battle with its host, skipping damage calculation." The shot pierced Sephylons body, shattering the glass that held the spirit of the Creator, and not giving it a chance to strike back. "How can you ask us, to accept your world, when you yourself do not fully understand it? How can you ask us to forget about everything we experienced here?" He placed a card down and ended his turn. During the endphase banished Koa'ki Meiru Crusader with the ghouls own effect to keep him from destroying himself.

"It is the only way. Father said so, this world will decay if it is left as it is. The only people alive are the ones who want to fight. So Callisto shall remove pain and death, to remove the need to fight. In this world that is possible, this world is detached from time. Callisto can make people not age, not die. Why would anyone not want this? Why would anyone cling to people that were never real?" She drew again and switched Master Hyperion to attack mode. Though she would not attack since Core Blaster would just shoot it down before she could touch its wielder. Instead she placed a card down and ended her turn. "Because I can not trust you, Callisto. You seem to have trouble distinguishing the living from the dead as well." He turned his eyes away. "You say my father, I mean Maxwell, that he was never real. That he was just a person this world made up to make my life easier. Fine, that could be true. Especially since this world needs it signers. But.." He was looking at Jason, Malcean and Callisto's mother. "Are they not the same?"

"But Callisto." She wanted to answer, but Ansoni was not done yet. "Even if we were to believe you could bring back the dead as well, why just them? Even in this supposed fake world, people die all the time. Real ones or fake ones, who knows? Did you not bring them back because you only wanted your family back? Or do you realize, deep down, that you _can_ not bring them back." Ansoni now kept his eyes fixated on hers, hers were filled with uncertainty. "No. Death is a lie. Mother never died, that was not the real mother. Mother is still.. and father..and brother is..." She drifted off with her words and averted his gaze. "You will have to accept it eventually. Just because it happened here, does not make it a lie. The joys and pains of this world as as real as any other." Ansoni said, though he hesitated to attack. "..I switch Ghoulungulate to defense mode and end my turn." He suspected she switched Hyperion to attack mode for a reason, even though on the surface it would not have made any difference. "But..Callisto." She did not even seem to be completely focused on the game anymore, her eyes kept moving to her mother and father. "Callisto.. wanted this.."

"She does not want it to end!" She activated a spell, Decree Break. "!" The effect seal Sephylon had placed on Hyperion was broken, Hyperion could now use its effect again. And he attempted to destroy Ansoni's trap and equip spell by banishing Hecatrice and Zeradias from her graveyard. "But is that fair? You erase everything else that is not real, but keep your family to yourself!" Ansoni countered by activating his trap card, Grave of the Super Ancient Organism, which negated the effect of Master Hyperion. "It is not fair that mother and father died, they were real! They were family!" She however flipped her counter trap, Divine Punishment, to negate the activation of that trap. _"I knew it." _Ansoni thought to himself. If he had attacked, Core Blaster would have been destroyed by the Divine counter trap, in the middle of his attack. It was a good thing he did not strike, as he could have lost 1500 lifepoints that way. "..." Callisto did not say anything else, Hyperion attempted to kill Ghoulungulate. But the ghoul banished Koa'ki Meiru Hydro Barrier to save itself.

_Decree Break, Normal Spell  
>Select one face-up monster whose effect is negated by another card effect, that monsters effect is not negated.<em>

"My turn." Callisto had played her cards, now he could play his again. "I.." But for the first time in a while, he did not feel the burning energy of the mark on his arm. "Draw." And the card he drew was not a card he could use to destroy Hyperion with. It looked like his luck had run out. _"Is the mark out of power, or..has its purpose been achieved?" _Whatever was giving this mark its power, it seemed satisfied now. "Callisto. I am not lying. You of all people should know that." The girl was trembling, but did not move back and forth anymore. "It is not fair. Callisto only wanted.. everyone to be happy. But she could not find, could not get to father and mother." She took out Jasons card again, as well as another card. "And brother.. and the other. What has Callisto.. have I..." Ansoni walked over to her. "Callisto. We can help you, if what you say is true, we need you and what you know. You can still make everyone happy, but we have to do it differently." This was his chance, he had to get through to her now. "I..Callisto.." She saw him extend a hand. "No!"

Yet something happened that neither duelist expected, a blast of energy came out of the darkness and pierced both of them through the chest. "Wha.." He did not see it coming, nobody did. "Ansoni!" Kein cried out as the man fell to the floor. "What, where did that.. who.." Urizen frantically scanned the room, and found the culprit. "You!" There stood Demistria along with Meklord Emperor Skiel, the machine's barrel still gave off smoke. "Why, why now? what did you do?"

"The Chaos architect has to be removed." Demistria responded coldly. "And if you will not do it, then the Infinati shall.. This world belongs to the design."

(To be Continued in Mark 124: God is not Infinite)

**New Cards used by Ansoni Helion**  
>Grave of the Super Ancient Organism<p>

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**_  
>Decree Break<em>


	124. 124: God is not Infinite

**Mark 124: God is not Infinite**

"Demistria!" They should have seen it coming, they should have been more careful. But they needed her, once she got the mark of fire, they could not just put her away. "What have you done!" Kein shouted even thought he and everyone else had seen what had happened. "You were taking too long. The chaos architect can not be allowed to live." Meklord Emperor Skiel pulled back its beam, and both Ansoni and Callisto fell to their knees. "But you, your deck did not have that card." They had checked it thoroughly, they had her checked thoroughly. "It is the simplest thing to remove one card for a certain period of time." She dismissed the meklord. "I should have known. He said it himself." Urizen grit his teeth. "That butler guy said your memories were altered. I thought he was only talking about those 'lies' we all have been told. About the real world and this world. But that was not it, was it?" He understood now, how she could have fooled them and all their lie detection tests. "The Infinati altered your memories to make you think you were kicked you out!"

And for the first time since they met her, however briefly, a wicked grin crossed her face. "Such a clever boy." She clapped her hands twice. "Yes. That is right. While the loss of my mark was an accident, it could serve us well as a pretext for another infiltration. The council, not even the design could breach this place. And they could not rely on you to finish the task. They expected you to show mercy, and it looks like they were right. So, I was sent.." She traced her fingers across her face. "Who better than me? Than the one who shares the face of your own mother." Urizen flinched. "So, you _were_ aware of that all along." The resemblance had been called a coincidence by everyone but him. "You should know by now why we look alike. The code to control this world lies in the blood of the six signers, that blood comes from the man that created this entire world. The appearance of our bloodlines were modified so we could hold the mark. You could call Wiraqocha Rasca our second father, Urizen. The masked ones knew all along about their true nature."

"Now I understand.." Ansoni coughed, as he tried to get up. "You are still conscious after all that? You really should not bother, Ansoni, your death will only be more painful." The woman said with a clearly faked tone of pity. "I did not think too much about it." He coughed. "Callisto mentioned all our true names. But not yours. Saturday mentioned something like this too.." Demistria said nothing, she awaited his answer. "Demistria is your true name isn't it? The Infinati told you that." And when she got it, she could not help but release a little chuckle. "Correct again. The infinati are the true enlightened, once you work your way up into the highest circle; you are told the whole truth. I am in their eternal debt for that." Ansoni meanwhile fell back down. "Easy, Ansoni!" Sarah rushed to him, and caught him. "What did you do to him!" She repeated Keins question. "Yeah, I thought you people never killed!" As far as Nathan knew, Meklords could only take memories away. "We can not afford to contaminate the collective with the code. The marks must exist at all times. The only way for a mark to pass on, is if its wielder loses the fight... or dies." She then pointed at Callisto, she just sat there silent and numb. "And, she was too dangerous and too powerful to be contained. She had to be taken out while she was vulnerable and distracted. And it could only be a duel that could weaken her, because of the way this world has been created. So.. thanks for your efforts, Ansoni."

Jason, Malcean and the mother reacted with utter horror. "My..my little girl. What have you done to her!" Malcean erupted with rage. "This is unacceptable!" He summoned a deck of cards. "You will pay for this, you will not get away with hurting my precious daughter!" He did not even wait for Demistria to answer the challenge, he just started his turn right away. "Valkyrie!" And by summoning the Nordic Ascendant(400/800) he made clear how he would visualize his rage. "Banish Tyr and Mimir, to create two Einherjar statues!" The level 2 Valkyrie made two level 4 tokens(1000/1000). "Come forth, Odin!" And he performed the synchro summon he was most known for, bringing out Odin, the Father of all Aesir(4000/3500). "Stand and fight, answer for your deeds! Woman!" Even if in a normal duel he could not declare an attack on his first turn, he would if she did not draw her cards immediately. "Oh. I thought this would take too long. But I see I can accept your request." She took out her deck and drew her cards. "I shall make this as painless as possible."

Demistria's LP: 8000 Malceans LP: 8000

When Malcean saw this, he placed one card down and let her draw her sixth card. Everyone else just held their breath, they were too shocked by the sudden turn of events to say anything more. "Do not worry, my love, Jason. I shall remove this heinous individual." Malcean tried to re-assure his family, who themselves were trying to snap Callisto out of her trance. "You are speaking to nothing, saying nothing." Demistria activated Polymerization. "And summon Ignition Beast Volcanon." She fused an UFO turtle and a Thestalos Fire Monarch. "What? What happened to Jurracs?" Nathan had never seen her use pyro or machine type monsters before. "I changed. I became who I was again, the killer of the chaos architect." The Ignition Beast(2300/1600) aimed its barrels at Odin. "Volcanon destroys itself and another monster my opponent controls." The beast exploded. "Whether it be a dragon, or a god. In the end all dreams are the same." The blast almost reached Odin. "No. My daughter has brought me back from death, we are immortal!" Malcean shouted as he flipped the quickplay spell card Class System. "My daughter created the gods from the purest of dreams, from the divine faith of mankind!"

_Class System, Quickplay Spell  
>Activate only when your opponent activates the effect of an effect monster that either targets and destroys 1 monster you control, or declares an attack.<br>If the level of that effect monster is equal to or less than that of the targeted monster, the targeted monster is not destroyed (damage calculation is ignored)._

The spell prevented Odin from being destroyed by the monster four levels below Odin, Volcanon only killed itself with its effect. "Yes your daughter made powerful synchro monsters. She mastered the art of conscious card creation. But not all spirits were created by mankind or by her." Demistria did not miss a beat. The destruction of her own monster by a card effect, allowed for the special summoning of her Meklord Emperor Skiel(2200/2200). "!" And Skiel immediately absorbed Odin into its body with its synchro killer ability, and it(6200/2200) absorbed Odins attackpoints. "Synchro monsters are an interesting class of spirits. They symbolize not just the nature of both worlds, but the cohesion between minds. Synchros are the result of those minds that banded together to conquer their inner fears, thoughts became harmonized and mankind came close to themselves. But it is the link they symbolize that must be severed, that is why our Meklords by their very nature counteract a synchro's existence. The Meklords were created by this worlds true lord." And then she attacked directly. "We're done." She activated Limiter Removal along the way to double Skiel(12400/2200) attackpoints. One shot from its cannon blew Malceans lifepoints away and Malcean himself into the distance.

Malceans LP: 0

"I suppose you can consider that a return of my loss to your other creation, Callisto." Demistria said to the girl, who was still catatonic. "But you are still holding on to this existence are you? I am sorry, but we can not allow that." Skiel turned its cannon to the left. "No. Don't do it!" Jason cried out, as he saw it take aim on his mother. "Demistria!" Nathan shouted at her as well. "Why would you care? You spent the last hour trying to convince this girl that her mother is already dead, she is of no content." And just like that she fired the shot. "This is my solution." And it shot her through the head. "Ah." And Callisto finally reacted, when she saw her mother die. Not just die, but she died the same way she died the first time, by a shot to the head. Now there was an image in her own head, to go with the memory of that dark day. "Ahhh!" And she let out one last scream, before her whole body froze up and collapsed to the floor. "Why!" Was all the others could shout. "I do not do this out of malice, it is simply what kmust be done."

At that time everything started to move, the tree yggdrasil began to crumble away all around them and the planets seemed to implode. The universe Callisto had crafted was falling apart one piece at a time. "?" The bedroom they had been in at first, returned to its normal shape. _"Those are the cards?"_ And Ada saw cards on the floor next to Callisto's hands, she apparently dropped them as she fell. _"Could it be?"_

"Why did this..happen." Ansoni said, using the last of his strength to look at Demistria. "What.. is your plan. Why are you doing this? Do you want her power?" He managed to ask her in rapid succession. "I am afraid telling you that will take up more time than you have. I do apologize that it had to end this way, it was only bad luck that you had to be the one to duel the chaos architect." Hearing that, Ansoni lost his energy again. "Take it easy. Here.." Sarah let him lie on the floor, now that there was one again. "It's going to be okay. We're here for you." Nathan also rushed to his side, though he had no idea what to even do. "..." Kein, Ada and Urizen were just as helpless to stop it. "This is..how it ends?" It was getting difficult to keep his eyes open, and he could not breathe so easily anymore either. "Ansoni. Stay with us!" Sarah shouted in vain. "It's.. too late for me." Ansoni said with a heavy voice. "I.. did not think it would be like this. But I..I." Another coughing fit cut off his sentence. "No. You do not have to say anything, you did nothing wrong!" Sarah answered, feeling like she had said this too often already. "I wish I could stay..with all of you. Now I leave you behind.. to this." His hands were trembling, but that movement came to a halt soon as well. "Tell sir.. Gaunt. That I never regretted any of this. It was an honor to serve him..and it was.. nice to become friends with..everyone. Especially.." His shaking hand reached out to Urizen. "You..Urizen..I am sorry for.."

The words stopped coming.

"..." No pulse, no breath, no light in his eyes, Ansoni was gone..

"You.." And while most turned to silence, one duelist turned to anger. "You!" Urizen ran towards this woman, this murderer. "You think you can just do this! You think I will let you!" Demistria just stared. "I have already done everything that needed to be done." Skiel fired another blast. "Gah!" But Urizen jumped to his left to avoid the shot. "I do not care!" And before she could react, he had hit her across the face. "Forget dueling, forget your machines, forget it all. We have had enough of you and your cults games!" His hand headed for her dueldisk. "!" But she recovered from the punch and jumped back before Urizen could lay a hand on her Meklord card. "You need to slow down, Urizen." She dismissed Meklord Skiel and put the card away. "The Infinati too regret this action, they regret all life that is lost to them. But it was a necessary loss." Urizen shook with anger. "How is this any different from what you are normally doing? You killed Richard too and those people at the Dresden academy!" And even Johns death was something that just made him mad thinking about it. "You heard the truth, yet you still do not see the whole picture." Demistria sighed. "Physical death means nothing in this world, the bodies are not real. Only the mind is, and that is what we Infinati claim."

Meanwhile back at R-tech, the 'good news' hit them when the world around them settled back into its old state. "The ice is melting!" Ian gasped as he saw the frozen realm Niflheim turn back into good old capitol city. "And the sky is normal again too." Siren saw the dark clouds separate, making room for blue air and natural sunlight. "Does this mean they defeated her, or got her to see things our way? The worst must be over.." Macbeth said. He was glad either way that things were going back to normal. "Not likely." But one voice was less hopeful than the others. "Not? What are you saying...Dean?" Gaunt turned to face this voice, the prisoner Dean. "Because I am one of the Infinati, I know how they think. The chaos architect has done too much damage already, I mean look outside. The 'taken people' are not coming back." The streets were still as empty as before the darkness came. "She has erased it all, so they can not let her live. And.." He hesitated to say the next part. "They may just decide to start all over."

..

"What?" Back at Castillo manor, the duelists just heard Demistria say about the thing. "What do you mean, redo everything?" Ada yelled. "Exactly what it implies. The chaos architect has ruined this world, she tried to break the limits and tore up the established order. We aim to heal the world." She tapped her dueldisk. "The Infinati represent the truth of this world; there is no god, there is nothing divine or magical. All of it is just the result of mans technology. The seven creators made this world, made a dream for mankind to live in. But the mind of man has infinite potential, their imagination exceeds the reach of their existence. That is why we 'reap', to silence the voices that have seen and heard too much, to kill the threat to the design. And now the entire world has seen the true face of their life, so the whole world must be silenced." The infinity symbol lit up. "It is the only way." And then suddenly, they were no longer in the bedroom. "Wh-wha.." They were in a dark space, standing in a cold room on cold metal.

"Welcome to Grand Design." Demistria, the duelists and Jason were not the only ones here. "That guy!" Kein recognized the voice, it was the same one they heard two months ago when Malcean tried to summon god. "We the council decided to honor your efforts, and your status as signers, by inviting you to our innermost sanctum." The lights turned on, they now saw a circle of masked men and women around a table. "You.. warped us here?" Nathan knew that the Reapers could teleport from one hotspot to another, he did not know they could take others along for the ride. "The moment Callisto ceased to exist on this plane, we were able to connect." The head council man said. "Now then, allow me to introduce ourselves. I am the grand cardinal of Infinati, these are our wise council members." The cardinal bowed. "But who you really should meet." He pushed a button on a remote, and the wall behind them opened. "Is the one who brought us all together, our lord of Finity." Green light filled the room. "The governing force behind this world.."

(To be Continued in Mark 125: The Stone He can not Throw)

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>UFO Turtle<br>Thestalos, the Fire Monarch  
>Ignition Beast Volcanon<p>

-  
>Polymerization<br>Limiter Removal

**New Card used by Malcean**_  
>Class System(+)<em>

(+) Based on the spell used by Yami Marik in YGO


	125. 125: The Stone He can not Throw

**Mark 125: The Stone He can not Throw**

"Lord of..Finity?" The duelists stared into the light, but saw nothing. They could distinguish no features behind the opened wall. "Why do the Infinati, obey something called.. Finity?" That did not sound right to Ada. "Finity is our wisdom, finity is the truth and principle of this existence. Mankind found a way to survive, but had to limit the universe around himself to do so." The cardinal started explaining. "This second world is limited, the seven creators knew this as well. A system was put in place within the very machine that shaped this world, one that could catch whenever a set limit was broken, repair what was broken and judge what had broken it. This 'program' is what stands before you now. You may not be able to comprehend it, but it is the only being that has any right to be called 'god.' It alone can dictate how the world should be, it alone can control the barrier between the order of finity and the chaos of infinity. Whenever a human gets too close to infinity, he gets a choice. Be erased, or become part of it."

"So. All of you, in some way, threatened the fabric of reality?" Kein started to understand what they were saying, even if it was hard to swallow. "I was the first. From the very beginning of the 'crossing' I had a thought in my head. I thought that this allwas not real, that thought was dangerous. Lord Finity found me, and handed me the truth. But once I knew my true name, I could not go back. I had to serve it, and I gladly did." He gestured at the others in the room. "We found others like me, minds that saw the world for what it really was. Most could not accept it, or us, so they were wiped away. Others were merely converted into reapers, their memories of the truth erased so that they could function as they did before. But so that they could also serve us again, when the time called for it. The reapers were only used twice so far, right now and two years ago when the gods first broke out. Back then some culling was also necessary, even if one agent took it too far and let the world know of our presence. But we could not get everywhere, because that was also the day the marks became active."

"So, people like Richard, they were fed to that thing?" Kein said as he looked at his own mark. "But you can not get to people like us. Because we were tainted with gods blood?" The cardinal nodded. "The seven earthbound were too powerful to be contained, the design could endanger its own existence by absorbing even a fraction of that which designed it. This was also why we could not, for a while, connect our network to the signers locations. I am sure you are well aware of our ability by now, to travel the global net from one hotspot to another." They were, thanks to R-techs science department. "But how old is this network, who built it?" The Cardinal asked them. Nathan immediately raised his hand. "Easy. It's.." But he was left there with his mouth hanging open. "It's. It's... didn't we make it, Kein?" He asked his fellow ace. "The network was built by the government twenty years ago, was it not?" He replied. "Wait." But now he realized the irregularity in that story. "Exactly. This world is not twenty years old. The network was created along with this world. Or to put it in better terms.. The network _is_ the world." He pointed at the duelists. "It is the connection between the minds of duelists everywhere, the threads of this existence. That is why, we Infinati can go wherever we need to be.."

"But not R-tech headquarters." Kein grumbled. "You had to send two infiltrants, first Lincoln and then that Clark guy. All because you had no way in, because there were signers who worked in that building?" Again the cardinal nodded. "Something to that effect. Lord Finity is powerful, but can not overrule the decree of the creator. It could not stop the earthbound and it could not stop the chaos architect. But now all those obstacles are erased. However they have left this world in a state that it can no longer repair." That part they heard already. "Yes. So now you want to just take everyone, right? You are going to feed all humans to the light behind you and call it a day?" Urizen activated his dueldisk. "Not all of them. We the enlightened shall remain and take this world into the new future. This was the grand design from the very beginning, your actions just hastened the need for it." One council member exclaimed proudly. "How did I guess you were going to spout insanities like those.." Urizen raised a fist. "Well we will not have it. Will we?" He looked at everyone behind him, all except for Jason were in agreement. The latter seemed to devastated by his familty's loss to act alive anymore.

"We expected this response, this is also why you were brought here. The signers, we wished for them to be on our side, they would be great allies. But only one complied." He spoke of Demistria who was watching the whole discussion. "The rest were out of our reach or had their own plans." He stared at the catatonic Jason. "When the gods returned it was decided to thin out the knowing masses, but we could never get to you and R-tech. The marks must exist at all time, even the chaos architect knew this and made her own set while keeping the code behind them within herself." Urizen tilted his head. "Your point is?" This guy just would not shut up. "That if we can not have the signers with us, we have to take the signs themselves. Ansoni's mark has already passed on, four remain.." The cardinal took off his cloak. "Your desire to challenge us is met with our desire to take your marks; the sooner the better." He revealed the bodysuit he was wearing, a mismash of cybernetics and armor, with a dueldisk fused with his arm. "Now you're talking." Urizen smirked.

"But he has no mark." One council member protested. "The son of Gaunt is worthless to us now!" They started to argue. "Then why not put all of them up at once?" Demistria suggested. "That could work. They wager their four marks, while we shall wager whatever memory they wish to retrieve from Finity." The cardinal chuckled. "What if we refuse?" Ada did not like the idea of risking everything with one duel. "Then you must suffer Ansoni's fate. The signers can not become one with Finity, so they must die. In the grand scheme of things, five lost lives is not worth much reconsidering." He replied with a grim tone. "Guess we have no choice." Sarah sighed. "I will be damned if I stand on the sidelines." Kein cursed and activated his dueldisk. "Oh, we can make this a tagteam if that is your wish." Said the overjoyed cardinal. "All of us are familiar with the ways of the duel." Hearing that Ada activated her disk too. "Then make that three on three, we will not let you pick us off one by one." Urizen just smiled. "Strength in numbers eh." With all the luck he had with previous team-ups, he would not reject their assistance. "Nathan, Sarah, you will be our backup in case we fail. And keep an eye out on Jason." Kein told them. "We will. Good luck." Sarah and Nathan stepped back. "Then let us duel at the most proper of locations." The cardinal and two members of the council stepped inside the light of their lord. "That is safe?" Nathan wondered, as Ada, Kein and Urizen followed the three masked ones. "The will to live, now we shall settle whose will is stronger. Your gods, or ours!"

Team Infinati's LP: 24000 Team Signers LP: 24000

Every duelist stood on a floor of light, there was nothing else to see within this new chamber. In here it was warmer than outside "I shall begin." The cardinal drew six cards, while his two teammates discarded their cloaks as well. One turned out to be female, the other was a short male. "Fortessimo, the Mobile Fortress." The room was soon more than just light however, as the walls and ceiling were covered with pipes, metal plates, cannons and wires. "Once a turn, a soldier of the Meklord Army can be summoned from my hand." A hatch opened behind the cardinal, and a blue winged machine(1200/1000). "Meklord Army of Skiel." It was apparently a smaller Skiel model. "Then a normal summon." Then a silver humanoid machine(1800/0) appeared. "Meklord Army of Wisel." This was a smaller model of Wisel. "So that is what they are called." Kein recognized these as the meklords that were used in Castillo castle assault. "Wisel gains 100 attackpoints for each other Meklord I control. Skiel gains 200 attackpoints." Soldier Skiel(1400/1000) and soldier Wisel(1900/0) boosted each other. "Set card. End turn."

_"Hmph. Two monsters already. Meanwhile we can not attack yet."_ Urizen guessed these people would abuse the tagteam rules to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. "Allure of Darkness. I draw two cards and banish a dark monster from my hand afterwards." So first he had to improved his hand, he drew twice and banished a Stygian Security monster from his hand. "Dark Grepher!" Then he called upon the corrupted warrior Grepher(1700/1600). "By discarding a dark monster, a dark monster in my deck can also be sent to the graveyard." Urizen discarded Stygian Street Patrol and Steelswarm Gatekeeper respectively. "You prepare your field, I shall prepare my graveyard. I set a card and end my turn."

"Spell card: Boon of the Meklord Emperors." The female started her turn with a spell. "When I control two Meklords, two cards can be drawn." She drew twice. "Wait. But he is the one who has two Meklord monsters!" Kein objected. "Our lifepoints are united. So are our fields. We can not attack with each others cards, but we can use them for sacrifices and card effects." The cardinal replied. "Tsk. I forgot that." The ace of spades had to admit he had not been in a tagduel in a long time. "Now then. Shall I proceed?" The masked woman summoned a monster, another Meklord Army of Wisel. "What?" This one(2000/0) also counted the other two Meklord soldiers to boost its own points. "And then, Null-coordinate Aleph Infinity." And she activated a continous spell. "?" A part of the floor was inverted, it looked like a flame of negative light. "We control two Meklords of the same attribute, therefor I can now decide which meklords shall be targeted by which effects." She placed two cards down and ended her turn.

_Null Coordinate Aleph Infinity, Continuous Spell  
>You can only activate this card when there are two or more 'Meklord' monsters with the same attribute on the field.<br>As long as you control this card, you select the targets of your opponents card effects that target face-up "Meklord" monster cards._

_"That card could be trouble."_ Kein thought as he placed a monster down and a trap. "Where did your Meklord monsters come from anyway. Demistria said they were made by your lord, but Callisto said only humans can make cards, what gives here!" He was done with his turn, but not with his questions. "The Meklords were based on one deepseated fear, Kein Schiver." The third council member answered as he drew a card. "The fear of limits, the fear of bonds." He also summoned a Meklord soldier, another powered-up Skiel Army machine(1800/1000). "If the synchro monsters represent the subconscious desire of togetherness, then the Meklords represent solitude. A synchro monsters power is determined the moment he accepts a merger, a Meklord can keep growing as long as he breaks all bonds and exists alone. Lord Finity knows bonds only lead to danger in this world." He too had a continuous spell to play. "Null Coordinate Beth Infinity." This time a bright flame appeared on the field. "Now the targets of combat are mine to choose from." The male placed a pair of cards down and ended his turn.

_Null Coordinate Beth Infinity, Continuous Spell  
>You can only activate this card when there are two or more 'Meklord' monsters with the same attribute on the field.<br>As long as you control this card, when your opponents monster declares an attack, you can select the attack target._

"So you are saying people are better off alone?" Ada had heard that speech before too. "I refuse to believe that. No matter how fake a world is, what happens there is still real. The bonds we make there are still real!" She activated Cards of Consonance, discarding Dragunity Darkspear from her hand to draw two new cards. "Vice Dragon!" And since she controlled no monsters while the opponents did, she could special summon the Vice Dragon(1000/2400) from her hand. "I sacrifice him for Strongwind Dragon!" Her normal summon for the turn was the tribute summon of the muscular wind dragon(3400/1000), whose power was boosted by half of Vice Dragons original 2000 attackpoints. "I set a card and play Super Rejuvenation." That spell allowed her to draw two more cards, as she had discarded and/or sacrificed two dragon type monsters in this turn. "And besides, we do not need our synchro monsters to beat you down." She said, knowing that Kein rarely even used synchros, and Urizen relied more on tribute summons. "End turn."

The Cardinal drew again. "The only bonds that matter in the end are the ones we make. Because we are the agents of truth, your bonds either connect to the taken, or to the soon forgotten." The hatch behind him opened again, and a third type of army Meklord appeared. "What is that?" A golden brown tank robot(1600/1200) appeared. "There is a third core; the core of ground. This is its soldier, Meklord Army of Granel. When summoned it halves the attackpoints of a monster on the field." Granel fired a gravitational burst at StrongWind Dragon, forcing the dragon(1700/1000) down on his knees. "Now we attack." Granel(2000/1200) also gained a powerboost, 100 attackpoints from each Meklord on the field. It, Wisel(2200/0) and Skiel(2000/1000) charged. "Limiter Removal." At that point the female flipped her face-down card. "Gah!" To the dismay of the duelists, the Cardinal and his teammates machines all had their attackpoints doubled. His Granel(4000/1200) shot down Dark Grepher, Wisel(4400/0) slashed through Strongwind with a lightsaber sword. "Meklord Wisel can add the ability of piercing to another Meklord on the field." And Skiel(4000/1000) fired piercing bullets at Keins face-down Gishki Eria(1000/1800). "This is the power of our 'bond', signers."

Team Signers LP: 16200

"Are you guys alright!" Nathan yelled from outside the room. "Peachy." Kein coughed, as he used Eria's effect to add a Shadow Gishki to his hand. "We were not done yet." The Cardinal moved to his second main phase. "Before my Meklords selfdestruct, due to their removed limiters, I shall sacrifice them." The three army soldiers on his field disappeared. "By removing as many Meklords as I choose, I can summon a Meklord of the highest class." The hatch opened again, three infinity symbols glowed within the darkness. "I special summon, Meklord Astro, Dragon Asterisk!" And from the Fortress Fortissimo came a mechanical dragon(4600/0). "Asterisk?" Its attackpoints were apparently determined by the attackpoints of the sacrificed Meklords. "End turn." During the endphase the remaining Meklords affected by Limiter Removal were destroyed. But.. "Skiel Infinity!" The destruction of their monster cards.. "Wisel Infinity!" Alowed the other two council members to special summon the Meklord Emperors Wisel(2500/2000) and Skiel(2200/2200) from their hands. "Great. This will be very steep up-hill struggle." Urizen rasped and started his turn.

(To be Continued in Mark 126: Nth Degree)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Dark Grepher<p>

**Cards used by the Infinity Council**  
>Meklord Army of Skiel<br>Meklord Army of Wisel  
>Meklord Army of Granel<br>Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk  
>Meklord Emperor Skiel<br>Meklord Emperor Wisel

-  
>Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress<br>Boon of the Meklord Emperors_  
>Null Coordinate Aleph Infinity<br>Null Coordinate Beth Infinity_  
>Limiter Removal<p> 


	126. 126: Nth Degree

**Mark 126:Nth Degree  
><strong>

Team Infinity's LP: 24000 Team Signers LP: 16200

"Steelswarm Cell!" Urizen controlled no monsters, so he could special summon the demons ladybug(0/0) from his hand. "I sacrifice it for Steelswarm Girastag!" And the level 7 stagbeetle demon(2600/0) could be normal summoned with one tribute less than normal, since it was a Steelswarm monster he was tributing. "Girastag will send a monster you control to the grave, and restore our lifepoints!" Urizen thought this was a good way to get around the effects of the Meklord Emperors. They could only react to destruction-effects, not to 'grave-sending' effects. "Beth." But the positive energy spell of the male council member stole the choice of targets from Urizen. "Your monsters effect now targets Skiel." Instead of Asterisk(4600/0), who Urizen wanted to kill, Girastag's blast headed Meklord Skiel(2200/2200)'s way. "Interdimensional Matter Transporter." But the female Infinati saved her partners Emperor with a trap, that banished it for one whole turn. "Damn it. Now I can't attack either." Urizen was of course aware of both Null Coordinate cards, Aleph managed effect targets, yet Beth managed attack targets. "I set a card and end my turn." If he tried to attack Skiel Infinity or Wisel Infinity(2500/2000) with Girastag, he would wind up getting drawn to and counterattacked by Asterisk.

"But as long as we use no synchro monsters, we should be safe.." Kein said. This was also why he did not want Nathan to risk a duel with these people, Nathan relied the most on synchros. "Trap card: Zero/Infinity Axiom." But as the female drew her card, the cardinal played a continuous trap. "Huh?" It connected the negative and positive light points on the floor, creating a dual loop that twisted around at the middle; an infinity loop. "Now, all your monsters shall become..bonded.." The light of this symbol seemingly turned all tribute and special summoned monsters into synchro monsters. "!" Which meant Girastag was one too. "Synchro killer!" The masked woman sent out beams of energy from Wisels core. "Not on your life!" But Urizen responded with his own continuous trap. "Infection Infestation! Once a turn I can send a Steelswarm monster back to my deck and add a new one to my hand!" Girastag escaped Wisels tendrils by retreating to the deck. And after that Urizen pulled Steelswarm Sting from the deck.

_Zero/Infinity Axiom, Continuous Trap  
>If you control this card when you control one of the following cards, it also gains the following appropriate effect:<br>* Null Coordinate Aleph Infinity: Monsters that were special summoned are counted as 'synchro' monsters  
>* Null Coordinate Beth Infinity: Monsters that were tribute summoned are counted as 'synchro' monsters<em>

"But, then we can attack directly." She summoned another Meklord Army of Wisel(2100/0) machine, though it could not attack while Wisel Infinity was on the field. "So you are expecting me to summon defenses." Urizen grumbled as Soldier Wisel added piercing powers to Emperor Wisel. "Direct attack." But he was still better off using the card. "Escape from the Dark Dimension! I summon the Stygian Security I banished from my hand." A security demon tuner(100/600) showed up to intercept the piercing sword, so Urizen took 600 damage less than he normally would have. "Then I special summon another from my deck!" The stygian could call any level 1 demon upon its death, and since Urizen did not know how many more direct attacks to expect, he summoned a second Stygian(100/600). "Set card, turn end." The Woman at least was done for now.

Team Signers LP: 14300

"My turn. I discard Gishki Shadow from my hand." Kein did this to add a Gishki ritual spell card to his hand. "Also I play this." He activated his trap, Ceremonial Mirror Meditation. "I take back Gishki Shadow and Gishki Eria." With these two, he could prep a second ritual summon if he wanted too. "But Wisel can negate a spell card once a turn." Urizen warned him. "I know that. I dueled Lincoln before. That is why.." Though he discarded a non-shadow Gishki from his hand. "I will use this monster, Vanity Gishki! By discarding it, no other duelist can chain to my ritual spells!" With a smile he played the ritual spell, Gishki Aqua Mirror. "I send Frilled Rabca and Djinn Cursenchanter of Rituals to my graveyard!" A level 3 shark and level 4 Djinn were ritualistically offered. "And bring out Evigsihki Mind Augus!" As the Ogre(2500/2000) appeared, a wave of dark energy washed over the fortress chamber. "Cursenchanter negates all synchro monsters effects, if it is ever used as a ritual material. And thanks to that Axiom of yours, Wisel and Skiel are also synchro monsters who get their effects negated." This included his own ritual monster, but also the power establishing effect of Asterisk(0/0) was negated. "Imperial Register." Except Asterisk(4600/0) did not stay 'negated'. "Hey!"

_Imperial Register, Continuous Trap  
>If a monster you control loses ATK due to a card effect(s), that monster gains the same amount of ATK while this card is face-up on the field.<em>

An Imperial Register activated by the woman, gave the mechanical dragon back the attackpoints it lost. "Argh. Now I can not declare an attack either." Kein cursed. "But at least Skiel Infinity's effects are negated." He placed Eria face down and ended his turn, knowing that Skiel Infinity would not be able to absorb his Evigishki. "Granel Army." But he did not expect the short one to suddenly play a Meklord out of his element. "Halve that monsters attackpoints." The Granel soldier(2000/1200) used his ability on Mind Augus(1250/2000). "Skiel, attack." And the blue meklord fired a shot from its cannon. "Friller Rabca's effect activates!" However Kein had a card in his grave that could help him. "By banishing it, when my water monster is attacked, an attack is negated and the attacker is weakened!" The shot was repelled by the killer frilled shark's body, who then was removed from play. At the same time Skiel Infinity(1400/2200) lost 800 attackpoints. "These signers, struggle well." The council member chuckled.

"Okay. I have heard enough of you." Ada drew. "Guys. I have a synchro monster in my deck that may get us out of this mess. But it will also destroy our own fields." She looked at the others in her team. "Indiscriminate destruction? That is our best bet I agree." Urizen figured she needed his tuner monster, so he let her have it. "Okay! I shall tune Stygian security and Mind Augus.." She needed seven levels for this synchro summon. "And call out Black Rose.." However she was not allowed to take the card from her extra deck. "Huh?" As yet another continuous trap came into effect. "Just because our machines are created to destroy harmony, does not mean we will allow the creation of that harmony." The short one had activated Discord. "Oh come on!" She cried out, as now all synchro summons were forbidden. _"Eeesh. They hate synchros even more than Kein."_ The still observing Nathan thought. _"Black Rose Dragon?"_ Demistria was also surprised, but at the card Ada played_. "She never used that card before, when did she get it?"_

"I set a trap and a monster, and end my turn." The cardinal drew again. "Demistria reported to us, that your marks grant you miraculous draws. It would seem this blessing has diminished." A card was set down and then a new field spell was activated by him. "Meklord Fortress." An energy generator replaced the Mobile Fortress Fortessimo. "From here on in, synchro monster effects can not target our Meklords." The five Meklords had access to infinite protective energy. "But since your Djinn can still seal our monsters effects, the ritual monster must be destroyed." Asterisk started screeching. "Infinity Nemesis Stream." And it fired off a blast of blue, red and green energy at Mind Augus. "Not this time either." Now Ada did the defending. "Half or Nothing! It's up to you." She flipped her trap, forcing the Cardinal to choose between a stopped battle phase or a weakened Asterisk. "Nothingness is my choice." As halving Asterisk attackpoints would make it weaker than its target, he did not choose 'Half'. "Who says we need the marks?" Ada grinned.

"Not me." Urizen answered as he drew. "But whether it is skill or 'fate' that lets us win, I do not care anymore." He banished Stygian Street Patrol from his cemetery so he could special summon Steelswarm Sting(1850/0) from his hand. "There was only one duelist I had wanted to fight, as a champion. Not out of anger, but to know who the better was. And you killed him, you did not even have the guts to face him head on. So do not even imply that your way is the 'skilled' way." And then he activated another trap; Destruct Potion. "Sorry Kein, but I need this effect." He destroyed Mind Augus with it, and restored his teams lifepoints by 2600 points. "Now, Meklord Fortress stops synchro monsters from targeting your monsters. And Null Coordinate Aleph chooses targets. But.." He sacrificed the Needle demon for a Steelswarm Mantis(2400/0). "A dead Steelswarm Sting is not a synchro monster anymore now is he? And Aleph Infinity can not affect monsters already in the grave!" The steel bee's effect triggered whenever it hit the graveyard, like right now. "But yours is!" It could destroy any ritual, fusion or synchro monster. "Die, Asterisk!" Asterisk was pierced by the demons stinger, and crashed to the floor. "Yes!" Sarah and Nathan cheered as the biggest threat was taken out.

Team Signers LP: 16900

"Limit Reverse." But as Asterisk was in its death throes, the damage was immediately repaired. "What?" The Cardinal revealed yet another trap, which special summoned any monster from the grave as long as it had less than 1000 attackpoints. "Damn, Asterisk's base attack is set at 0." And any time it was special summoned.. "This time, I shall take all." Asterisk sent all other Meklords on the field away. "Crap." Skiel Infinity, Soldier Granel and the two Wisel Meklords gave their original attackpoints to Asterisk(8100/0). "And Asterisk's effect are now unsealed. Every time a synchro monster is special summoned, the summoner takes damage." Urizen had revived a Steelswarm Gatekeeper(1500/1800) from his cemetery, with Steelswarm Mantis's effect. "Gah." Gatekeeper became a synchro monster due to the Axiom trap, and Asterisk sent 1000 points of damage his way. "Oh yeah?" But with Gatekeeper on his field, he could normal summon twice in one turn. "Steelswarm Sentinel, I summon you!" So he called out a cockroach demon(1100/0). "This monster negates effects that any highlevel monster activates." He explained how the Sentinel would keep Asterisk at bay.

Team Signers LP: 15900

"This deck of yours, was inherited from your father, was it not?" The masked woman asked as she took her turn. "What of it?" Urizen would not deny that, but did not see what she was trying to say. "We were just curious, if he had his reasons to adopt such a synchro-resistant deck." She asked as she summoned her third and final Wisel Army Meklord(1900/0). "You will have to ask him." He told her. he never saw any deeper meaning to it himself. "So it is like that." Wisel struck and cut down the second Stygian Security. This time Urizen special summoned a level 1 Sinister Sprocket(400/0) from his deck. "Resolute Meklord Army." She meanwhile activated one more continuous spell. "Meklord Army machines can not be destroyed as a result of battle, but their effects are sealed." The soldier(1800/0) no longer powered itself up, but its armor became as durable as titanium. "But the fact that cards like these exist, show that there were people from the beginning, that disliked the notion of harmony."

"You must be talking about me." Kein drew again. "When I became Ace I helped design a lot of anti-synchro cards. Because I never liked the concept of such easy summons. Sir Gaunt partially felt the same way." He re-flipped Gishki Eria(1000/1800), adding yet another Shadow Gishki from his deck to his hand. "Yes, new cards can of course be added, like the cards the earthbound immortals made. Not all cards were made when this world was born. But the number of cards in this world is also limited, there is infinite potential but not enough space." Said the cardinal. "You know for some cult who is all about, cutting stuff where stuff needs to be cut, you sure do not sound like someone who thought of themselves first." Kein rasped. "And that is another thing, you people have taken this mission to the extreme. If you were so worried about people finding out the truth and disrupting the system, why not erase their memories alone?" He knew the Infinati could do that too, it is what they did to Dean. "That was our first approach. But we found out that process was flawed, simply making a man forget forever is impossible. Not unless we are thorough."

"Yeah you are thorough." Kein discarded Shadow Gishki and drew a second Gishki Aquamirror from his deck. "But in the end all I hear is the voice of someone corrupted by too much power. Not once do I hear sincerity coming from you." And he returned the first Aquamirror to his deck to add an Evigishki monster to his hand. "Deepsea Diva!" But he would not ritual summon this turn. He summoned a tuner monster(200/400) instead. "You can not synchro summon!" The male Infinati protested and pointed out his Discord trap card. "Not yet." Deepsea Diva used her effect to special summon the Lost Blue Breaker(1400/0). "When I control another sea creature, Lost Blue Breaker can destroy one spell or trap!" Kein sacrificed the twoheaded seaserpent to destroy Discord. "And now.. I tune Deepsea Diva with Eria." The level 2 serpent girl and level 4 water witch combined into a level 6 ice-bodied dragon(2300/1500). "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!" Inspired by his duel with Ymir, he had added this synchro monster to his extra deck.

"That dragon?" The female gasped, knowing that this was one of the most powerful synchros in existence.f "I discard the cards in my hand to return as many on the field." Kein discarded two cards. "I know I can not target Asterisk, not right away." The Fortress was in the way, and he could not target that thanks to the Zero/Infinity Axiom. "So I shall return Null Coordinate Beth and Resolute Meklord Army!" The council members lost two of their spells. "Now I can attack whoever I want, and I choose the Wisel soldier!" Brionac roared and sent a beam of ice at the machine(1900/0). "Mektimed Blast." However the female Infinati had one last trap to play. "When a Meklord is attacked, it and its attacker will be destroyed!" A bomb went off between the two. "A destruction effect?" If Wisel were to be destroyed, they could summon another Meklord Emperor from their hands. "Rrgh." And it was too late to call of the attack now, the explosion covered both monsters. "..." However, two monsters came out of the smoke.

Team Infinity's LP: 23600.

"Impossible!" The female cried out, as her Wisel machine turned out to be destroyed, while Brionac was still alive. "How?" But it was not alone. "I activated Starlight Road." Ada revealed her trap. "To negate your destruction card, and..summon Stardust." Stardust Dragon(2500/2000) also emerged from the smoke.

(To be Continued in Mark 127: 46850)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Steelswarm Sentinel<p>

-  
>Infection Infestation<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Vanity<br>Friller Rabca  
>Lost Blue Breaker<br>Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

**Cards used by the Infinity Council**  
>Meklord Fortress<br>The Resolute Meklord Army

_-  
>ZeroInfinity Axiom_  
>Interdimensional Matter Transporter<em><br>Imperial Register(+)_  
>Discord<br>Limit Reverse  
>Mektimed Blast<p>

_(+) Based on the trap used by Yeager/Lazar in YGO 5Ds_


	127. 127: 46850

**Mark 127: 46850**

"Can we go now? You can not keep us here!" In R-tech tower, people were getting restless. But for a different reason this time. When the ice thawed, people felt like they could and had to return to their homes. Though some were still worried about the ones they lost, tmost were more concerned with their own homes and material possessions. "Well. Maybe we should. let them go?" Ian asked Gaunt, as the two were watching the noisy scene with camera's. "I do not know if we should. The world has gone back to normal, but the people Callisto took have not returned. And.." He tried to connect to Kein or Ansoni's communicator again. "I can not get through to the others. Something has happened." Gaunt knew this was not over yet, it could not be. "We have to prepare for the worst." Meanwhile down below the rabble continued, but there was one man who remained calm in the face of all these events. "Heh." A man with no eyebrows and a wide grin just entered the room, unnoticed by others. _"_Well well well." He chuckled to himself. "_Guess_ which building is no longer protected on the grid..." And the core of his dueldisk began to glow.

...

Team Infinity's LP: 23600 Team Signers LP: 14900

"Your trap tried to destroy both Keins monster and your own. But Starlight Road can negate cards that destroy 2 or more cards." Ada explained as Stardust Dragon(2500/2000) descended from the Starlight road as well. The room they were in had pulsated and the light flickered, but only while Mektimed Blast looked like it was getting activated. "Looks like you still have one Meklord Emperor in your hand, that you wish to summon." Kein added as Mektimed Blast was a perfect card to summon Skiel of Wisel Infinity with. "They touched us.. we should have summoned 'it' by now." The short one hissed. "Their marks did not even react. Perhaps they now can avoid our detection now?" The female was equally surprised. "Nevertheless, the distance is wide still. Do not stray from the path the design has set for us. They can not escape the plan." The Cardinal told the two, and they calmed down. "The path, the plan?" Urizen had no idea what that meant, only that it could not be good. "Yes, you are right." Since Keins turn had ended, the male Infinati could start his. He placed a monster down and a spell card. "This is all I shall do."

Ada's turn began, she summoned a Stardust Xiaolong(100/100) to her field. "Discord." But the man activated a second Discord continuous trap. "Oh no you don't buddy. Stamping Destruction." But with a dragon under her control, she could play the destruction spell. "I destroy that trap of yours!" This Discord was removed from the field by Xiaolong's claw, and 500 damage was inflicted to Discords user afterwards. "You really are affraid of synchro monsters, aren't you? Even with your fancy Meklords." Well she did not want to disappoint them now. "Synchro summon!" And then she combined a monster with Urizens Sinister sprocket(400/0). "Black Rose?" The others braced for it, but the dragon never came. "Formula synchron?" Instead she special summoned the level 2 synchro tuner(200/1500) by tuning the level 1 sprocket along with her level 1 Star dragon. "When I defeated Xavier, I gained the synchro cards he had. Stardust was one." This also explained where she got Black Rose Dragon from. "And to summon another I asked for Nathan to lend me his Formula tuner. I have decided against the Black dragon for now, as that will just allow you to summon a Meklord from your hand, while our field is wasted."

Team Infinity's LP: 23100

She tuned Formula Synchron with the level 8 Stardust Dragon. "Accel synchro summoning!" And from the extra deck came the ten starred Shooting Star(3300/2500), Stardusts evolved form. "Aleph is still gone from the field! So I can decide who to attack!" She activated Shooting Stars first of three abilities, and drew cards from the top of her deck. "Only three tuners.." She pulled out Debris Dragon, Crater Dragon, Swallows Nest, Dragonic Tactics and Dragunity Phalanx from her deck. "Triple attack, on his set monster!" Shooting Star split up into three forms, and shot down towards the short council members monster. "Ggh. How did she figure it out?" His facedown Army Skiel(1200/1000) was destroyed. When it was killed, it could summon another Meklord from the deck, but he had already used up one Skiel Army machine, so the second time she killed it, he could only summon another Meklord Army of Granel(1600/1200) to absorb the third blow. "I and end my turn." Only one problem remained. "Asterisk."The Astro dragon(8100/0) was still the strongest being on the playing field. "Yeah no." But its attack was negated before it could even finish charging its energy. "Once a turn Shooting Star banishes himself, to negate an opponents attack."

It had the same properties as Urizens Red Nova Dragon in that regard. ".. Turn end."The Cardinal however did not sound annoyed at these turn of events. "My turn." Urizen drew. _"This card.. Proof of Powerlessness?" _He gained a trap which he could only use if he controlled a level 7 or higher monster. Which he did not. _"Tsk." _And the trap could only kill things of a low level, which Asterisk was not. "Infection Infestation!" So with his permanent trap card he returned Steelswarm Gatekeeper(1500/1800) to his deck, to take out a new Steelswarm from that deck. "I sacrifice my monsters." His remaining Steelswarm demons, Mantis(2400/0) and Sentinel(1100/0), were tributed for an 8-star stagbeetle fiend(2800/0). "Caucastag! Once a turn he can destroy all other spells or traps on the field!" And since he knew they were waiting for his team to destroy their monster cards, he went with option number two. "I destroy all spells!" Caucastag roared and bombarded the field with dark energy. Zero/Infinity Axiom, Imperial Register, Null Coordinate Aleph and Meklord Fortress were all destroyed.

But so was Urizens Infestation trap. "Guess I wont attack either, I set this card down and end my turn." At the very least his trap could get rid of whatever the Cardinals minions tried to summon. "Granel." However that did not mean he was sure he had to, Shooting Star could handle the Meklord soldier(1700/0) the woman summoned. "And Graceful Charity." The woman also activated a spell, discarding her Null Coordinate Aleph Infinity and Resolute Meklord Army spell cards to draw three new cards. "Using banned cards now? I thought only your reapers stooped to that level." Kein fumed. "All cards are permissable, in a duel with the infinite." Was the justification she gave them. "Attack Brionac." The Meklord then struck the Ice Barrier dragon(1150/1500), after its attack points had been halved by Granels effect. "Shooting Star!" Ada of course negated the attack by banishing her own dragon from the field. "Double or Nothing." But her answer was a quickplay spell that doubled Granels(3400/1200) attackpoints. "Damn it!" And Granel could attack again. _"I could have expected that card, Lincoln used it too."_ The ace cursed mentally as his Brionac was destroyed after all. "I set two cards down and end my turn."

Team Signers LP: 12650

But now Kein could fight back. "Draw!" He added a Gishki monster to his hand this draw phase. "Hmm. I activate the effect of Aquamirror." From his grave he took the mirror ritual spell. "By sending it back to my deck, I can take a Evigishki monster from that deck." It was exchanged for the Soul Ogre. _"But now, how to summon this?" _He still had a Shadow Gishki in his hand, so he could take any ritual spell he needed from his deck. But.. _"I do not have enough sacrifices to bring out Soul Ogre, the Ritual Djinn will not be enough."_ The regular Aquamirror would not do. And as for the Forbidden Arts.. _"Asterisk is a level 10 monster, it has too many stars for this ritual. And Granel has too little. So in the end.." _I discard Shadow Gishki and take the Gishki Photo Mirror from my deck!" He chose his third ritual spell, the duplicating mirror. "I pay 500 LP for each level of Soul Ogre, to ritual summon him!" He lost 4000 lifepoints, but Soul Ogre(2800/2800) came out. "Then I discard Gishki Abyss from my hand, to return Asterisk back to the deck!" This was the way to resist the Emperors, this way none could be special summoned. "Truly, truly impressive. You almost managed to influence your future." But still the Infinati saw it coming. "Ring of Life." And Asterisk... was destroyed. "Huh?"

Team Signers LP: 8650

_Ring of Life, Counter Trap  
>Select 1 face-up monster in attack position. Your opponent and the controller of the destroyed monster gain life points equal to that monster's ATK. Then destroy the selected monster.<em>

Team Infinity's LP: 31200 Team Signers LP: 16750

"You can not be serious!" Sarah cried out as she saw just how high the enemy's lifepoints became. "They destroyed their own Meklord after all?" The Ring had blown Asterisk to pieces, and given its 8100 attackpoints to everyone as lifepoints. "And to his I chain." And it was the Cardinal who special summoned a new machine from his hand. "Meklord Emperor, Granel Infinity!" And it was neither Skiel nor Wisel, it was the third of the emperor triumvirate. "What is.. what is this power?" And this golden brown tank mech(15600/0)'s attack was through the roof. "Meklord Emperor Granel, its attackpoints are drawn by half of our lifeforce." A thing like that could finish them off in two attacks. "Rrgh. Soul Ogre, attack the other Granel." Kein sent his Evigishki after the soldier model of Granel, at least he could inflict damage that way. "Heh." But the Infinati laughed the attack off. This attack barely touched their lifepoints or Granel(156050/0) "This whole duel, was a set-up for this moment?" Ada realized Granel was at its most dangerous in a tagteam duel, where all players combined their lifepoints.

Team Infinity's LP: 30100

The male council member meanwhile just placed two cards down, they did not even bother with new monsters now that they had Granel on the field. "But, Granel is a level 1 monster?" Urizen asked. "Then I shall use this!" Urizen activated his trap card, Proof of Powerlessness. "All monsters that are of level 5 or lower are destroyed!" Soul Ogre and Shooting Star were of a level higher then 5, so only the Emperor was hit by this effect. "...Granel."However the cardinals field was only empty for a fraction of a second, a second Meklord Emperor Granel(15050/0) was special summoned from his hand, when the first was destroyed by the traps effect. "What? When..how?" And the duelists believed he only had one in his hand. "When Meklord Fortress was destroyed by Steelswarm Caucastag."The cardinal told them. "The field sends one emperor of infinity to my hand, when it leaves the field." That was why he had another Granel Infinity waiting for the possible destruction of the first. "Gah. We still have one turn to kill it!" Ada drew her card.

"And I know how." She activated Dragons Mirror. "Fusion summon!" By banishing the five dragons in her cemetery (Darkspear, Vice, Strongwind, Xiaolong and Stardust), the god of dragons, the Five-Headed Dragon(5000/4000) could emerged from the extra deck as well. "What will this accomplish?" The cardinal was not impressed by a monster thrice as weak as his machine. "It is true that no monster on his own can measure up to that thing of yours. She started talking as she flip summoned her face-down White Stone of Legend(300/250). "But together our power can reach even greater levels!" She also normal summoned Bright Star Dragon(1900/1000). "A synchro summon again?" Twice the Starbright dragon increased the level of the White Stone tuner, turning it from a one-star to a three-star tuner. She had enough stars to synchro summon Black Rose Dragon. "If I was going to do that, I wouldn't have summoned the fusion dragon, would I?"And then she played the last spell in her hand, Union Attack. "Oh yes!"

Union Attack gave Shooting Star the attackpoints of all other monsters her team controlled; Her three dragons, Soul Ogre and Caucastag could all contribute. "I'd hate to sound like a cliche novel. But.." Shooting Star(16100/2500) entered the battle phase, and with its first ability Ada pulled three more tuners from her deck. "This is the power of unity!" If all three attacks hit, they would finish off these Infinati council members in one turn. "You place all your hope in the ties between yourself. But it still remains but one creature fighting against the winds of fate." Yet, a trap was activated. "No!" The short one played Security Orb, a drone was summoned that switched Shooting Star to defense mode. "No!" Their hope was bloked with just one card. "Damn you. You ill not get your way!" She had no choice now. "Synchro summon!" The level 4 Bright Star was combined with level 3 White Stone of Legend, and so she finally summoned Black Rose Dragon(2400/1800). "I shall destroy all cards on the field!" The dragon unleashed its powers. "Imperial Dissonance." That was, until the short one's continuous trap came into effect and dismissed the storm. "Why!" It apparently was a trap that negated all synchro monsters' effects. "We..never had a chance?"

_Imperial Dissonance, Continuous Trap  
>Negate the effect(s) of Synchro Monsters.<em>

"Everything has gone as the lord Finity has calculated." The cardinal said as his turn finally came. "Now everything is set, all anchors are in place." Granel Infinity's core opened, it too could absorb a synchro monster once a turn, so it of course absorbed Shooting Star. Granels(18350/0) already immense powers went up by the amount of power Shooting Star originally had. "But even an attack from that will not kill is one hit!" Urizen was still defiant, as at best Granel could kill Black Rose Dragon and bring their lifepoints down to 800. "Your ability to cling to your own dreams is admirable, but the truth is on our side." The Cardinal activated the spell in his hand, Opti-Camouflage Armor. "D-damn it." Kein knew what that did, since Granel was still a level 1 monster it could attack directly now. "We followed the path set aside for us by order, we followed all estimates and only had to fix a few pattern breaks, now we are ready to advance out into the world. Thanks to you.." Granel raised its grand cannon and unleashed a shot. "Sebeks Blessing." Yet at the same time the female revealed her facedown spell, which would give them lifepoints equal to the amount that the other team lost. _"What? Why would they.." _Was all Ada could ponder before the blast hit the three dead on.

Team Infinity's LP: 46850 Team Signers LP: 0

"And now, all marks are ours. And soon the world will be as well."

(To be Continued in Mark 128: Novus Ordo Seclorum)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Proof of Powerlessness<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Photo Mirror<p>

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Stardust Xiaolong<br>Formula Synchron  
>Bright Star Dragon<br>Black Rose Dragon

-  
>Union Attack<p>

**Cards used by the Infinity Council**  
>Meklord Emperor Granel<p>

-  
>Graceful Charity<br>Double or Nothing  
>Opti-Camouflage Armor<br>Sebeks Blessing

_-  
>Ring of Life (++)<em>  
>Security Orb<em><br>Imperial Dissonance_

_(+) Based on the trap used in YGO GX_


	128. 128: Novus Ordo Seclorum

**Mark 128: ****Novus Ordo Seclorum**

_"Where?"_ Jason opened his eyes, he felt like he woke up from a bad dream. And now he was lying on a cold metal floor. _"No. It.."_ But he was too tired still to get up, and the memories felt too real to just brush them off. _"It..really happened."_ But where was he now? And.. _"Why do I have a card..in my hand?"_ His hand held on to a card on the floor, one with no image..

Team Infinity's LP: 46850 Team Signers LP: 0

"Ugh." Just a few feet away, Urizen, Ada and Kein took a direct hit from the camouflaged Meklord Emperor Granel. "I can not..believe..this." Kein grunted as he slipped into unconscious almost immediately. "No.. Ali I.." Ada soon followed, placing her hand on her deck before collapsing. "Damn it." Urizen managed to stand up the longest. _"We barely even..hurt them."_ He had never felt such overwhelming power. "That one is still awake?" The council members were surprised. "Urizen!" Nathan tried to run up to him. "Do not move." But Demistria stepped in his way. "He is already gone. You will soon follow. And.." She pointed at his wrist and Sarahs as well. "The wager concerned all your marks." Nathans mark of light left his arm, as did Sarahs mark of darkness. "Ggh." Urizen also saw the marks of Wind and Water vanish from Ada and Keins bodies, the Cardinal took them all. "Now we control all." Demistria's mark of fire did not leave her, but she was already on their side anyway. "Now there is no human left that can contaminate Lord Finity."

As if it heard the cardinal, the room around them shook once more. "!" And Meklord Enmperor Granel had its own reaction, the swirling energy core inside its body changed from a pure green to a brilliant red and golden color. "That is..what is that?" For the first time since the walls opened the remaining duelists could see something more inside this chamber of light, more than just the radiance. "Is that their lord?" They could make out a faint outline of a clearly inhuman creature. Though it had four limbs it also had six spikes on its back, and instead of a face it only had that eternal symbol. "The lord is at its highest power, and Granel is its avatar. Through it it shall spread its function, its mission to obtain all knowledge and reduce this irreparable world to the zero state." He tapped his dueldisk, and a new compartment slid out of it. "The time has come to initiate the order." He looked at his fellow council members, they all nodded in agreement. "It shall be done. This is a message to all our agents in the world, reapers and masks.."

"Delete all..."

Down below, in a small town on the edge of the country. "I am glad that finally cleared up. But where did everyone else go?" One of dozen families in the neighborhood had stayed behind, hiding away in their homes while the world had seemingly gone to hell. Mother and Father had come outside to inspect the damages. "Why are you asking me, I was with you the whole time!" A husband replied to his still worried wife. "They must just still be in hiding, that is all. Come on, we gotta clean our own place first." He was more concerned with the damage the earthquakes might have caused, even if they did not get hurt themselves. "I guess you are right. But.. Wait." She saw a shadow on the street. "I think I see someone!" The man gasped as well. "Good grief. Isn't that Joe?" They recognized the man walking towards them. "Joe! It is good to see you, I knew you were still alive!" The man waved at him. "Where is Charlotte?" The woman asked him about his wife. "...Huh." But 'Joe' was not answering. "He does not look happy. What if... what is that thing on his arm?" She saw a tense expression on his face and a dueldisk strapped to his wrist. "Looks like one of those game things. But I did not know he played.. Hey Joe, what is going on?" As the husband came closer, Joe began to smile..

"Okay. We have finally established communications with the house of commons again." Macbeth said to Gaunt. "Our contact has informed us that the remaining ministers have come out of the bunker, and has requested your advice." He gave the screen to Gaunt, on that screen was a very nervous ministers aide. "It is good to see you again sir." He managed to say. "You too, Hank. Even though I fear I will not be able to give you much good news." He sighed. "I was affraid of that. The ministers have drafted all the plans they could, appointing temporary replacements where needed. But such measures will never keep this country stabile for long. It is even worse overseas, we found out those countries are completely leaderless. If none of the politicians return.." He did not want to finish that sentence, he shuddered to even think of what could happen. "The fact that the world is going back to normal should at least tell us that my operatives have succeeded on some level. Only time well tell whether or not.. "

Just then a loud noise came form the aide's side of the conversation. "What?" He turned behind him, as a large explosion could be heard one story down. "What was that?" He and Gaunt said at the same time, both clueless. "I will be right back with you sir!" The aide said, as screams became audible as well. "Keep the line open, we may be able to assist you!" Gaunt shouted back at him, as the aide ran out of the screens visual range. "No, no way." But they could hear his voice still. "Minister, what are you doing? What have you done?" But what he was saying did not put Gaunt or Macbeth at ease. "No. That is.. I did not know. But why did you. Why.." And Hank was cut off abruptly as a deafening screech and dazzling flash shot across the chamber. "What was that!" Macbeth yelled. ".."Gaunt kept inspecting the screen, until he saw a large shadow spread across the walls._ "This can not be..Callisto's doing." _What he heard approach the screen was something far more mechanical, it sounded like a tank. "!" Whatever it was, it crushed the table and the computer on it in one go, as the screen turned black. "We are far from safe yet."

"I believe you are right sir!" Macbeth cried out as the red alarm was triggered by something, right after Gaunt spoke those words. "What? This is the intruder notification alert?" Gaunt knew every kind of alarm at heart, and this one was there to tell him someone had snuck inside his building and started causing trouble. "All cameras, show me the disturbance!" But the screen did not just flip to one view, it split up into four images. "Impossible!" On three of the floors below and just outside the tower as well, threats were detected. "Those people, what happened to them!" Ian, Siren, Dean and his guard all headed into the room as soon as the sounds went off, and they saw a grisly image displayed on the wall. "I know what that is." There were dozens of bodies sprawled out along the floors, trampled over by the others who were running for their lives. "It is them, the Infinati. They are here." Dean said, he knew the difference between a normal death, and one handed out by a Reaper like him. "I told you this would happen!"

"Then there is no time to waste, most of those people can not even defend themselves!" Macbeth turned on his dueldisk and ran for the door. "Macbeth, wait, if the enemy is here than they will inevitably come.." Gaunts warning came just in time, as Macbeth froze in his tracks a second before the door was blown off its hinges. "Who, who is there?" Ian asked as he heard footsteps coming from the smoke. "Just ..a collector." A woman cackled. "Huh?" She who walked out of the dust was not someone they immediately recognized. "But you are.." Deans guard however eventually recalled seeing her face on the checkout list. She is one of the people we brought here for safety! Why are you doing this now?" He drew a gun on her. "You know that will not work on her!" Dean hissed. "You are like me arent you?" He then spoke to this woman. "Am I supposed to know you?" She asked flatly. "Are you that failed reaper agent I have been warned about?" She smiled, while Dean just cringed. "Then she is a reaper too!"

"Tsk. Just how many reaper agents did the Infinati have in hiding?" First Clark from the police office and now this woman, Siren did not know who to trust anymore. "Just in this building? About four, allthough many more may 'move' here, with how many potential threats this area has." She eyed Dean, Siren and Gaunt in particular. "Most of the content-filled do not have enough 'dueling' left in their heart to stand up to us, but you.. you are natural born survivors." She activated her dueldisk. "Not that it makes any difference, all have to be removed." Macbeth clenched a fist. "So that is how it is now? Your bosses have decided to stop hiding and attack out in full?" The woman just laughed. "We did not hide for our sakes, but for yours! All reaper agents across the globe have been awakened, it is you who should hide! Not that you can!" She drew her cards. "Now come!" Gaunt then took a dueldisk. "Macbeth, Siren, Darkend, leave this room while you can. I will deal with her, you save as many as you can outside." Macbeth and the rest did not need to be told that twice, and they ran passed her and out the door.

"Oh, how noble of you to sacrifice yourself like that." She did not seem to mind, she was focusing on him now. "They can not get far, and you will not be in my way for much longer.." She drew her sixth card. "For you see, the council could have woken me up a lot sooner. I could have attacked you the minute I was brought here, but.. they were not ready yet." A monster appeared behind her. "A summoning? But she did not place any card down.." Gaunt did not understand what was happening, but before he knew it. "!" He stood face to machine with Meklord Emperor Granel Infinity(23425/0), and a woman whose lifepoints shot up rapidly.

Gaunts LP: 8000 Reapers LP: 46850

Macbeth and company meanwhile ran out into the hallways. "This is messed up man!" Ian said as he saw nothing but bodies on the floor. "We should be able to save these people!" Dean responded. "We.." But like the woman predicted, they did not get far. "Another?" Everyone stopped when they saw one who lived amongst a pile that did not. "You!" But even if that had not been given away that he had nothing to do with it, his face would. "_Where_ do you think you are going?" Said the reaper. "Lithium." Ian remembered his face well, as did Macbeth. "Wait a second, did you say.. Lithium?" Siren had never seen him before, but the name he did hear before. "Oh.." Dean was the one that told him that name, and as Sirens face turned grim, Dean realized why this was. "It is you, the one who killed everyone att Dresden." Siren cursed. "Oh? And is that you, the boy who _ran away_?" Lithium snickered. "Now there is no place left for you to run, _is_ there?" Siren grit his teeth and activated his dueldisk. "Who says I want to run?"

Back at the temple of order, the Cardinal was basking in the light of his lord. "What have you done?" Urizen was not as happy to be in this light. "Why should I tell you, when you will find out anyway? Find out.. inside of Finity." His Granel opened its core to the duelists. "Ngh!" Kein and Ada's bodies were attacked by Granels tendrils, and the life was sucked right out of them. "But if we are going to find out anyway, why not tell us? I bet you would find it more satisfying to gloat about your plan with your own tongue." He said quickly before Granel turned on him as well. "I suppose that is true." He lowered his hands. "Now that we have all the marks, the network of souls is free of interference. Our reaper agents can go anywhere they want, and take the essence from any human still on this dying world. But this duel of ours had another purpose.." He showed them his dueldisk, and his lifepoint meter. "What, but it is still at full?" Urizen flinched as it registered 46850 lifepoints. "Indeed. This duel only ended.. for you."

"We have initiated the final program of this world. We call it Duel Royale: Global Mode." A window popped up, showing red and green blips across the world. "Our reapers are all connected to the central terminal here, and to us. The duel we played right here is still going on, and our agents are bringing it to the people down below." Nathans eyes widened. "Then all of them." Demistria nodded. "Yes. They will all start their duels with Granel already in play. No matter how good a duelist they come up against, they can crush them instantly." Already several of the green blips on the map were overtaken by red blips. "And everything they absorb, is channeled back here." Streams of energy flew up into the chamber and were absorbed by the transparent entity inside that chamber. "You.. tricked us. You bastards." Urizen gave out one last insult. "I believe I have told you enough." Before Granel sucked out his essence too, Urizen fell down next to Ada and Kein. "No.." Only Sarah and Nathan remained.

"Now then. Will you two come quietly, or should we go through the motions again?" The cardinal asked them. "I.." Nathan was not so sure, Sarah hesitated too. "We could offer you to become one of us, but we already know your answer to that one." Demistria added with an indifferent tone. "What.. do we do now, Nathan?" Sarah was shivering, she had never been this affraid. "I..do not know." And Nathan had never felt this powerless before. "Then why don't I make the decision for you." But they were actually not the last two left. "I say we get the hell out of here." It was Jason, he had woken up at last. "Him?" The council did not expect this at all. "..No, stop them!" The Cardinal realized what was going on, before even Nathan and Sarah did. "Come on!" Jason grabbed them both by the wrist and then the three vanished from sight. "They could still teleport?" Demistria blinked. "That was nowhere in our estimates. But..the lifeform scanners still detect them, they can not have gotten far! Find them!" The Cardinal yelled.

..

...

Ada opened her eyes...

For the second time this week, she opened them to see nothing but a dark void. _"What is this?"_ And her words were not coming from her mouth anymore, she could only express them through thought. _"Is this gods..world? No..It feels different." _The darkness Callisto had made them experience was physical, restrictive. There it felt like she could not move. here it felt like there was nothing to move, yet everywhere to go. _"I remember..I remember losing. I must be.. dead?"_ She looked around, to see if anyone else was here. But neither sight nor sound detected a presence. _"All alone.. but why is it me, why am I.. awake?"_

**END OF ACT 4**

TO BE CONCLUDED IN ACT 5

**Cards used by Reaper # 2**  
>Meklord Emperor Granel<p> 


	129. 129: Mankind on Deathrow

**ACT 05: CULMINATION**

**Mark 129: Mankind on Deathrow**

"How did.. how did you do that?" Asked Nathan as he and Sarah had just been teleported out of the council room of the Infinati. "I teleported, you did it yourself, didn't you?" Their rescuer replied. "But you did not have the mark anymore, I thought you could not teleport without..wait.." Sarah then noticed something odd about him. "Are you the old Jason? I mean.." Jason did not sound like Callisto's brainwashed and loving brother anymore, his tone was rougher. "Yes. I am free of her spell. But it must have been because." He felt his left hand tremble and grabbed it with his right. "..of what 'they' did to her." In his hands he held the card that his soul had been imprisoned in. It was empty now. "Even after all she did, she was my sister. And in the end she must have..freed me." He did not want to talk about it. It was enough to know that he was furious. "As for the teleport, this was different from before. I did not envision a location in my head, I just wanted to get out and somehow felt assured that I could get out." Now that he thought about it, he was not sure how he did it.

"Well I hope you can do it again soon." From the look of the steel walls and floors, they had to still be inside the Temple of Order, Jason did not get them far. " We are not home yet Nathan spotted a window on the wall, and outside he saw stars, the black sky.. and a blue planet. "We are..in space? No wonder nobody could find this place." Jason knew his father tried to locate his 'allies', but never succeeded. "What part of the temple is this anyway?" They looked around and saw many pods and large computers that stretched from one end of the room to the other like a row of pillars. "The archives I guess. This is where..all knowledge is stored." Sarah started to wonder. "Just think of what is inside of them." All the worlds secrets, uploaded here. "We do not have time for that though." Jason heard noises one floor above them. "I have to learn how the hell I warped spaces, before they capture us.."

..

Four duelists stood face to face with Lithium, the reaper they had already been introduced to. "So it was him?" And Siren called him out, for the murder of Dresden academy's senior staff. "That is what Dean told me, and I would have known if he had been lying." Siren told Macbeth. "So, you just could _not_ keep it a secret." Lithium shook his head. "But as the old saying goes, you are either with us or against us. You only made the _wrong_ choice." Dean looked away. "I changed my mind, that is all." He replied. "Liar. I can _see_ what happened to you. The psychic welp has made you remember the softness in you. With that, you can not even think like a reaper anymore. You even let everyone call you by your fake name.. _Dean_." He spat. "The _order_ was only to erase the teachers. But it is clear now that the students should have been taken care off as well. Oh well, they will meet that fate _now_." By now Siren had heard enough from him. "Shut up, reaper." He slammed his fist against the wall. "You will not touch them, you will have to get through me first." He drew his cards.

"Heh. _Too slow_." But Lithium had already drawn six cards as Siren drew his fifth. "Even with all that anger, there exists no duelists who can beat me to the draw. _I _will take the first turn, mister psychic." He looked at his hand. "Sir Macbeth, let me handle him. He can not interfere with you while we are fighting, so please go on and take care of the other threats in the building. The others need you more." Macbeth nodded. "Good luck kid." He ran through the hallway, passing Lithium. "Oh the one that _defeated_ Lincoln eh? Maybe you will need the luck." Macbeth flinched as he heard a smiling Lithium say this. "Tsk." But he would not let him get distracted now. "You guys can go too." He told Ian, Dean and the security guard. "As if. I do not even have a disk to duel with!" Dean complained. "And I am not leaving you out of my sight." The guard grumbled. "I.." Ian meanwhile was undecided. He did not know if he could help Macbeth or Siren, but he did know one thing. "I will stay." He wanted to see Lithium get what he deserved.

Lithiums LP: 8000 Sirens LP: 8000

"Heh. Then you will be next, as it _should _have been from the day we met." Lithium placed a monster card down along with two spell cards. "But first, I have to respond to one who wants to die young. You are a problem." Lithium knew about his mindreading ability, Clark's report had been shared with all active reapers to teach them the price of failure. "I can keep no _secrets_ from you." He activated a continuous spell. "So you will not keep any _secrets _from me: Convulsion of Nature!" Suddenly both his deck and Sirens deck were turned upside down. "What the?" The next card both players would draw was laid bare. "This field spell forces us to play with our decks like this. I can see what _you_ draw, you can see what_ I _draw." He then ended his turn. "But the cards in Sirens hand he can not see, right?" The guard asked. "Yes but." Siren had already looked into Lithiums hand. And having seen what cards were set down, he figured out what Lithiums next step would be. "I draw a card and.." A step that was put into motion right away. "Book of Taiyou. I flip a monster I control into face-up position." He turned around his Morphing Jar(700/600). "Now _all_ cards in our hands are discarded and we draw five new cards." This method allowed him to see all cards Siren had on hand. "Blast."

In fact Siren ended up with even less cards in his hand than he normally would have, five instead of six. "But you did not see what I had in my hand before! I chain with Emergency Teleport!" Before it was discarded, the quickplay spell card could be played. "I summon the Mind Master from my deck" The level 1 brain machine(100/200) teleported to the field. "And you sent a Gusto Grif from my hand to the grave, this allows me to special summon a Gusto monster from my deck!" Lithium had helped Siren in ways he could not have foreseen. "Feh." Windaar, the Sage of Gusto(2000/1000) was also special summoned. "You surprised me twice, _no_ more." Lithium then saw him draw Telepon D.D, Gusto's Hope Kamui, Future Visions, Psychic Trigger and Brain Hazard. "But I can see your hand too." Siren did not need to scan Lithiums mind to see Top Runner, Left Arm of the Forbidden One, Archfiends Oath, Reload and Good Goblin Housekeeping in his hand. "So that is how your exodia loop works this time." Siren focused on the Archfiend spell card and the level 4 tuner Top Runner, and the Quillbolt Hedgehog which had been discarded from his hand by the Morphing Jar. _"I have to put a stop to that. But how?"_

He still had one advantage, the plans he made could only be guessed, Siren was certain of Lithiums plans on the other hand. "This spell, may be my only shot. I activate Future Visions!" A field spell overtook the hallway. "I came to the _same _conclusion." But Lithium was not surprised. "Now every monster that is normal summoned is banished for one turn, even your Top Runner tuner monster." He summoned the Telepon(500/1800) to his field. "But my own monsters as well." The dimensional psychic was sent to the future by the field spell. "Windaar attacks your Jar!" The sage casted a wind spell that eroded the metamorphic jar to mere dust. "Pain matters not, only instant _death_." Lithium shrugged off the damage. "But when Windaar kills a monster, a Gusto in my grave is revived. I choose Gusto Winda." The level 2 wind priestess(1000/400) was special summoned. "Now. Synchro summon." And Siren tuned the level 1 Mind Master together with the level 6 Windaar to summon a level 7 bird-riding psychic(2600/1800) to the field. "Daigusto Eguls!"

Lithiums LP: 6700

"I set a card down and end my turn. But during my endphase Eguls effect activates!" The bird activated the windblades on its chest, unleashing a tornado. "By banishing a Wind-monster, one set card can be destroyed." He banished a Gusto Egul. She had been discarded by Morphing Jar. "Did you not see what I had set down?" The Tornado missed its target, as it chained to Eguls' effect. "Jar of Greed, I _draw_ one card." He drew a Sangan from the top of his deck. "Still. It looks like you bought yourself _one more turn_." He drew a second Convulsion of Nature spell card and summoned the level 4 tuner, Top Runner(1100/1500) to his field, but it was removed by Future Visions instantly. "But that does_ not _mean.." However he also activated Archfiends Oath and paid its cost. "Without Brionac, I can only do this once a turn. But I can pay 500 lifepoints to guess what card is on top of my deck. if I _guess _right, its added to my hand." He snickered, as he did not need to 'guess' with his deck upside down like this. "I guess, _it _is Exodia!" And he could see what was on top, the Head of Exodia. "Now I have _two_ pieces heh." He placed one card down. "Your turn." However he was left wide open. "This is your chance! Kill him before his next turn!" Dean shouted

Lithiums LP: 6200

"I know." Siren drew the next card revealed on top of his deck, Psychic Path "I go to my standby phase." Just then Telepon D.D. returned from the other dimension. But he did not return alone. "When telepon was banished, he banished another monster in my deck as well. Now both are released." He was followed by the tuner psychic: Esper Girl(500/300). "When Esper Girl escapes the other dimension, she banishes the top card of my deck!" The girl removed a Time Escaper monster card. "I use Winda and Esper Girl for a synchro summon!" The two level 4 psychics united and a second Gusto synchro monster emerged from his extra deck, a young girl riding a green falcon(1400/1200). "Daigusto Falcos, all Gusto monsters gain 600 attackpoints now." Falcos(2000/1200) and Eguls(3200/1800) powered up. "This is enough, so I attack directly!" This had to work. The only card Lithium had set down was Good Goblin Housekeeping, which would only let him draw the next card on top of his deck. That was just a second copy of Jar of Greed. If the two Daigustos and Telepon D.D. managed to hit him, he would be unable to pay the cost for Archfiends Oath.

"Hmph. Good Goblin Housekeeping, I draw once..and once again!" But he got 2 cards with his trap, and the second was a Battlefader. "What?" Lithium special summoned the Battlefader(0/0) from his hand, its effect also ended the battle phase. "You focus on the _future_, yet overlook the _past!_ Look at the card I discarded with Morphing Jar." Siren gasped as he realized there already was a Good Goblin Housekeeping in Lithiums grave, that was why he could draw one card extra. "But how..did you.." He did not understand however, why Lithium was so sure of his draws. There was no guarantee that he would draw Battlefader. "I am not done yet!" He placed one monster down. "Yes but, what _else _can you do?" Lithium sneered. "...I end my turn!"

He was out of cards to play. "As _I thought_ you would say." Lithium drew again, adding a Monster Reincarnation spell to his hand. "Top Runner returns." The marathon running machine caught up with the timestream again. "And Quillbolt _is_ revived from my grave." Since he controlled a tuner, he could summon the level 2 Bolt Hog(800/800). "Synchro summon." And he of course used them as materials for the Ice Barrier terror, Brionac(2300/1400). "And now the loop _is _complete!" With this setup, he could begin. "Archfiend's Oath." the demons spell let him guess and pick up the top card of his deck. Brionac let him discard one card from his hand to return Archfiends Oath to his hand. And then he could just reset the Oath, treat it as a new card and use its 'once-a-turn' effect again. "But wont he run out of lifepoints at that rate?" Ian asked, as Lithium still had to give up 500 lifepoints each loop, a cost he could only afford 12 times.

"Did you think I would let my strategy be limited by lifepoints?" However after three repeats of the combo, the next card he added to his hand was Spell Economics. "This card negates the costs of all spells!" he played it, so he no longer needed to pay to use Archfiends Oath. "Crap!" And so the loop continued. He kept drawing, discarding and recycling his Oath. If he ever drew a piece of Exodia, he would just discard one of the other cards in his hand and hold on to those. "You psychics, what _good_ are you?" One piece remained eventually, the Right arm of the Forbidden One. "I can tell your future right here and _now_, it is the same for everyone: Death!" And the Right Arm was now on top of his deck, unveiled by Convulsion of Nature. In his hand were four other pieces, and three other cards (Sangan, Backup Soldier and Pot of Duality). "For a reaper, you certainly seem to enjoy your task." Siren rasped. "Do we not all? Was it _any _different for you, _Dean_?" Lithium gleefully asked his ex-associate. "I..' And Dean was actually not sure.

Lithiums LP: 4700

"Well. I will get to _you_ in a second. This psychic is finished." He reused Brionacs effect again, discarding Pot of Duality and taking back Archfiends Oath. "Time Escaper!" But Siren was waiting for this moment. "_What?" _When esper Girl had been removed from the field, Time Escaper had been added to Sirens hand. Lithium did not take that into account. "I banish Telepon for one turn again!" The escape removed the teleporter from the field, which triggered Telepons effect as well. "I banish Mental Seeker!" Any psychic in his deck could be banished, he chose that one. "No! Brain Hazard!" Lithium saw what the plan was, but he was too late to stop it now. "Yes, Brain Hazard!" The trap was activated. "I unremove Mental seeker!" The banished tuner returned. "And he removes any of the 3 cards on top of your deck!" The seeker waved his wand, saw the top three cards (Right Arm, Gold Sarcophagus and Degenerate Circuit). "I banish your Exodia piece!" The arm was sent into another dimension. "Exodia is sealed, reaper!"

"Ahehehehahaha." Yet Lithium was not angered. "What is so funny?" Siren asked him. "You are_ just _like your teachers. They too believed they could _cheat _death with their powers. You were waiting weren't you? You waited until I had 4 pieces in my hand because now those 4 pieces are useless to me, and I would have been better off with other cards. But.." He restarted the loop even with Exodia banished. "I have considered even this, I can break exodia free even from the world beyond death!" And after two archfiend enabled pickups and two Brionac forced discards (Sarcophagus & Sangan), a certain lied on top of his deck. "That is, Necroface!" Ian knew that card. "If he normal summons that, all banished monsters will return to the deck!" That of course included the Right Arm the Mental Seeker had sealed. "And the best part is that I have not normal summoned yet this turn. In the end you forgot the same thing they forgot." Lithiums smile widened. "_Everyone_ dies, except death itself. Not even the chaos architect can turn off the death _we_ deliver. And we reapers are eternal!" He summoned Necroface(1200/1800 and The Right Arm of Exodia came back to Lithiums deck.

(To be Continued in Mark 130: Fateless)

**New Cards used by Siren  
><strong>Gusto Grif  
>Daigusto Eguls<br>Telepon D.D.  
>Daigusto Falcos<p>

-  
>Future Visions<p>

**New Cards used by Lithium  
><strong>Morphing Jar  
>Top Runner<br>Battlefader  
>Quillbolt Hedgehog<br>Brionac, Dragon of Ice Barrier

-  
>Convulsion of Nature<br>Book of Taiyou  
>Archfiends Oath<br>Spell Economics


	130. 130: Fateless

**Mark 130: Fateless**

Lithiums LP: 4700 Sirens LP: 8000

"You summoned Necroface, but.." Siren had one last hope, his field spell. "Future Visions will remove Necroface from play for one turn." That would not stop its first effect, but Necroface(1200/1800) had a second effect that activated when it was banished. "Once is it banished, five cards are removed from our decks. Are you _hoping_ that the piece of Exodia gets banished to the top of my deck?" Lithium did not have a lot of cards left in his deck thanks to his liberal use of Archfiend Oath. "I like my odds." Siren said, sweat running down his forehead. "Liar." The two duelists started sending cards from the top of their deck away. "Oh my god." And Dean could not believe it. "He did it!" One of Lithiums five cards was the same Right Arm he had put back in his deck just one turn ago. "Guess I was lucky." Siren smirked. "Then we will try again, next turn." Lithium activated the continuous spell card, Degenerate Circuit. "Since you _love _banishment so much, all monsters returned to the hand will now be banished."

He then used Brionacs effect once more, and he discarded the Left Arm and both Legs of the Forbidden One. "I return your set monster, Mental Seeker and Daigusto Eguls back to your hand!" He used this effect to return Eguls(3200/1800), Mental Seeker(800/400), and the set Kamui, Hope of Gusto(200/1000) disappeared as well. "Blast. He of course saw that I had her in my hand." Kamui had a flip effect, but she could not use it now that she was removed by the Circuit spell. "And I attack. Even though pain does not matter, there is no need to allow any monster to exist on your field." Brionac released a beam of ice that froze Daigusto Falcos(2000/1200), and then he smashed the bird to pieces with its tail. "Set card. Turn end." And the trap he set was one that Siren knew about already. "Backup Soldier!" That was why he activated it so quickly, the Backup trap added the three pieces of Exodia he discarded back to his hand. "Gah. He is again just one piece away from victory." Ian knew Sirens luck had to run out eventually.

"Draw!" After the Necroface banished five cards, the top card of Sirens deck had become Psychic Feel Zone. _"That can come in handy."_ D.D. Telepon(500/1800) then returned from the dimension Time Escaper had placed it in. "I activate this spell, Psychic Feel Zone. It uses two banished psychics as materials for a synchro psychics special summon!" He selected Kamui and Mental seeker, the level 2 Gusto and the level 3 tuner. "Daigusto Gulldos!" A level 5 Daigusto synchro was thus summoned from in defense mode, a girl riding a spiked bird(2200/800). "Gulldos can send two Gusto monsters in the grave back to my deck, to destroy one card you control!" Lithum cringed. "I return Windaar and Winda, to destroy Brionac." Gulldos channeled lightning through its staff that reduced the Ice dragon to a puddle of water and ice shards. "That shatters your loop reaper!" He then played the spell Psychic Path. "I take back two banished psychic monsters!" He paid 800 lifepoints to take back two cards banished by Necroface; Overdrive Teleporter and Caam, Serenity of Gusto.

Sirens LP: 7200

"And now!" He sacrificed Telepon and brought out the Overdrive Teleporter(2100/1200). "Even though Future Visions will banish it, its effect still goes off. I can pay 2000 lifepoints to summon 2 level 3 psychic monsters from my deck." The Teleporter, while it was being sent to the future, brought out the recently returned Mental Seeker(800/400) along with a Hushed Psychic Cleric. "The Cleric discards a card to banish a psychic." He threw away Psychic Trigger and banished Mind Master. "I synchro summon Psychic Nightmare" And then the Cleric combined with the Seeker to form the level 6 Psychic Nightmare(2400/1800). "Cleric's disappearance brings back the monster he banished." Mind Master, the level 1 tuner, came out of the grave. "I tune him with Gulldos!" And that psychic combined with the spiked bird to form a level 6 synchro, Daigusto Sphreez(2000/1300). "When Sphreez is summoned, I can take back a Gusto card from my grave!" The wind witch let Siren take back Gusto Whirlwind. "And now, I will attack." Sphreez smashed Lithiums Battlefader(0/0) with her staff. "The left card in your hand, it is the Head of exodia!" And one correct guess later, the Psychic Nightmare(3400/1800) powered itself up with its effect and delivered a direct attack.

Lithiums LP: 1300 Sirens LP: 5200

"Ghk." Lithium began to look worried now. His turn began, and he had to pay 500 lifepoints to keep Degenerate Circuit on the field. And also Necroface(1200/1800) returned to the field, but the Right Arm of Forbidden One stayed removed from play. "Draw." And the next card on his deck was the trap Conscription, which he had no use for right now since the top card on Sirens deck was not a monster. "Archfiends Oath." But he could at least use Archfiends Oath one more time to draw the next card on his deck, One Day of Peace. "This will do nicely." She activated the spell, allowing both players to draw one card, and also all damage would be negated until the next turn. "I place two cards down and _end_ my turn." He gained the spell Giant Trunade, while Siren gained the trap Telepathic Power. And Overdrive Teleporter returned to his field once he completed his draw phase. "So how does it feel. Reaper, to be on the defense for once?"

"Do you even think how they feel, how the people you attack feel?" Psychic Nightmare destroyed Necroface, though the Day of Peace kept Lithium unharmed. "They should _not_ feel fear, they should consider it natural. That I _take_ enjoyment out of it is not their problem." The reaper hissed. "If that is what you believe, then I know I do not have to show you mercy." Siren activated his trap, Gusto Whirlwind. By sending Gusto Grif and Daigisto Gulldos back to his deck, he could special summon a new Gusto from his deck, one with 1000 defense points or less, like another Kamui(200/1000). "But.. what about the other him?" Dean asked, reminded of the fact that Lithium was a sleeper agent as well. "I do not think, there is another." Siren said grimly. "Huh?" Ian scratched his head. "But didn't you say, every reaper had his memories altered to become the perfect infiltrant?" Lithium just grinned. "The cat is _out_ of the bag, eh psychic kid?" He tapped his forehead. "You saw my _true _self, and nothing else. The me _that _took the Infinati's orders and the me _that_ knew nothing, they still both see eye to eye!" He laughed. "I am not like you, Dean. Your were too young to accept the guilt, I have embraced it. For in the end the accusers will be _gone_."

"You have done this for too long." Siren sighed and shook his head "What did you say? Where is that _anger_ of you now, psychic kid?" Lithium sounded disappointed. "It did not leave me. But I have never been the type to let my emotions take over. I will let my cards speak!" He activated the spell, Psi-Impulse. "I tribute Kamui, to send all cards in your hand back to your deck!" The reaper winced again, as he had to get rid of the four Exodia pieces in his hand and take three new cards from his deck "Then you are not even living. You can not _live_ by repressing your true nature." But he had set Giant Trunade already, as if he had anticipated this. "Since when did you become an expert on living?" Ian protested. Meanwhile Siren placed two cards down and passed the turn back to Lithium. "I was one of the first to discover the truth of this life, so I deserve it. All of you are living a _lie_." His turn began. "The Infinati have simply decided the undeserving have to be cleansed."

Sirens empty hand took another card from the deck and another 500 lifepoints were paid for the Degenerate spell. Thanks to Convulsion of Nature, Siren knew the cards in his new hand were harmless cards. Also on top of his deck was an Exodia piece, but that was not a concern on its own. "Archfiends Oath." Lithium replayed the Oath spell, taking the piece anyway. "Perhaps, I was wrong. Maybe you do desire a painful death." He then activated his trap card Conscription. "This card can summon a monster if one is one top of your deck, and I _see_ that one is!" He knew Sirens card on top of his deck was a Gusto monster. "What?" So Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto was special summoned to his side of the field. "I see it now, how this must _end_." Siren knew what Reeze's effect was, and it was not good. "I return the Piece of Exodia to the _bottom_ of my deck! To switch _control _of our monsters!" Reeze and Psychic Nightmare switched places.

Lithiums LP: 800

"Giant Trunade." He then flipped the spell he had placed down and sent Degenerate Circuit, Archfiends Oath, Convulsion of Nature and Spell Economics back to his hand. At the same time, Sirens two traps were returned to him, as did Future Visions. "Let me make _this_ prediction, heheh.. The card on your right, _is_ Psychic Trigger!" He of course guessed right, and the Nightmare(3400/1800) amplified its own power once more. "But that will not be enough!" Siren insisted. "You know it will, _because_ I know it will." He placed the three continuous spells back on his field, and their decks turned upside down again. "Look at the card on _top _of my deck now, and you will realize you are defeaten." They looked, all of them saw it. "Monster Reborn!" Ian, Dean and even the Guard knew how much danger Siren was in now. "Archfiends Oath. I guess that the card on top of my deck is _Monster Reborn_!" The Oath let him take the rebirth spell, and he immediately played it. "I revive Brionac!" The ice dragon(2300/1400) was reformed. "I discard three cards in my hand to send your monsters back to your hand!" Overdrive Teleporter, Sphreeze and Reeze were sent back to Sirens deck or hand. "This is.." Siren was defenseless.

"I..failed." Before him was the same killer that he saw that day at the academy, the one he ran away from. He finally confronted him, and.. he could not do it. "I could not.. beat you." Siren went numb, his body froze up. "You need not regret it, psychic kid. You made me, _me_, question my own faith in the totality of death and in the path of the design. But I was mistaken, death is _not _picky." Brionac attacked first, taking 2300 lifepoints away. "Death can come in _many _shapes and sizes, all that matters is that.." And Psychic Nightmare, Sirens own monster, finished off the student. "..death comes." The compartment on Lithiums dueldisk opened up, and energy tendrils came out to attack Siren. _"But.."_ And in his last moments of awareness, he managed to pick up one of Lithiums deepest thoughts. _"Do not worry, you are about to join those who you failed to avange."_ But the tone was not Lithiums at all, and Lithiums expression did not reflect this thought. _"Who is talking to me?" _Was his last question, before the darkness.

Sirens LP: 0

Siren collapsed to the floor. "Ggh." Dean looked away. "You can not even look at _it _anymore? You know what we do to them, Dean." Lithium scoffed. "But that is all, you do not know the whole truth! Do you? Only the council and the highest agents know!" Dean yelled. "You _knew _enough. You knew you were saving your own skin when you joined Infinati, you were fighting for the design of the world instead of against it." Lithium said while shrugging. "So what if we are not told what exactly the laws are of this world, _we_ are the ones who are going to survive." Just then the clicking of a trigger sounded. "Are you sure about that?" The guard asked as he put up his gun. "Do you _want_ to die this way?" Lithium chuckled. "Last time I checked, the _regular _way of death has been turned off. You'd have more success with that sleeping.." But the soldier fired anyway. "..Gas." And a dart hit Lithium in the neck. "Or a tranquillizer _might _work too. Then again." He pulled it out with ease. "You should have used this right away, even if you _correctly_ feared that we have immunized ourselves to all forms of chemical agents." He raised his disk again. "Perhaps you just feared _retaliation_." But he would not get a clear shot at the guard.

"No. I am next." Said Ian who took over Sirens disk. He also closed Sirens eyes, it was the least he could do. "You?" Lithium gave him a questioning look. "The _one _that got away. I shall be honest and admit that I did not expect you to have _content_. Even so, _you _are no threat to me." Lithium took the cards out of his deck. "You want to take me out one way or another, so I choose the way that gives me some chance of survival." Ian smiled nervously. "That is _one _way to see it." The reaper took one of the many decks in his coat and put that one inside his deck slot. "But I have _witnessed _your deck in action, this duel will not be filled with surprises for me." And again he drew his cards quicker than Ian could, so he got initiative once more. "I shall _give _you the death of the commoners." He activated the spell card, Heart of the Underdog. "?" And then he normal summoned the Gene-Warped Warwolf(2000/100). "A normal monster?" The guard had not seen anyone play those cards in a while. "What one-turn kill is this?"

Ians LP: 8000 Lithiums LP: 8000

"I can guess." Then it was Ians turn. "Reinforcement of the Army!" And with a spell he added an Amazoness from his deck to his hand. "Heh, no amazon can..." Lithium remained unimpressed, until he saw which amazon Ian claimed. "Amazoness Chain Master!" He summoned a chainwielding warrior(1500/1300). "It attacks Warwolf!" She tried to kick the genetic wolf. "But his monster is stronger!" The guard shouted, as Warwolf blocked the kick and counter-punched the Amazoness to her death. "That is what he wants." Dean smirked. "Because when the Chain Master dies.." The dying amazon made one last attack with her chain, an attack on Lithiums hand. "Rrgh." Lithium had to reveal his hand. "My hope paid off!" And in it was one piece of Exodia already. "I pay 1500 lifepoints to take that card from your hand!" The chain grabbed the Left Leg of Exodia and gave it to Ian. "Now I have part of your 'death', reaper." He waved the card at the angered Lithium. " And I will let you in on a secret." And Ian revealed a card in his hand. "!"

It was the Left Arm of Exodia. "This is not just my Amazoness deck, this is 'my' exodia deck!"

(To be Continued in Mark 131: Five by Five)

**New Cards used by Siren**  
>Kamui, Gust of Hope<br>Daigusto Sphreez  
>Overdrive Teleporter<br>Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto

-  
>Psychic Feel Zone<br>Psychic Path  
>Psi-Impulse<p>

**New Cards used by Ian Darkend**  
>Amazoness Chain Master<br>Left Arm of the Forbidden One

**New Cards used by Lithium**  
>Necroface<br>Gene-Warped Warwolf

-  
>Degenerate Circuit<br>One Day of Peace  
>Monster Reborn<br>Heart of the Underdog

-  
>Conscription<p> 


	131. 131: Five by Five

**Mark 131: Five by Five**

Gaunts LP: 100 Reapers LP: 0

"How.." The female reaper dropped to her knees "How could I have lost?" Not only had she lost Granel, but her massive amount of lifepoints had been whittled down slowly but relentlessly. ".." But Gaunt had nearly taken his own lifepoints down to zero to get this far into the duel. He would not say it to her, but it was only an extremely good opening hand that let him get out of the duel alive. "Are all of you, like this?" He doubted he could win again. "Heh. If we choose, then yes. So you did get lucky.." The girl sneered at him. "Why are you doing this, why now?" He held her Meklord card in his hand, and threatened to tear it up unless she told him what he wanted to hear. "Because we have all the marks, heheh.." But while she answered, she did not seem all that worried. "What?" And before Gaunt could send more questions her way, he noticed that the Meklord card was turning white. "No." He quickly tore it in half. "Aha! No use, no use! Granel will keep coming, the reapers will keep coming!" She laughed and laughed, but not for long. "Ah.." Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped to the floor. "Her mind.." Gaunt waved his fingers in front of her. There was no reaction. She looked just like her victims. _"So... That is the only way to stop them.."_

Ians LP: 6000 Lithiums LP: 8000

"You have an Exodia deck too?" Dean did not expect that, but it appeared to be true. "I had many decks in my days, Amazones were just the deck I lost to Urizen with." That was why he used that deck the day they met Lithium. "Then why did you _keep_ the Chain Master, an Amazon?" Lithium cursed, having lost one piece to her already. "I prepared this deck a long time ago, Lithium." He placed one card down. "This is not just my old exodia deck, but also my counter Exodia deck. And right now the score is two-zero." He ended his turn. "That _lead _will not last_,_ only one of us is guided by the grand design!" He drew a card, and at that point the spell Heart of the Underdog was activated. "That spell is the keycard." He said to the guard and Dean. "Every time he draws a normal monster, he can draw again. Since most Exodia pieces are normal monsters, he could theoretically draw all five pieces in one draw phase." Ian explained how this particular Exodia One-Turn Kill worked. "I tried that combo myself once. Heh."

"But you did not have the _right_ tools, did you Darkend?" Already Lithium drew the Right Leg of the Forbidden One. _"What? That was fast."_ Ian blinked. And it did not end there. "Battle Footballer, Charcoal Inpachi, Right Arm of the Forbidden One, Gatekeeper of Dark World - Renge, Gene-Warped Warwolf, Exodia the Forbidden One!" He managed to draw five more normal monsters before he drew an effect monster which terminated the draw phase. "Holy.. With luck like that, he could have defeated you if you had not taken his piece." Dean was amazed at Lithiums lucky draws. "This is not the first time he has been this fortunate." Ian remembered the time he just so happened to draw Battlefader, right when he needed to. "Luck has _nothing _to do with this. Probabilities _do_." Lithium said and summoned another Gene-Warped Warwolf(2000/100). "But you _may _not even get the death I chose for you, you may just end up like the psychic kid." Both Warwolves attacked directly, since Ian had left himself open for attacks.

Ians LP: 2000

"Now then, White Elephants Gift. This spell sacrifices a normal monster and lets me draw two cards." One warwolf was tributed and two cards were drawn, one of which was played. "Pot of Duality." With the next spell he could look at the top 3 cards of his deck; Common Charity, Reload and Aqua Madoor. "I send the latter two back to my deck and add Common Charity to my hand." He then placed one card down and ended his turn. _"..What is his plan?"_ Ian knew his draw power was nothing to scoff at, but without the Left Leg he could never complete Exodia. It was not as if Lithium could run copies of the same piece either. _"But I have some drawing tricks up my sleeve too."_ He placed a monster and a trap face down and ended his turn. "Hmph." Lithium then restarted his draw phase combo, drawing more normal monsters through Heart of the Underdog; Soul Tiger, another Battle Footballer and the last remaining piece of Exodia. _"It's like he is cheating with luck like that. Except if he was, why not draw all five pieces right away?"_

Lithium stopped after that, after he gained a spell. "Common Charity." But then he used his facedown trap to banish one of the Battle Footballers in his hand, to draw two new cards. "_Six_teen in my deck remain. _Four_teen cards in my hand now.." Lithium counted them. "But the one _I _want is in yours." He placed one card down. "So I use Card Destruction!" And a spell that made Ian cringe. _"Gah. Should have guessed he had that one." _Both duelists had to toss out the cards in their hand, Ian drew four new cards, and Lithium drew twelve. But more then 12 cards landed in his graveyard. "Now the part I stole is back with him." Ians pieces were discarded too. "Magical Mallet!" Lithiums facedown card was now used. "I send four normal monsters back to my deck!" He could trade 4 cards in his hand with his deck. Only one was a normal monster, the rest were spells and traps. "Now I see his plan!" Dean had done the math. "He made it so that his deck has nothing left but normal monsters!" This way heart of the Underdog could proceed uninterrupted.

"But all five pieces were in the graveyard now!" The guard protested. "Pot of Avarice." Lithiums spell disagreed. "I send five monsters back into my _deck _and drew two cards." He returned the four limbs of Exodia to his deck, along with The Giant Soldier of Stone. But he kept the head in the grave. "And Monster Reincarnation!" He also discarded a card from his hand to take the Exodia Head back. "Next turn, it _all_ ends. Of course that depends on if you can survive this." He summoned a third Gene-Warped Warwolf(2000/100), and both wolves attacked. "XX-Saber Emmersblade." What was killed however was an insect in armor(1300/800). "When he dies, I can summon any X-saber level 4 monster from my deck." Which resulted in the special summon of an X-Saber Palomuro(200/300) from Ians deck. "That..X-saber?" Lithium looked confused, and halted his attack. "..I switch my first Warwolf to defense mode and place four cards down in the magic/trap zone." He had a nostalgic feeling about this. "You can tell what I am about to do?"

"It is obvious. But I end my turn." Then he had to discard one card to keep his handsize under the six card limit. "Still I hope you do not mind me explaining it to the others." Ian first flipped the continuous trap: Solemn Wishes. "I now gain 500 lifepoints every time I draw a card." He gained 500 points during his draw phase. "One Day of Peace." And again when he played a spell that let him and Lithium draw a card and negate all damage in a turn. "I already have Palomuro, now I need Axel." The lizard was joined by a humanoid warrior(400/100). "I call this my XXodia-loop." He entered the battle phase, and Palomuro stabbed one Warwolf with its dagger. "Every time a Saber monster dies, Axel lets me draw one card." The wolf of course slaughtered the attacking lizard, but the damage was negated by the Peace spell. "And every time a Saber monster dies, I can revive another Palomuro in my grave by paying 500 lifepoints." Another Palomuro(200/300), sent to the grave by Card Destruction, returned to the field. "And the cost of that is offset by Solemn Wishes." This too was an infinite draw loop. "Monster Recovery and Reload!" But Lithium played two spell cards. "Monster Recovery?"

Ians LP: 3000

The second spell that resolved first reloaded Lithiums hand, sending all spells and Exodia's head back into his deck, while he took back seven cards. The first spell resolved second and sent both one Warwolf back to his hand and then all cards in his hand back to his deck. And again he could draw an equal amount of cards. "I take _everything _into account, Darkend." Palomuro instead hit the second defending Warwolf, its weak defense could not stand up to even the tiny lizard. "Blast. You have every kind of hand replenishing card, don't you?" Ian placed one card down and switched Axel to defense mode. "But, is your deck all normal monsters now?" Lithiums draw phase came again. But he quickly ran out of his fortune, as the first card he drew was a trap card. "No it is not.." And now he only had five cards left in his deck; Soul Tiger, Battle Footballer, Upstart Goblin, Left Leg of the Forbidden One and Gene Warwolf. "But I only need that _last _piece." He activated D.D. Capsule. "I _banish_ Upstart Goblin from my deck." This way there were only normal monsters in his deck.

"Nobody has ever _toyed _with me for this long." Next turn he could try again, but right now Ians own OTK setup was too dangerous to leave alone. "The Giant Soldier of Stone." So he normal summoned the rock soldier(1300/2000), and also switched the Warwolf to attack mode. "_Die_." Both attacked and crushed X-Sabers Palomuro and Axel. Though Ian managed to revive the first Palomuro(200/300) when the second one died, and the second one when Axel died. "You will _not _escape this death." Though this time he did not get to use Axels effect so he did not gain lifepoints from Solemn Wishes until it was his turn to draw again. "I set one card down." And the reaper was not quite done yet. "And to make sure you do not _touch_ the cards in my hand." Lithium played his third trap: Different Dimension Vault. "All cards in my hand are banished as long as I choose them to be!" His four other Exodia pieces were safely sealed in another dimension.

Ians LP: 2000

_Different Dimension Vault, Continuous Trap  
>Banish all cards in your hand (face-down).During you or your opponents main phase you can send this card to the graveyard to return the banished cards to your hand<em>

"..Draw." Ian looked at his hand, formulating a new gameplan. "_This should work_. I activate my face-down card, Gottoms Emergency Call, I revive to fallen Sabers." Axel(400/100) and Emmersblade(1300/800) rejoined their Palumoru brothers. "Give it up, you can not beat me at my own game!" However Lithium flipped a trap card. "What the?" Magical Explosion was triggered. "The purpose of the Vault was two-fold! I have _no _cards in my hand, which lets this trap inflict 200 points of damage to you for every spell in my cemetery!" He had 14, so 2800 damage would be deducted from Ians 2000 lifepoints. "Nhg. Rainbow Life." Except he could counter the damage with his trap. "I discard a card from my hand to turn all damage into healing energy." Instead of losing life, Ian gained 2200 lifepoints. "Tsk. Of course. There had to be a trap like that, or else you would kill yourself by ramming Palomuro into my monsters." Lithium saw it coming, but was still annoyed. "Then I open my Vault now, and take back my cards." He regained the 4 pieces and other cards.

Ians LP: 4700

"Even so, here we come again." Palomuro number one killed itself while trying to wound the Warwolf. The 1800 points of battle damage were also converted into restorative energy. "And Axel lets me draw a card." He drew once and gained more life due to Solemn Wishes. "And this is what _I _was waiting for!" Lithium revealed his own trap, Appropriate. "You drew outside your draw phase, so from now on, every time you do so, I can draw twice!" He drew two cards. "Ack?" But what was drawn were Soul Tiger and Gene-Warped Warwolf. "Whoa. I lucked out. But I can not continue the loop." Ian held off his second attack. If he drew again, Lithium would draw the last two cards in his deck and win the duel. "But your spell is not safe yet. I activate Saber Slash." The X-sabers swords started glowing. "I can destroy as many cards as there are sabers on the field." Palomuro, Emmersblade and Axel cut down the Warwolf, the Stone Soldier and most importantly, Heart of the Underdog. "I set two cards and end my turn." Now it all came down to chance, Lithium could draw one of two cards next.

Ians LP: 7000

"There is no _hope_, the path is still guiding me." Lithium closed his eyes. "Grant him his _end_, oh lord of.." He drew the card. "..what?" But it was not the Left Leg he drew, as no automatic victory could be declared. "How is _this _possible? Why does _it _rest at the very bottom?" Without his key spell, he could not continue drawing. "You! Why does the _path_ favor you!" He activated the spell, Magical Stone Excavation, discarding two random normal monsters from his hand to the grave to take back Heart of the Underdog. "Then what is this path you keep talking about?" Ian did not get that at all. "Ask _him_." Lithium spat at Dean and he placed Heart of the Underdog on his field again. "The path is supposed to the perfect estimation, Infinati's lord knows the design of this world in every detail and supposedly can predict every future event." Dean explained. "In our case, he tells us which cards give us the best results, though I never had as much luck as Lithium does now." He shrugged. "That is because you were _cast_ out. I remained, and have evolved along with the design! The signers have been eliminated, which made our _power_ grow!"

"And now I realize_ how_ the design meant for this to end. _I_ special summon, Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord!" The Forbidden One had assumed a new form, a full body(0/0). "All monsters within my _grave_yard are sent back!" The fourteen killed and discarded normal monsters returned to Lithiums deck. "Exodius and Exodia's head are the only _effect_ monsters in this deck. So everything I sent back were normal monsters!" So next draw phase again would definitely lead him to draw the one piece he still needed. "This is your last turn, _Ian_ Darkend!"

Meanwhile on the second floor. "Is everyone here alright?" Macbeth stumbled upon a group of survivors, hiding in a storage room. "Quiet! That thing, it is looking for us!" One panicked citizen shushed him. "Oh. What is?" Macbeth started to whisper. "It is some kind of..machine or tank. I do not know why it is after us, but.." They just did not want to be found by it. "It has taken so many already.." Macbeth noticed, as he had to walk past many bodies to get here. "Do not worry then, I am here now. I will.." He wanted to calm them down. "Protect you?" But he heard footsteps behind him. _"Who?"_ And he turned around.

"Hello Tobias, it has been a while."

(To be Continued in Mark 132: Guilty of Being)

**New Cards used by Ian Darkend**  
>XX-Saber Emmersblade<br>X-Saber Palumoro  
>X-Saber Axel<p>

-  
>One Day of Peace<br>Saber Slash

-  
>Solemn Wishes<br>Gottoms' Emergency Call  
>Rainbow Life<p>

**New Cards used by Lithium**  
>Battle Footballer<br>Charcoal Inpachi  
>Renge - Gatekeeper of Dark World<br>Aqua Madoor  
>Soul Tiger<br>The Giant Soldier of Stone  
>Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden Lord<p>

-  
>White Elephants Gift<br>Card Destruction  
>Magical Mallet<br>Pot of Avarice  
>Monster Recovery<br>Reload  
>Different Dimension Capsule<br>Magical Stone Excavation

-  
>Common Charity<em><br>Different Dimension Vault_  
>Magical Explosion<br>Appropriate


	132. 132: Guilty of Being

**Mark 132: ****Guilty of Being  
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"Lincoln?" Macbeth knew of only one man that would call him by that name. "What?" But the one that stood in the entrance to the storage room was not the Lincoln he had last seen. "Heh, surprised?" That face, the long grey hair and blue eyes; those belonged to the man who had been unmasked back at Castillo manor. "You.. are back in your original body?" Macbeth could only conclude that. "For services rendered, beyond the call of duty." Lincoln bowed. "What do you mean? What services?" Macbeth did not understand why Lincoln was back. He had failed his mission, last time he checked. "You did not figure it out yet? Demistria was a mole, Macbeth. You people fell for the same trick twice." He smirked. "Demistria? Then.." The ace cringed as he remembered where Demistria had been sent to. "Yes, thanks to her we eliminated the Chaos Architect. But my 'death' made her look good enough to get close to you. Though I will admit, the plan was for her to defeat me in a duel. I never expected to lose to you, Tobias."

And then he walked away from the entrance. "Wait, where are you going!" Macbeth followed. "I am not going to risk my mission just to settle a vendetta, Tobias. My presence here is enough to draw all other reapers here." He tapped his dueldisk, which was glowing red all over. "And besides, you should be more worried about the innocents. Mister hero." He chuckled as a large shadow fell over the hallway. "!" Behind Macbeth was another duelist, a middle-aged businessman. And a Meklord rampaged along the halls with him. "Good luck!" Lincoln took this opportunity to leave the scene. "Damn." Macbeth could not pursue, he could not leave the people inside the storage room with this thing. "You will not touch them, reaper!" The Ace of Diamonds activated his dueldisk. "Hollow promises." The reaper replied. "You will be hollow too.." Granel(23425/0). "What the hell is with those lifepoints?" Macbeth could think of only one deck that even stood a chance against such overwhelming power. He inserted it into his disk and activated it

Macbeths LP: 8000 Reapers LP: 46850

"Hand Destruction! We discard two cards to add 2 new cards!" Macbeth could take the first turn and used this spell. "I discard Ojama Blue, but more importantly, Ojamagic from my hand!" And because he had discarded the Ojamagic spell card, he could add Ojama Black, Yellow and Green to his hand. "And now I summon Ojama Red, and use his special ability to summon out the three other Ojama's!" Ojama Red(0/1000) special summoned Black(0/1000) Yellow(0/1000) and Green(0/01000) when he himself was normal summoned. "Are you trying to amuse me to death?" The reaper rolled his eyes. "No. But I am trying to survive with laughter." Macbeth activated the spell Ojama Delta Hurricane, which destroyed all cards on the reapers field. "Ggh!" Granel was dismantled. "Fine, I did not expect that. But I have two more copies in my deck, and you will never whittle down my lifepoints before I summon another." The Reaper hissed. "I can try." Macbeth then activated the spell Ground Collapse and placed two cards down.

"Ground Collapse?" The reaper saw two of his monster zones crumble, he could not place any monsters there. "I do not get it." So he tried to summon a monster to one of the remaining zones. "Maybe now?" Macbeth winked as he flipped his trap, Ojama Trio. "What?" And three token versions of Ojama Black, Yellow and Green(0/1000) were created to fill those three remaining zones. "You think you can keep me from summoning monsters?" The reaper placed two cards in his hand down. "Actually.." But Macbeth activated his trap, Xing Zhen Hu, to chain those two cards down. Whether they were spells or traps, they could not be used anymore. "..I do." He grinned. "You are one aggravating opponent." The man cursed and ended his turn. He had no spells or traps that could break this lock yet, but he knew his deck had ways out of this. "Draw!" Macbeth also knew this would never last, so he had to act quick. "Ehr. I set a card down and end my turn." His opponents eye twitched. "This duel bores me.."

He drew his next card. "Heh." And placed it down. "Okay." Macbeth drew again. "Dust Tornado!" But the enemy's patience had run out, and he immediately activated his trap to destroy Macbeths Ground Collapse spell card. "Oh, guess you care more about getting Granel back than those two set cards of yours Still this can't be good." But Macbeth shrugged it off and played Polymerization from his hand. "What do you say, Ojama King?" And he summoned the swimswuit wearing king of Ojama's(0/3000) in defense mode, by fusing Red, Yellow and Green together. "Now those two monster zones are again sealed!" He explained. "Damn you!" The recently fixed zones collapsed all over again. "Do you think I have no monster destruction spells?" He asked as he was about to play a spell. "I do. But I do not need to worry about those anymore." Macbeth then flipped his trap. "Spatial Collapse!" And a strange field of gravity was erected. "What, why can I not.." The Reaper attempted to play his spell, but was forbidden from doing so.

"Spatial Collapse, this continuous trap can only be used when we have less than 5 cards under our control." Macbeth had four, the Reaper had exactly five. "From now on, we can only control up to five cards each." He let that sink in. "No. Then.." The enemy could not summon, set or activate any card he drew from now on. And he had no useable effects in his graveyard or hand either. "But like this, neither of us can win! As soon as you attack me, a token will be destroyed and I will have room for a new card to play!" The Reaper shouted as he ended his turn. "True true." Macbeth drew a card and ended his turn as well. "But that is still a better result than letting you harm anyone else." He smiled at the people inside the store room, they looked more relieved now. "And who knows, I have one space left. I could draw a burning card, or a card that allows me to attack directly. Who knows who knows.." The reaper drew a card again, but had to end his turn. " Either way, we are going to be here for a while."

Meanwhile at another duel..

Ians LP: 7000 Lithiums LP: 8000

"Exodius. Exodia's summonable form. Is he planning on using its effect?" Dean knew that Exodius could also declare an automatic victory, if it managed to send all five pieces into the graveyard. "..." And it could send a card to the grave every time it declared an attack, like the one he declared on X-Saber Axel(400/100). "And Exodius _gains_ 1000 attackpoints for all normal monsters in the graveyard." A Battle Footballer fell into the cemetery, and Exodius(1000/0) could thus slay the Saber beastwarrior. Though at that time Ian paid another set of 500 lifepoints to revive the Palomuro(200/300) saber lizard that was in his graveyard. "But that is not why you summoned him." Ian knew better. "You needed more than 1 card in your deck, because Appropriate is still active. Had I played a spell that allowed me to draw, you would be ordered to draw twice. Except a deck of one card can only fulfill half of that order." In that scenario, Appropriate would not let Lithium draw at all. "And even that attack just now, was to discard the fifteenth monster in your deck, so it holds an even number of cards." With 14 cards left, Lithium only required 7 uses of Appropriate to be assured of victory. "Heh. You are right, I do not _need _Exodius' other powers." Lithium ended his turn. "This _one _was enough."

Ians LP: 5900

Ian drew his next card, gaining 500 lifepoints thanks to Solemn Wishes. "..Synchro summon! I tune Palomuro with Emmersblade!" The level 1 lizard tuner(200/300) and level 3 insect swordsman(1300/800), and summoned the level 4 Armory Arm(1800/1200). "And again!" He tuned the second Palomuro with the Armored hand to form the level 5 X-Saber Wayne(2100/400). "What was the point of that?" Dean yelled. "I needed five monsters in my cemetery." Ian explained. "But you already had five." Dean responded. "Not anymore." He activated his spell, Dark Factory of Mass Reproduction. "I take back the two pieces of Exodia in my cemetery." One had been discarded by Card Destruction, the other he discarded last turn when he used the trap of Rainbow Life. "Now you have _two_, congratulations." Lithium clapped. "That still might as well be nothing, while I am about to have.." And then Ian activated the spell on his field, Pot of Avarice. "what.." Ian sent back his four Saber monsters and Amazoness Chain Master, in order to draw two cards.

"But you know, what happens _now_!" Appropriate chained to this spell, as soon as Ian drew two cards so did Lithium. "I do. This is a last ditch effort." Yet Ian drew two cards again. "?" Because he activated his own Appropriate trap card. "The two are caught in a chain!" Dean gasped, as both continuous trap cards would keep responding to the draws their opposites enabled. "This..ahahaha. Excellent!" Lithium laughed estatically. "This is a _good_ way to die, by risking your existence on death's love for you! The one who draws _all of _Exodia first, wins!" They had to take turns to draw a pair of cards, but Lithium had the advantage. He needed only one piece, and his deck had fifteen cards less than Ians did. "Draw!" But they were stuck to the loop now, Lithium drew two cards and so did Ian. But with each passing link, both players grew more silent. Lithium kept drawing normal monsters, until only two cards remained on top of his deck._ "Again, I did everything the path has foretold. Why does it create the worst situation for me?"_

On the other hand, Ian had not drawn his last piece yet. Or he would won by now. "Why are you so calm? Draw!" Whatever Lithiums last two cards were, one of them had to be the fifth piece. "I don't know. I don' t get worked up easily." So this draw Ian made was the last before defeat became certain. "You do not appreciate _fear_, that is what it is. But I am curious. How _many _pieces have you drawn already in this loop?" Lithium felt his confidence come back to him. "..Just two." And the reapers trademark grin returned. "Then you have _reached _the end of your quiet little life!" He was about to draw another card. "You did not let me finish." Yet before he could pick up that card and flip it around to look at it, Exodia appeared. "WHAT?" Exodia the Forbidden One was completed, and appeared on Ians side. "I drew two pieces thanks to the loop, and one piece thanks to Pot of Avarice." Exodia gathered energy in its hands, the infinite energy that led to absolute obliteration. "No! This is not possible! How could you have drawn all pieces so quickly, how!" Ian shrugged. "Can't tell you, I am as surprised as you are.." And then Exodia struck.

Lithiums LP: 0

"I do not get it._ I _do not get it." The reaper took the full force of that attack, and was instantly separated from his untouched lifepoints. "_I_ was the reaper, _I_ was Exodia's messenger." But he continued to stand while his voice started to crack. "Maybe, you both confused Exodia?" Dean suggested, though his guess was as good as any others. "Exodia can get confused?" The guard scratched his head. "The Infinati told us that the cards are more than just drawings and images, they represent a part of the human subconscious. Remember that Design tells us reapers which deck fits best with us." He looked at his own deck. "The Karakuri were chosen for me. I suppose Lithium was chosen to wield Exodia. But.." He looked at Ian. "You must have been closer to Exodia, and the card favored you over Lithium." Ian blinked and stared at the five card pieces. "Well, thanks I guess." He then turned back to Lithium, who was actually smiling now. "Now _I _at least understand." He started to lose balance. "And now, death has a new reaper. Every illusion is stripped away. Ahaha... _I_ was a fool to think I could escape death, by becoming its servant." And then the energy tendrils hidden in his dueldisk shot out and extracted their masters life, leaving just a body to sink to the floor. _"Sorry Siren, I guess I should have dueled him first.."_ Ian sighed. _"But at least now he is given his due."_

"So Siren was taken." Said a bitter Gaunt, who entered the hallway. "Sir, you made it!" The guard was happy to see him. "Barely. These reapers have powers beyond the regular duelist." He showed them the torn up Granel card. "Every one of them starts out with a Meklord we have not yet seen, and their power is determined by their lifepoint total. Which is also very high." Ian inspected it. "But Lithium never used it in our duels, and his lifepoints were not elevated either." Dean also took a look at it. "That must be the third Meklord I sometimes heard about. Reapers only got access to Skiel, masked agents could also use Wisel, only the council has this one." But now every Infinati agent had it. "The one I faced did say that they could choose to accept Granel. It is possible this Lithium decided against it." Gaunt guessed an Exodia deck did not benefit from any Meklord type. "But their power has grown in more ways than one. Their draws are getting better." Gaunt nodded to Ians words. "I heard the same story. I know the reason." And it was a bad news. "Something happened at the World Tree, I feel like ms. Demistria had a hand in it. But it did not matter how it happened. The endresult is this.. The marks are in Infinati's hands and the signers are.."

"Made it!" In between the time it took Gaunt to say two words, three more people had moved into the hallway. "Whoa." Ian and the others saw Sarah, Nathan and Jason in their midst. "Where, where did you come from?" There was a flash, so Ian assumed they teleported. But he still was not used to that. "We are..here? This is not the destination I imagined." Jason scanned his new environment. "It is good enough." Sarah was just glad to be back. "Sir!" And Nathan was glad to see Gaunt. "And..ehr..that other guy." Ian as well, although he could not even recall his name. "Ashworth, Rain, and..Castle. How did you get here, and..what happened?" Gaunt had of course a lot of questions. "And where are the others?" He did not see his son Thursday, Kein or Ada anywhere. "Oh, that is a long story." Jason rasped. "I could ask you about what happened here too." He noticed the many bodies on the floor, including Sirens. "The Infinati are on the move." The guard explained. "I see, than we will make the story short." Nathan said.

"We should probably begin by saying that this world is...not exactly real."

(To be Continued in Mark 133: For every Action..)

**New Cards used by Ian Darkend**  
>Armory Arm<br>X-Saber Wayne

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>Pot of Avarice<p>

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>Backup Soldier<br>Appropriate

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Ojama King<p>

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>Ground Collapse<br>Polymerization

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>Xing Zhen Hu<br>Spatial Collapse

**Cards used by Reaper # 2**  
>Meklord Emperor Granel<p>

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>Dust Tornado<p> 


	133. 133: For every Action

**Mark 133: For Every Action..**

"This is..not real?" Sarah and Nathan swapped stories with Gaunt and Ian, but theirs took a lot longer to ingest. "How, why..what?" Ian struggled to understand it all. He knew from their tone that they were dead serious. "Did you know about this?" Gaunt hid his own bewilderment behind a stern expression and turned to the ex-reaper with them. "They only told me that my targets knew too much and that I had to eliminate them. They promised to tell us more if we performed well, but I never got to that circle." Dean was as amazed as the others, although everything did align with what he had been told already. "And Urizen.." To Gaunt everything began to make sense; why Callisto could and did do what she did to the world and its people, but also why his wide and Demistria looked so much like one another. Their appearance here was determined by the appearance of this worlds original creator. "He was right.." But more importantly, Urizen had warned him of Demistria. Yet he let her come along with the other signers, believing they needed her.

"We have time to regret things later sir." Nathan spoke up. "If what you told is true, then we have a situation to take care off." They did not have much time to talk with Meklords invading the place."You are right.." Gaunt looked ahead. "I already took care off one reaper, Ian has dealt with another." Jason, Sarah and Nata noticed the bodies in the hallway. "Oh no, Siren!" One of them was the psychic duelist, the other was his killer. "We should at least carry them to a safer place. I mean they can still return to their bodies, can't they?" Sarah asked. "I do not know, I never tried." Dean responded. "If a part of Richard returned when Lincolns emperor was destroyed, then we probably have to destroy all Meklord emperors." Gaunt had to believe Urizen could still be saved. "But Siren dueled this guy?" Jason saw the other one, the oneturn killer Lithium. "Lithium was the one that hit the Dresden academy." The guard explained as he picked up Siren and placed him against the walls of an empty room. "So it was a duel fueled by revenge. I can get behind that." Jason cursed.

"This coming from the guy that burned their first school down." Before they could leave the room, an eight voice joined the conversation. "That..you!" And everyone recognized that voice. "Lincoln!" Nathan gasped. "Lincoln?" Jason blinked. He saw the face of the man that threatened to shoot his sister, not the face that came for him at his house. "Back in the old flesh." Lincoln smirked. "I did not expect to find you three here though. I heard the councils jaws all dropped when you literally warped out of their temple." Jason clenched a fist. "And now you come in to get us back, is that it?" He started to remember who his least favorite Infinati was. "Well nobody here is exempt from the final verdict handed out by the design. But my task was mostly to channel all the reapers here." Lincoln said yet he activated his dueldisk anyway. "But you somehow eliminated two already, and the third is busy with Macbeth down below." Gaunt winced when he said this. "But do not worry, I gave him my regards. He is probably with dear old Kein and Richard now."

...

Macbeths LP: 8000 Reapers LP: 46850

"For crying out loud, this is ridiculous!" The reaper cried and moaned, as he was still pinned down by the effects of Spatial Collapse. He could place no new cards on the field or activate any effects. "You must realize you can not win this! Even if neither of us can play any cards, your deck will run out of cards before mine does!" Because not only had Macbeth drawn the first card, he had also thinned out his deck by using Ojamagic. "White Elephants Gift." The least he could do was clear up some pace, so he a played a spell that tributed Ojama Black(0/1000) in exchange for a double draw. "...Heh." And then he paid 2000 lifepoints. "What?" And twenty fireballs appeared in the sky. "Fi-final countdown?" This was a spell so infamous the reaper recognized it just from the visuals. "Indeed. In twenty turns my opponent will lose. Since there is no way for me to deplete your enormous amount of lifepoints the normal way, I will just stall until you drop dead." Macbeth grinned happily. " can not do this!" The businessman screamed. "You are welcome stop me." Macbeth ended his turn, and one flare disappeared from the ceiling. "But I do not feel like playing fair with you people, when you attack the innocent. That is when my mercy ends."

Macbeths LP: 6000

...

"Yup. All the aces neatly archived. I can see it now." Lincoln nodded smugly. "You did this, you started all of this." Jason was still trying to hold himself back from just punching this guy. "No. I believe you will find that it was _you _who started all this, Jason. Or your father if you like to place the blame on others. I was merely the agent they chose to communicate with you and your family. You just provided us with a means to remove the threat of the earthbound immortals." Lincoln shrugged off the accusing glares and words. "But you would have found other plans without us, you would have threatened the world regardless. I should have seen it from the very start." Jason took his deck out. "You people were a part of the worlds problem!" Lincoln stopped smirking as they yelled that to him. "You got that wrong too. We are the solution to the problem. Were you even awake for the cardinals big speech?" Lincoln also took out a deck. "Well, it is not like I mind having a duel with you..Jason. I crushed you back at Battle Garden, and that was before the design unlocked my true power!"

Jasons LP: 8000 Lincolns LP: 8000

"Unlocked his what now?" Said a confused Nathan. "It appears that when they took our marks, they also took the power of the mark and improved their 'luck' in dueling." Ian clarified it for him, as much as he could. "Luck, nothing. Everything is fixed. Up until now I was stuck using Scraps because it suited my Ace identity, and because up until that fluke of a duel with Macbeth I was untouchable." Lincoln drew his cards. "But no more of that, my loss back then proved to the design that I needed a new deck. And with an opening hand like this, I can only agree!" Lincoln then activated the spell, Future Fusion. "I shall fusion summon Chimeratech Overdragon from my extra deck! And send up to ten machines from my deck to the grave to fuel this fusion summon!" Lincoln discarded Cyber Dragon and ten dark-type machines. "I then summon Spell Reactor RE." A dragon-like missile machine(1200/900) appeared, revealing his new theme to be the Reactor machine series. "Now I set a card and end my turn."

"The Reactors?" Jason heard about those. "Yes, Spell Reactor reacts to one spell played in a turn, and will inflict 800 damage to the user of that spell. The spell itself is destroyed as well." The Infinati told Jason, a duelist who relied heavily on equip spells. "Well. I have a surprise for you too, Lincoln. You see, you are not the only duelist whose deck has tried to tell him to change things up." He summoned Morphtronic Radion(1800/900) to the field. "Morphtronics?" And Nathan and Sarah had not seen him use those since Battle Garden. "Are you joking? Last time we dueled this was the deck you used!" Lincoln gave him a shout of disbelief. "This is no joke, when I dueled my sister my deck suddenly threw a Morphtronic my way. And I'd be a fool to ignore such an omen!" Radion tossed his plugcable at the Spell Reactor and charged it up until it exploded. "But, didn't you lose that duel?" Sarah asked him. "That is besides the point. If I lost then, then I had to lose. But she is gone now.. thanks to these people."

Lincolns LP: 7400

"She was a bigger threat than us, Jason. Bigger than even the false gods. You saw that too. You could have joined us, but in the end you were too tied to your family to tear yourself loose. Only those who can abandon their past lifes can become Infinati." From the blast cloud came a second monster, Summon Reactor SK(2000/1400). "?" And Spell Reactor RE was still intact as well. "Fake Explosion.." Jason caught with his eye the trap that set this up, Fake Explosion prevented the destruction of a monster and then summoned the Reactor SK from the hand or grave. _"Future Fusion came in handy indeed."_ Jason placed a card down, but had to pass the turn back to Lincoln. He knew what was coming. "Spell card: Iron Call. I revive one level 4 machine in my graveyard, as I control a machine. I choose Trap Reactor Y FI!" And now the third(800/1800) of the reactors was called out by the Iron spell. "And now, Summon Reactors ultimate effect ignites!" The three reactor monsters fell apart, but their separated pieces were recombined into one large bomb plane/machine hybrid"(3000/2500). "From the grave, I summon Flying Fortress SKYFIRE!"

Lincoln took a step back as his air raiding machine flew upwards and crashed through the window behind them. "This stage needs to be expanded a little." SKYFIRE then opened lowered its turrets, aiming at Jasons field. "Once per turn I can discard one card to destroy one card you control." A round of shots was launched at Radion and it destroyed the radio morpher immediately. "And now a direct strike!" This time SKYFIRE's second set of cannons fired at Jason directly. "Morphtronic Scramble! Since you declared a direct attack, I can negate it and summon a Morphtronic from my hand!" The bullets were blocked by the arrival of a Camera(800/600). "Very well. You have another turn, but you are familiar with this card too." He placed one card down. "Be careful with what you play, Castle." He ended his turn. "I have to be careful you say?" Jason looked at his hand. "I can read, your monster destroys any card I set, or any monster I summon and inflicts 800 damage as well. But.." He normal summoned Morphtronic Magnen Bar(100/100) from his hand. "Morphtronic Cameran here can negate effects that target my monsters!" And the camera stepped in front of the magnet bar, before SKYFIRE could target it.

"Then I shall set a spell card down." Jason placed it in his field slot. "Hmph, do you think I will not take any chance I can get to hurt you?" The air raider opened its missile stack and blew the set card to smithereens with a salvo of missiles. "I did not think so. That is why I placed." Jason revealed the set card, Morphtronic Map. "A field that gets its effect when it is destroyed! Morphtronic Map revives a Morphtronic!" The Map brought back Morphtronic Radion(1800/900) in attack mode. "I also switch Cameran to attack mode." Now that the danger of setting off SKYFIRE's summon counters was over, he did not need Cameran(1600/600)s effect anymore. "And for the coup de grace! Magnen Bar can combine the attackpoints of all morphtronics I control into one attack." The magnetic one(900/100) was already charged up by Radions effect, but now it(4300/100) also took the attackpoints from Radion and Cameran. "Attack!" The morpher unleashed a shot of magnetic energy that toppled the flying behemoth and made it crash into the city blocks.

Jasons LP: 7200 Lincolns LP: 6100

"Well done." Lincoln clapped slowly. "But even the worst of duelists get lucky sometimes." He started his turn and Future Fusion resolved at this point. "Chimeratech Overdragon is fusion summoned. But.." As the mighty tenheaded dragon(8000/0) showed up, its effect was activated. "Overdragon destroys all other cards I control when it hits the field." The dragon destroyed Future Fusion, which was what kept it alive. So it destroyed itself. "I activate a spell, Machina Armored Unit. Then I summon another Spell Reactor RE and attack Magnen Bar with it." The spell killer fired missiles at the magnet morpher and broke it into tiny fragments. "End turn." Jason saw what he was up too, but had no way around it. "I attack back!" Radion destroyed yet another Reactor RE with its cable. "But now Machina Armored Unit is activated, and I special summon a monster from my deck that has less attackpower than the destroyed monster." As long as his new machine had the same element as the previous one, it could be summoned. "Darksea Rescue." So Lincoln called out the rescue boat monster(0/0) in defense mode. "...I switch Cameran to defense mode." Jason had a very bad feeling about all of this. "You can already see it coming eh? Did your psychic powers warn you?"

Jasons LP: 6900 Lincolns LP: 5500

"I am not that kind of psychic, you know that." Jason snapped back at the Infinati. "Oh that is right, your sister was the seer. But you have some decent powers yourself, although I keep forgetting if it was you or her that made that kid over there burn down the academy." Lincoln pointed at the lifeless Siren. ".." Jason did not give him his answer, he only placed a trap down and ended his turn. "Well, I have to thank whoever did it. Lithium told me how much easier it was to kill them, in their new less secured building. Then again Lithium has fallen as well. Too bad, he would have made a fine masked agent." Lincoln normal summoned a level 3 bomb tuner, Dark Salvo(100/1100). Its effect brought back a level 4 dark machine, like Trap Reactor YFI(800/1800). "A psychic is only useful as our ally, otherwise they become a threat to the fabric of this world. The next iteration of this world is better off without them." And then he performed a synchro summon, combining the level 1 Darksea Rescue with the two other machines. "Dark Flat Top!" And he summoned a sea carrier ship (0/3000) that floated in mid-air.

"Dark Flat Top; once a turn it can special summon any Reactor or Flying Fortress from my cemetery." A portal appeared on the ships landing strip. "Regardless of the summoning requirements!" And the portal opened up and brought out SKYFIRE(3000/2500), brand new and re-armed. "Since Darksea rescue was used for a synchro summon, I can draw one card." He immediately discarded that card. "Cameran may protect your morphtronics, but not your traps or spells!" The fortress fired another hail of bullets and tore up a set trap: Morphtronic Bind. "And now to remove that other interference from the field!" It continued to fire, raining down metal on Morphtronic Cameran. "Gadget Driver!" However by discarding a bolt monster from his hand, Jason could unmorph the Camera. "Why would you.." Lincoln flinched. "Power-Up Adapter!" As he realized too late it was a trick, Jasons trap was sprung. "This trap of mine adds the attackpoints of one Morphtronic to another monster I control!" Radion was equipped with the card and plugged its cable into the Camera to amplify its attackpoints. "And you already declared an attack." SKYFIRE was destroyed by the Camera morpher(3400/600)'s counterattack. "You were right Lincoln, I am a threat to you, arent I?" Jason smiled.

Lincolns LP: 5100

(To be Continued in Mark 134: Countdown til' Meltdown)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth  
><strong>Final Countdown  
><strong><br>New Cards used by Jason Castle  
><strong>Morphtronic Magnen Bar

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>Power-Up Adapter<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Chimeratech Over Dragon<br>Spell Reactor - RE  
>Summmon Reactor - SK<br>Trap Reactor - Y FI  
>Flying Fortress - SKYFIRE<br>Dark Sea Rescue  
>Black Salvo<br>Dark Flat Top

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>Future Fusion<br>Iron Call  
>Machine Armored Unit<p>

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>Fake Explosion<p> 


	134. 134: Countdown til' Meltdown

**Mark 134: Countdown til' Meltdown**

Jasons LP: 6900 Lincolns LP: 5100

"So much for his new monster, he destroyed SKYFIRE twice already." Dean smiled along with Jason as he saw Lincoln lose more and more lifepoints. "Laugh while you can, Dean." Lincolns machine may have been destroyed, but thanks to his continuous spell, Machina Armored Unit, a Spell reactor RE(1200/900) could be special summoned from his deck. "Turn end." He would have liked to summon something more powerful, but everything else was still in his grave or in his hand already. "You are persistent, that I can not deny. But the design always compensates." Jason drew a card. "Is that so?" He switched Radion to defense mode, but even in that position, the equipped Adapter trap could power-up Cameran(3400/600). "I do not want you to bring back SKYFIRE again." The camera robot punched through the hull of Dark Flat Top(0/3000), sending it downwards alongside the tower walls. "And your continuous spell can not exactly summon something new this time." Dark Flat top had zero attackpoints, there was no machine weaker than that.

"But you have no choice!" Yet a monster was summoned in spite of this fact. "When Dark Flat Top is destroyed, a level 5 or lower machine can be summoned from my hand!" He special summoned his second copy of Summon Reactor SK(2000/1400). "Oh no." Sarah counted two reactors now. " His hand is empty, but if he draws the third.." And she figured Lincoln had exactly the kind of luck he needed to get the third part of the Flying Fortress. "Rgh. I set a monster card face down and end my turn!" If SKYFIRE was to come back, he had to place everything in his hand down before it could be countered. "Wise move, but wisdom only gets you so far." Lincoln drew a monster card. "In fact wisdom is what doomed this generation in the first place. But only the wisest can move on to the next. Only the wisest are truly invincible!"

"I activate the spell Iron Draw! When I control exactly two machine type monsters, I can draw two cards!" Lincoln added a monster and trap to his hand. "I summon Geargiano!" A gear-droid(500/1000) appeared. This was exactly what he needed. "By tributing this machine, any level 4 machine can be revived." The gear monster was dismantled. "I choose Trap Reactor of course." The final piece(800/1800) was rebuilt. "And now I shall send all parts to the cemetery, and bring out you know what!" The three Reactors combined and formed the firemaster(3000/2500) of the skies. "Attack!" Luckily Lincoln was out of cards to discard, so he made due with a physical strike, peppering Radion with shots until it broke down. "Without your Radio, your Camera is helpless." The camera(800/600) powered down, having lost the boost from the Adapter and Radions own effect. "I set a card end end my turn."

_Iron Draw, Normal Spell  
>Activate only if the only face-up monsters on your side of the field are 2 Machine-type monsters. Their effects are negated and you draw 2 cards.<em>

Jason started his turn with a miserable expression. "How many times do I have to kill this thing?" He thought, looking at his hand if anything could help him. _"This card could. But."_ He knew SKYFIRE could destroy any one card he wanted to set or summon. "Then I set a card down!" He placed a trap in his trap/spell zone. ".." Yet Jason did not chain to that. "..and another!" So Jason placed a second card down. "Fire!" This time Lincoln did counter, The Flying Fortress destroyed the second set card. A Morphtronic Forcefield was destroyed. "I saw the look in your face, Castle. You fooled me into destroying the wrong card once before, the first card you set was a decoy wasn't it?" Lincoln laughed. "..Yes." But Jasons let out a chuckle as well. "But so was the second." He summoned Morphtronic Remoten(300/1400) to his field. "Pardon?" Now that lincoln had used his shot for the turn, he could not kill the level 3 tuner that had been summoned. "I use the effect of Morphtronic Remoten; one morpher is banished from the grave and another of the same level is brought out from the deck." He banished his level 1 Magnen Bar to add a Morphtronic Celfon to his hand. "And now Cameran attacks your monster!"

Jasons LP: 6100

Everyone gasped as Cameran smashed itself dead against the wings of SKYFIRE. "I know what I am doing, bear with me." Camerans attack-mode effect was activated now; a destroyed Morphtronic like Radion(1800/1000) could be repaired and resummoned. "I synchro summon Power Tool Dragon." He tuned Remoten(1100/1300) with the level 4 Radion. And out came Jasons prime synchro monster, the Powertool Dragon(2300/2500) in attack mode. Though it was a machine too, so Jason was blasted by the cyber cannon again. "I use his effect and take three equip spells from my deck!" Jason picked three Mage Power spell cards, one of which was chosen to be added to his hand by Jason. "But you already declared an attack this turn." Jason smirked, neither Mage Power nor the dragon(3300/2500) was a threat. "Then you should have nothing to fear." Jason grinned and ended his turn.

Jasons LP: 3900

"I recall your set card too, Castle." Lincoln saw the 'decoy', he could easily shatter it with his monsters effect. "However." He discarded another card to reload SKYFIRE's cannons, and the shots took out Mage Power. "Why would I let you keep that favorite synchro of yours?" And the second salvo headed the dragon(2300/2500)'s way. "You do not have to _let_ me, I will make sure you _do_." But a cubical frame was built around the synchro monster. "I activated Power Frame, this trap negates your attack and strengthens mine!" The bullets bounced off of the metallic frame, and then Powertool fastened the frame to its on body to make its(3000/2500) attackpoints equal to SKYFIRE's.

"My turn!" Lincoln had no card or move left to play, so Jason just took a turn without waiting for Jason to declare the end of his. "I summon Celfon and use his effect." The cell-phone morpher(100/100) rolled a three and from three cards drawn a Morphtronic Lantron(200/200) was chosen to be summoned in defense position "Powertools effect activates again!" This time the dragon made Jason choose between a Break Draw and two Mage Powers. And he would rather deal with the former than the latter. "I equip Break draw to Powertool Dragon and attack!" Powertool used its power drill to bore a hole straight through the Air Raiding machine monstrocity. It fell apart for the third time. "And stay dead this time!" Nathan added a cheer for good measure. "I draw a card." Thanks to Break Draw Jason gained a trap from his deck. "You are beginning to aggravate me, Castle." Lincoln grinded his teeth. "Ask me if I care, Lincoln. Or Vincent, or whatever your true name is." He placed the card down and ended his turn.

"My family is gone because of you. You did not just take her life, you ended it." Lincoln then started his turn. "Everyone is just better off on their own, Castle. I activate Overload Fusion!" The Infinati played the dreaded graveyard fusing spell. "I shall banish seventeen machines in my cemetery, and merge them into one Chimeratech being!" By fusing Cyber Dragon and all but two of the other machines in the cemetery, a second Overdragon(13600/13600) was special summoned. "Looks like he is not being subtle anymore." Ian counted seventeen heads on the massive chimera, each carrying 800 attackpoints. "You talked about being skilled all the time, but now you let someone else influence your fate?." Sarah had heard plenty of Lincolns prideful speeches, yet now he let this Lord Finity decide his draws. "No. This is still my deck, my power! I was born to duel with these monsters!" He entered the battle phase. "Who cares anyway, just die Castle! Die!" Each head could attack a monster on the field, one was already fatal.

"Block Lock!" But instead of attacking Powertool like Lincoln had ordered, the first head fired a blast at the Lantern Morpher. "This trap redirects an attack to a Morphtronic I control!" Lantron was destroyed. "And when Lantron is killed as a result of battle, all other damage I take this turn is nullified." Three more heads unleashed beams of energy, one to destroy Celfon with, two to reduce Powertool to slag metal. Powertool could escape destruction once by sacrificing the equipped Break Draw spell, but the heads could keep on attacking until it was dead. "Fine, take all the time you need to find your grave. In the mean time more reapers will storm this place and finish off your allies. Just like Macbeth." Lincoln ended his turn.

_Block Lock, Normal Trap  
>When your opponent selects a monster on the field as an attack target, you can switch the target to another "Morphtronic" monster you control.<em>

"Did someone mention my name?" And with perfect timing as always, Macbeth entered the room. "What?" Lincolns eye visibly twitched. "Macbeth!" Everyone else was visibly overjoyed. "What did I miss? I thought Lincoln was too good to be dueling us now, and.." He noticed the new company. "Hey Nathan, Sarah! When did you get back here!" He had feared the worst, so he was just happy too see someone of the Yggdrasil team again. "I can ask you the same thing." Lincoln growled. "How did you survive that duel? You couldn't have!" Macbeth shook his head. "It was not easy, or exciting really. But I was basically that guy's worst enemy." At that point Jason ended his turn. All he had used it for was the setting of a monster. "It appears more of them will come, unless we defeat Lincoln." Gaunt explained. "Even then, I am just one of the many masked agents around the world." Lincoln used his turn to place a spell down on the field, and to kill Jasons facedown monster with. "You can't begin to imagine what you are up against."

The destroyed machine turned out to be a Gadget Arms(200/400), the springloaded glove extended towards Jasons graveyard. "I can take back any Morphtronic spell or trap card in my cemetery." He added Morphtronic Forcefield back to his hand. "..." Yet no matter how Jason looked at his hand, he saw nothing that would make him last through the next turn. "I guess you are right, this does seem hopeless." He only had one monster to summon, a tiny robot(0/0) with rockets for arms. "But if I have to go down, I am taking you with me Lincoln." And this tiny robot fired off its rockets at the tech-Chimera. "Turbo Rocket can inflict damage equal to half the attackpoints of the monster it attacks!" While Jason would lose all his lifepoints, Lincoln would lose them as well, as 6800 was not an amount he could afford to lose. "Are you going to kill yourself now? Hoping you can join your family in the next life?" Lincolns sneered and flipped his spell. "Well if you want to die, die alone!" It was Dimension Explosion.

"That card?" The quickplay spell returned Chimeratech to the extra deck and summoned up to two monsters from each players banished pile. "Cyber Dragon, and Dark Flat Top!" Lincoln called out Cyber Dragon(2100/1600) and the accursed fleet ship(0/3000). "Rrrgh." Meanwhile Jason could only summon Remotens target, Morphtronic Magnen Bar(0/0). "And also this card!" Lincoln flipped his permanent trap, Cyber Summon Blaster. "Every time a machine is special summoned, 300 damage will be done to you!" This triple summon was worth one shot of 300 damage. "Ugh. Don't think you only did yourself a favor." Jason came to a realization. "I synchro summon." He now had a level 1 monster to tune with the level 2 Turbo Rocket. "Turbo Rocket was a tuner. And.. he has a synchro monster with so few levels?" Nathan could not recall a level 3 or lower synchro monster of the top of his head. "Turbo Cannon, this machine needs Turbo Rocket as a tuner. But." A new cannon-armed droid(0/0) showed up in defense mode. "It can destroy one card a turn and inflict damage equal to the destroyed monsters attackpoints." But while Dark Flat Top had no attackpoints, he knew he had to destroy that machine first. "I destroy your synchro monster!" The ship was sunk again.

Jasons LP: 3300

Though of course, the summoning of Turbo Cannon let Lincolns trap hit Jason again. "This is getting formulaic." Lincoln yawned, while Jason placed two cards down on the field. "And Cyber Dragon is dangerous to leave alive as well, Jason." He normal summoned Black Salvo, which in turn summoned Trap Reactor YFI(800/1800) from the graveyard and let Cyber Summon Blaster fire a third time. "Because.." With his ominous tone as the only warning, Turbo Cannon was taken away. "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon." A new metallic dragon(4000/4000) appeared, made from all four segments. "I can fuse this monster using Cyber Dragon and any machine on the field, including yours." And the Fortress Dragon gained 1000 attackpoints for each used material. And naturally Cyber Summon Blaster still blasted Jason as well. "Will you die this time, Castle?" The dragon fired four laser bursts at the duelist.

Jasons LP: 2700

"Reanimation Wave!" Fortunately only two of the lasers hit him, the other two were repelled by a loud wave. "This trap halves damage from a direct attack, and then summons a monster whose level is lower than the attackers." Fortess Dragon was of the 8th level, so the 7th level Powertool(2300/2500) was eligible for this effect. And that reduced Jasons life by another 300 points as it was a machine too. "Ggh. I do not understand how you can be so 'lucky'." The Infinati ended his turn. "First you manage to escape the very heart of our organization, and then you can keep up with the designs powers of probability estimation! How do you do this, do you even make a conscious effort?" Lincoln at least had to exert considerable willpower to get the draws he was making, he did not see Jason act the same. "I am already using all my powers to duel as it is." Powers like the visualization of his monsters with psychic energy. "Maybe, that is the trick, to counter technology with a lack of one.."

Jasons LP: 400

"Draw." The next card that came from his deck was Effect Veiler. _"This one? I did not leave it in my Vylon deck?"_ It was a good card, just not one he ever used along with Morphtronics. "This must be another sign, but.." For now he just used Power Tool Dragons effect, forcing his opponent to choose between Morphtronic Repair Engine, Double Tool C&D and Rainbow Veil. Since the latter two could negate the effects of Fortress Dragon, the Engine was selected instead. _"But Powertool alone will not be enough." _Yet as he took the card from his deck, he noticed a peculiarity in his extra deck. "?" He took the card out, and his eyes widened. _"I have never seen this card before, where did it come from?"_ It was a level 8 synchro monster, specifically an upgrade for Powertool Dragon. _"Is this it? Then I have to.."_ Effect Veiler(0/0) was normal summoned to the field. "I shall synchro summon again, using her as the tuner and Powertool as the other material" The Veiler turned herself into pure light. "A summon, under these conditions?" Lincoln watched as the light stripped the armor plating off of Powertool Dragon, revealing a golden organic dragon(2900/2400) underneath. "What is that?" Ian was not familiar with that card either, nobody was. "Perhaps this is a last gift Callisto. She slipped it into my deck while I was under her spell."

"Life Stream Dragon is its name."

(To be Continued in Mark 135: The Right to Live)  
><strong><br>New Cards used by Jason Castle  
><strong>Morphtronic Lantron  
>Turbo Rocket<br>Turbo Cannon  
>Life Stream Dragon<p>

-  
>Power Frame<br>_Block Lock(+)  
><em>Reanimation Wave

(+) Based on the trap used by Rua in YGO 5Ds episode 142

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln**  
>Geargiano<br>Cyber Dragon  
>Chimeratech Fortress Dragon<p>

_-  
>Iron Draw (+)<em>  
>Overload Fusion<br>Dimension Explosion

-  
>Cyber Summon Blaster<p>

_(+) Based on the spell used by tetsuo/Bronk In YGO ZeXaL_


	135. 135: The Right to Live

**Mark 135: The Right to Live**

Jasons LP: 4000 Lincolns LP: 5100

"Life Stream Dragon?" It turned out that Powertool Dragon had an upgraded form, it discard its metallic armor and changed from a machine to a pure dragon(2900/2400). "And your lifepoints?" The dragons appearance was not the only surprise, Jasons lifepoints shot back up to 4000 as soon as the synchro monster appeared. "It appears Lifestream Dragon can reset my life back to half its total amount whenever it is synchro summoned. And from now on it nullifies all effect damage." Meaning Jasons spell was rendered useless. Jason looked at the text written on the card. "But how can you even summon this, that card does not exist!" Lincoln protested this wondrous development. "It may be another lost card." Gaunt likened this to the Infernity series. "Or was it one of the cards Callisto had in her room?" Nathan meanwhile found this situation more comparable to the Shooting Star Dragon incident. "Whatever. So you summoned a new dragon, it is still no threat!" Lincolns own dragon, the Fortress Chimeratec machine(4000/0) was the superior monster.

"Attack!" Jason went right into his battle phase and the Fortress Dragon fired off four lasers. "Lifestream has a third effect!" The lasers hit the dragon, but failed to inflict lasting damage. "By banishing an equip spell card from my graveyard, I can prevent the destruction of my dragon!" Mage Power was removed, and Life Stream regenerated its wounds. Because it had been summonefd in defense mode, battle damage was not handed out. "All this miracle is good for is stalling your death." Lincoln placed a card down. "..If this card was given to me, then it was for one purpose. To win." Jason took his turn, and placed a monster down on the field. "You only have one equip spell left in your graveyard, so it will not even be around forever." Lincoln started his turn again and fired another round of lasers at Lifestream. This time Break Draw was removed to keep the synchro alive. "Your life as as fragile as his now. I end my turn." He looked at his hand and smirked. He had finally drawn 'it', the card that could kill a Synchro no matter what.

But Lincoln was not the only one in a good mood.. "Hidden Armory! I discard the top card from my deck to add an equip spell from my deck to my hand!" Jason discarded another spell and took out the Rainbow Veil. "!" The veil was equipped to the Lifestream Dragon. "Now the monsters that do battle with my dragon have their powers sealed!" Chimeratechs own effect, which granted it 1000 attackpoints for each of its fusion materials, could no longer assist the machine(0/0). "I also flip Morphtronic Datatron." The lighter morpher(1200/600) was flip summoned. "Going for the maximum amount of damage? Thoughts like that are exactly what we need. Castle!" But now the trap Lincoln had set could be activated. "Torrential Tribute! I destroy all monster cards on the field, when a monster is summoned!" A wave of water washed across the field. "He is going to summon Wisel!" Dean knew this move better than anyone, Meklord Emperor Wisel could leave Lincolns hand as soon as Chimeratech was destroyed by a card effect.

"Haven't you forgotten one thing?" Jason pointed at his field. "I have a trap as well." He flipped a counter trap face-up. "Morphtronic Forcefield! When a morphtronic is threatened by a trap or spell, I can negate that card!" A forcefield was put up around the Torrents, imprisoning it before any monster could drown in the water. "And I can also add any Morphtronic card from my deck to my hand!" Jason took out a Morphtronic Engine. "I equip the Engine to Datatron!" The Morphtronic Engine doubled the original attackpower of Datatron(2400/600). "No!" Going by the math, Lincoln was doomed. "Attack!" And finally Lifestream changed to attack position and cleaved through the depowered Fortress Dragon. "And again!" A second attack from Datatron finished the job, flames surrounded the Infinati and burned off his lifepoints. "For you to pull this off..." Lincoln stood there, dazed and alarmed. He could not explain to himself how he lost. "I think you lost this duel, because even the best of models can not predict chance." Jason had some idea of where he turned the tides. Had he used Gadget Arms effect to take back Morphtronic Map or Bind instead Forcefield, he would have lost. "Your lord can estimate a lot, I presume. But he can not control free will and choice. That is how I won.."

Lincolns LP: 0

"Well, that dragon from nowhere certainly did not hurt either." Ian added with a grin. "Who _are _you?" Jason just glared at him, before turning back to Lincoln. "You can go ahead and die now, Infinati. That is what you people do when you lose, right?" He wondered why Lincoln had not disappeared or collapsed yet. "You would like that, wouldn't you? But my fate is not in your hands." His dueldisk gave off rays of light. "I am not a reaper, not anymore. They just need to send someone else to bring the agents of death here!" He shouted before a flash filled the room. "Gah. Not again!" And to the surprise of noone, Lincoln was no longer in the room when they could see again. "That guy keeps escaping justice." Macbeth shook his fist at where he used to stand. "Forget him. He is just an intermediary, you kno who we have to get rid off to stop this madness." Jason looked at Sarah and Nathan, who nodded. "Yeah.. That thing back up there." Sarah still vividly remembered the sight of the unusual entity inside the temple's core. "Lord Finity."

A few minutes later..

"It is no use. We can not get this thing to work again." Macbeth tried everything he could, but nothing could save their screen. "How long has it been down?" Jason asked. "Ever since the attack began. The Infinati shut down everything." Not just their power and backup power, but every technological tool or device had been shut off. "I should have called them while I had the chance." Even Sarahs phone had gone blank. "I am sure your parents are fine." Gaunt told her, though they both knew they could not be sure of that. "If you told them to stay inside the house, wouldn't that just make them easier to find?" Dean said matter-of-factly. "We did not need to hear that." Macbeth snapped at him. "I am just saying what we are all thinking. The people inside the tower may be the only ones still around!" If anyone had actually stayed outside during the black sky crisis, they most certainly were taken down by the reapers. "We can not be sure of that. They could be fighting back like we have done!" Ian remained optismistic. "Fight back? How can they? Not everyone has Jasons brand of luck, or would even know how to duel!" Dean yelled back. "No. That is not right." Nathan spoke up. "Because everyone left behind, should be a duelist. Right? That is what Callisto told us."

"And how will that help us?" Asked the still negative ex-reaper. "If they can duel, they can get a fair shot at fighting back. Like sir Gaunt and Macbeth have done." Nathan looked at the two duelists with a confident glint in his eyes. "But I just got lucky, I can not exactly repeat that performance." Macbeths response did not resonate well with Nate's hope. Gaunt shook his head too. "But, we know what the enemy uses. We can prepare for it." Ian slammed his hands together. "Meklord Granel is summoned right away, right? And the reapers almost always have massive amounts of lifepoints. We just need to build decks that do not need to take down all those lifepoints. like an Exodia deck." He waved his XXodia deck around. "Or failing that, people can use cards like Life Equalizer or even Self Destruct Button, to make up for the large difference between their lifepoints. And to counter Granel itself, there are plenty of machine anti-support cards. Heck you could even use cards like Lincolns Chimeratech Fortress Dragon!"

"That does sound like a good idea. To prepare for further raids that way." The guard looked around. "There are plenty of cards here in this building too." He could build a deck for himself if he wanted too, he had after all played the game once or twice before he got employed here. "But.. how do we tell this to the people across the country, or the world even?" Everyone turned to Jason. "Oh, I wish." He figured they wanted him for his 'ability'. "I still have not mastered this teleporting stuff. Even so, I can not possible reach every last duelist in time." The logistics of such an approach were too daunting to consider. "Maybe you kept some powers from before the creation of the new marks?" Gaunt suddenly suggested. "You mean, from before my sister.." He had been near all powerful, until Callisto came along. "Then are Lifestream Dragon and the teleportations, manifestations of my returning power? Maybe she was supressing my powers?" Nobody knew the answer to that one. "But, recalling that day does make me come to a conclusion. One that we can use.."

"It would seem assault one on the R-tech sector has been repelled. Agent Vincent has returned to the Grand Design." The cardinal and the rest of the council stared at the big screen, the green blips in a certain section refused to go away. "Most high class duelists reside there, and we have tracked the signature of Jason Castle to that location as well. Even so their chances of survival are low." The cardinal said calmly. "They will not be able to resist for long. And at the rate we are proceeding, in the next ten hours they will merely be the last to fall." Every second one green dot on the global map disappeared and was overtaken by a red one. "Let us continue our discussi...on?" However that pace soon changed. "There is a fluctuation?" One member pointed at the energy core, which flickered for a few seconds. "Something is being transmitted across the network, without our permission!" Varios displays switched on and revealed the form of this 'something'. "Audio waves?" Their scanners had picked up wavelengths of a signal. "Play it."

The message was uploaded. _"Listen up! If you can hear this, if you can hear me, than you are one of the last few that can help us and everyone else in the world." _Voice modulation tools analyzed the voice. "That is Gaunt Artani speaking.. Where is he sending this too?" The Cardinal ordered a trace as Gaunt continued. _"We are under attack, and the world as we know it may end today. But not if we make a stand."_ The results came in. "He is sending this along the network, to every dueldisk and duel platform in the world!" They did not please the cardinal. "The one technology we can not shut down." The Infinati needed the dueling network as much as the people below did._ "If you are alive you can duel. Find your old deck, remember how it was then. Even if you played just once, that is enough to fight back. They will come for you, the Reapers, but they have to accept your challenge. We outnumber them, we must not give in. We shall fight until the very last." _Hearing all this, the masked one clapped his hands. "Good move, Gaunt Artani."

And indeed, people had begun to fight back all over the world. Not everyone had a dueldisk, but there was at least one who heard the message in every major city. But how well they were doing, and how much they could do would remain a mystery. "And now the rest is up to them. I can not do more from here." Gaunt stepped down from his station. "But my theory was correct. The fact that Lincoln escaped from here means that dueldisks can still connect to the network, and they have to keep the network open." It was simple, for the headquarters of all dueling technology, to rig the anouncement system into transmitting an audio clip to every dueldisk. By their very design the disk could plug into the network. "Or rather, they can not turn it off. Since they told us the network is rooted in the subconscious mind of all humans." Nathan said. "If anyone believes that." He barely believed it himself. "Well, I did play with my mom once or twice. She was not very good though." Sarah knew this was good news, but had no idea how much of a chance her parents stood.

"We should worry more about our own location." Jason looked out the window. "Lincoln said that he was just stalling to get more reapers here. It looks like they have arrived." Down in the streets they could see more Meklord Granels appear, along with their respective duelists. "Then we should go out there and meet these challenges head on." Nathan clenched his fist. "Indeed. But if we can we should locate the masked agents that have brought the reapers here, this is our last bastion. We should keep it safe at all costs. Ask the people below if some want to assist us, volunteer in our duel against the Reapers. We will give them all the cards thy need." Gaunt told the other duelists. "And what will you do?" Jason inquired. "I am going to need your help on my plan actually, Jason Castle. I intend to mount a counterattack..on the council."

Some time later again, the duelists had made their way down to the ground floor and headed out into capitol city. "Okay. You know what to do. If they have Meklord cards, defeat them and tear those up. That will stop them." Macbeth explained. "They do? But Lithium disappeared on his own." Ian replied, a bit confused. "Huh? My opponent and sir Gaunts did..anyway. If they do not disappear, rip up their cards!" He told the few citizens that came with them. All had been given a deck that could help them beat Granel; stalling, alternate win conditions, milling. Every option was available. And Macbeth did the best he could to instruct them. "If you find anyone out there in danger, try to get them to safety and/or tell them to come to the tower." The others nodded. "Okay. Let's head out." And they all went their separate ways.

_"I am ready for this."_ Thought Nathan as he raced down the streets and ended up in the city's shopping district. _"And this place looked so nice in the past."_ Most malls and stores had been broken into. As he expected most of the outsiders lingered here to get the goods, but now they were nothing more than lifeless bodies._ "And I am late as usual."_ He checked the pulse of several, but gave up hope after the first few showed no signs of life. _"If I were a Reaper, where would I go next?"_ He surveyed the area, trying to spot any sign of activity nearby. He had a hunch that tfhis happened recently. "...?" But while focus was on the area around him, just by chance his eyes caught the glimpse of movement in their corner. "Whoa!" Tendrils reached out for Ashworth, who stepped to the side just in time to avoid them. "Sneak attacking me?" He now saw one of the 'bodies' stand up, revealing that she lied on top of her dueldisk. "Hey. Wait. Don't I..know you?" Nathans memory was spurred.

"You should.. I am the flawless Kai." The redhead grinned.

(To be Continued in Mark 136: No Warriors without War)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle  
><strong>Morphtronic Engine  
>Morphtronic Forcefield<p>

**New Cards used by Vince V. Lincoln  
><strong>Torrential Tribute


	136. 136: No Warriors without War

**Mark 136: No Warriors without War**

"So why did you come?" Two duelists were walking down the abandoned parks of capitol city, Ian and a volunteer from the tower. "Because of what happened to Siren." The kid replied. "Oh? You knew him? Were you a classmate of his?" The kid was not wearing the standard uniform, but Ian figured the students of the dresden academy were among the people brought inside R-tech for safety. "Not directly. We had different classes. But I heard about what he had done for you, and I felt bad not doing my part." He took out some cards. "I learned some psychic tricks too, so I thought I could be a good opponent for these 'reapers'." He started looking through them. "Though I had a hard time getting the right deck together, I could not find all the cards I wanted." He sighed. "That is alright. I will take the first one to cross our path."

And speaking of the devil, a golden tank machine was spotted in the distance. "There!" Ian turned on his dueldisk. "Hey you, you are looking for me, arent you!" This Granel user appeared to be a mall cashier, and he noticed the two. "I challenge you, you can not say no to that!" Ian placed his Exodia deck into his dueldisk. "Is that so?" The cashier twisted his head. "You will not be the first to say that to me today." He smiled and turned his dueldisk on as well. The lifepoint meter registered 43250 lifepoints. _"That is odd, shouldn't he have more?"_ Ian did not know what changed, but he was not going after lifepoints anyway. "Let's duel!"

"Kai?" Nathans mind told him he had seen this face before, but that was all it told him. "Kai. From Battle Garden?" The redhaired girl looked him in the eye. "You do not even remember, do you?" She saw little to no recognition there. "Well, we never dueled. So.." Nathans memory had never been kind on people who he did not at least challenge. "I tried to duel you! You were asleep! Not even banging the disk against the side of the bus woke you!" She cried out in frustration. "Look. Never mind, you know what this is about, don't you?" She said while rubbing for forehead to make her feel less tense. "I gathered.." Nathan did know nobody else would try to sneak attack him in this situation. "You're an Infinati. Either a Reaper or a masked agent." He guessed the former, as it was unlikely that the Infinati would send another agent to Battle Garden when they already had Lincoln there. Ï am a Reaper yes. And it surprised me too, when they reawakened me.. But then again I am not just any reaper. I am _The_ reaper." She took out her cards.

Kai's LP: 8000 Nathans LP: 8000

Already her dueldisk and his had been engaged into their battle mode, all that remained was to shuffle the decks and draw the cards. ""The Reaper? You mean the one that took down all those duelists in south city?" He read about that story online. And he did suddenly remember that Kai was from South City. "A purge was necessary at that time, so I was activated for the first time." Kai drew five cards. "I only had to take down two targets actually, but I wanted to have some fun before I went back to sleep. So I accidentally dueled too much and made myself known to the public. Of course, once I lost the memories of that day, nobody could tell who it was anymore." Nathan then drew his cards. "I see. Guess all those stories about you being able to duel after your defeat were just embellishments." Kai's lips curved. "Some of it was." She snickered. "..But if you are a reaper, why aren't you using those Meklords?" Nathan noticed her lifepoints were not as high as the Cardinals had been, nor did she start out with Granel on the field. "Because once you accept the lifeforce of the Lord, you can not get more. I'd rather duel this way. Besides, it would be a stain on my record to accept cards like those in my deck. My most powerful deck... Now come already, Nathan!"

"Well okay.. I activate Tuning!" Nathan apparently got the first turn, so he played the spell that let him add any Synchron monster to his hand. "I discard the top card from my deck and add Junk Synchron." A Tenshin was discarded. "Then I normal summon Junk Synchron so I can use its effect!" The level 3 tuner(1300/500) appeared, and used its ability to revive the level 2 Tenshin(800/100) from the cemetery. "And then I special summon Junk Servant from my hand." Because he controlled a Junk monster, he could bring out the servant of junk(1500/1000). "Synchro summon!" But it was the first two summoned monsters that became materials for a synchro monster, a level 5 warrior(1000/1500). "Catapult Warrior here can tribute 'Junk' monsters to damage my enemies!" Junk Servant was loaded on top of the Catapult Warriors back, which was in fact a take-off platform. "I sacrifice the Servant!" The monster blasted off and exploded in front of Kai, hitting her for 1500 points of damage. "Oh how very funny." She hissed.

Kai's LP: 6500

"But now it is my turn. Don't you dare sleep through this one!" She summoned an armored centaur(1600/1200). "Oh hey, I know that card. Equeste right?" Nathan now knew what he was dealing with. This monster was Gladiator Beast Equeste, from the archetype of the same name. "Yes. This is my true deck, as the design foretold. Everything I used in Battle Garden was just a cover." She then summoned another monster, a tiger(600/300). "Test Tiger can be special summoned when I control a Gladiator Beast. And the Tiger can be tributed to return that Gladiator to the deck." Equeste left the field and the Test Tiger was sent to the cemetery. "And a new Gladiator emerges!" In Euqeste's place now stood a saber-tooth tiger swordsman(1600/1200). "Samnite!" The Tiger cut down the defending Catapult Warrior with its energy blade. "Test Tiger made it so that Samnite is treated as if it were summoned by another Gladiator Beast, so its effect was unsealed already!" Samnite's ability allowed Kai to take a new Gladiator Beast out of her deck. She claimed one called Bestiarii.

"And as you know. Any time a Gladiator does battle, he returns to the deck and tags out for another." Samnite returned to her deck, making room for a puffer fish spearman(1400/400). "I choose Gladiator Torax, in defense mode. And I shall equip him with Gladiator Beast's Battle Archfiend Shield." Torax held up a demonic shield. "The shield will take a blow for its wielder." Then Kai placed two cards down. "This was the first turn, prepare yourself for the second. Nathan Ashworth!" She passed the turn back to him. "Will do." Nathan summoned a level 1 Tech Genus tuner(0/0). "Cyber Magician. He can synchro summon with a tech genus monster in my hand" In his hand he had the level 4 Rush Rhino."I will met your Gladiator with my own, I summon T.G. Power Gladiator!" So he tuned the magician on the field with the cyber rhino in his hand to form a cyborg axeman(2300/1000). "He can inflict piercing damage!" The battle phase began and the Gladiator swung his axe down. "Archfiend Shield may save your monster, but not your lifepoints!"

Kai's LP: 4600

The axe did not kill the fish, but the damage spilled over to Kai herself. "Tch. Torax still did battle. I can now return him to my deck to draw one new card." The fish retreated, and a card from the deck was added to Kai's hand. "Excellent." She laughed to herself, leaving Nate to wonder what she drew. "I shall set a card down then." His turn was over. "Very well. This is where I shall show you my decks true purpose." Kai drew another card in her draw phase. "Step one.. Trojan Gladiator Beast!" She revealed a trap. "I summon one Gladiator from my hand to your field." A Gladiator Beast Secutor(400/300) showed up next to the Gladiator. "Wait what?"

"In return I can draw one card. Now.. Step two!" Her third trap chained the summoning of Secutor. "Double Tag Team! When a Gladiator is special summoned, another can be summoned from the deck!" A green bird warrior(1500/800) flew down to the field. "Bestiarri?" Nathan was surprised, he though she already had one of those in her hand? "Step three!" Then a quickplay spell was played from her hand, this was what Torax had given her. "Gladiator Taming! Since a Gladiator is on the field, I can take control of another!" Bestiari cracked a whip, and commanded the Secutor gladiator to walk over to Kai's side. "Uh Oh. I may not know much about the Gladiator style. But.." It was clear to the ace where Kai was taking this. "Fusion summon. I fuse Bestiari and Secutor into Gyzarus!" Gladiator fusions were unlike regular fusions, they did not require the fusing spell and the materials were sent back to the deck instead. Gyzarus(2400/1500) was the fusion of Bestiari and another Gladiator Beast. "This is step four: When Gyzarus is special summoned, he destroys two cards on the field!"

Gyzarus unleashed two tornadoes that shattered both Power Gladiator and Nathans set trap. "And now step five, direct..attack?" But Nathan did not just lose two cards, he gained two as well. "Speed Warrior!" In defense mode the speedster(900/800) appeared in defense mode. "Hey, where did he come from?" Kai protested. "My facedown trap card, Limiter Overload. You destroyed it, which allowed me to summon Speed Warrior from my deck." Nate explained how it got there. "Also when you killed my Gladiator, he let me draw a card from my deck." The second gain was one for his hand. "Fine." Gyzarus had to kill it instead. "But Gyzarus still did battle, meaning I can unfuse it." And unlike a regular Gladiator, Gyzarus could tag out for two beasts. "I special summon Darius and Tygerius!" A horseman(1700/300) and tigerman(1800/800) came from the deck, also in a defending position. "Tygerius discards a card from my hand and adds a new Gladiator to it." She exchanged the Bestiari in her hand for one in her deck. "And Darius revives a Gladiator when he is summoned!" The discarded Bestiari(1500/800) was revived. "But there is nothing on your field, so I shall not fuse them this turn." Kai ended her turn.

"Hrm. How about this.." Nathan special summoned two more monsters from his hand, a cyborg tuner(800/0) and cyber werewolf(1200/0). "Only you control monsters now, so I can call Tech Genus Striker. And when a monster is special summoned I can also summon Tech Genus Warwolf." He immediately tuned the level 2 Striker with the level 3 beast, and synchro summoned the level 5 Tech genus, Hyper Librarian(2400/1800). "Hyper Librarian attacks Darius! Because if I read it right.." The Librarian used a spell to destroy the horseman. "The monsters he revived are destroyed along with him!" Darius' death also took out Bestiarii. "A minor setback." Kai shrugged. "Probably. But that is not all I am going to do." Nathan could still normal summon. "I summon the Synchro Soldier and use his effect." A gunman(0/0) appeared, and his cannon absorbed the Hyper Librarian. "He can banish a Synchro monster for one turn, to damage my opponent!" The soldier fired off the Tech genus synchro, inflicting 600 points of damage to Kai. "You are starting to tick me off, Nathan." Kai started twitching.

Kai's LP: 4000

"I'd call that a good thing." Nathan grinned and placed a trap down. "You do not realize what you are up against now." Kai drew again. "I have been going easy on you. Not anymore! I summon Bestiarii." She added and normal summoned the green bird(1500/800), the one Tygerius had added to her hand. "Fusion summon!" And she too wasted no time in getting her monster from the extra deck, the same Gyzarus(2400/1500) returned to the field and destroyed two cards on Nathans side. "TGX3-DX2!" Luckily for him one of those cards could be used before it was wasted. "I send three Tech Genuses..Tech Geni? Well three of those back to my deck, to draw two cards!" To get the draws, he returned Cyber Magician, Warwolf, and Rush Rhino. "I still get a direct attack!" Synchro Soldier was killed regardless of any trap, so Gyzarus could hit Nathan with two bursts of wind. "Now, Gyzarus did battle again. So I can return him to my extra deck." The great bird defused into two Gladiators; Equeste(1600/1200) and Tygerius. "When Equeste is summoned by another Gladiator, I can take back one Gladiator from my graveyard." Kai reclaimed Bestiarii, which was traded for a third Bestiarii thanks to Tygerius.

Nathans LP: 5600

Kai then placed a card down and ended her turn. _"Well this looks bad." _Nathan drew again. _"But these look good." _Hyper Libarian returned to his field at this point, a combo plan formed in his head. "I summon Synchron Explorer, and use its effect!" The explorer droid(0/700)'s ability was to revive any Synchron tuner, like Junk Synchron(1300/500). "Synchro summon, Hyper Librarian!" And Nathan tuned the two together to form another TG synchro(2400/1800). "I draw!" Hyper Librarian meanwhile let him draw a card every time a synchro summon was completed. "Yes! I special summon this monster now." Nathan discarded a Glow-Up Bulb and brought out a warrior(100/600) with the number one plastered all over its body. "Big One Warrior can be special summoned by discarding a level 1 monster from my hand." And then the discarded tuner Bulb(0/0) reappeared. "Glow-Up can revive itself by discarding the top card from my deck." The discarded card this time was a Nitro Synchron. "Now I synchro summon again!" He combined Glow-Up Bulb with Big One Warrior. The two level 1 monsters added up to the creation of Formula Synchron(200/1500). "I draw twice!" Formula Synchron himself also let Nathan draw once when it was summoned, as did the two Librarians. "

"Ugh, two of those librarians. Those should be limited." Kai hissed. "I could say the same about your damn Bestiariis.." Nathan snipped back at her. "But anyway. Now I am ready to show you.. a synchro summon beyond Accel synchro.."

_.._

_"There is no end to this." _Thfought Ada as she still wandered the void she had ended up in. _"But I saw something, I know it." _Even though there was no floor to walfk on, she felt like she was moving forward. Even though there were no images or sounds to stimulate her senses, she knew she was not alone here. It was a sense she did comprehend. _"Where are you? Where.." _Every corner of the horizon looked the same, but she kept turning her head as if there were more then 360 degrees to inspect. _"..There!" _And her efforts were rewarded, on the sixth turn she noticed a white speck in the distance that sharply contrasted with the rest of this space. "Hey, hey! Can you hear me!" She ran as fast as she could, as she thought she was. The speck was getting closer, it was the shape of a human! "Oh thank god, someone else. Hey, do you know.."

"You?"

But the one she found, was the last person she expected to see again..

(To be Continued in Mark 137: Pyrrhic Victories)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth  
><strong>Catapult Warrior  
>Synchro Soldier<br>Big One Warrior

-  
>TGX3-DX2<p>

**New Cards used by Kai Hecter  
><strong>Gladiator Beast Equeste  
>Test Tiger<br>Gladiator Beast Samnite  
>Gladiator Beast Torax<br>Gladiator Beast Bestiarii  
>Gladiator Beast Secutor<br>Gladiator Beast Gyzarus  
>Gladiator Beast Tygerius<br>Gladiator Beast Darius

-  
>Gladiator Beasts Battle Archfiend Shield<br>Gladiator Taming

-  
>Trojan Gladiator Beast<br>Double Tag Team


	137. 137: Pyrrhic Victories

**Mark 137: Pyrrhic Victories  
><strong>

"Callisto?" Ada finally met another soul in this empty space, and it turned out to be the last person she wanted to see. "What are you doing here?" And she was not expected as well. "I thought you were.." Ada had seen her die, so where did this one come from. "Can you, hear me?" She turned to look at her face, and she noticed two things. _"She looks younger?" _One, this Callisto did not look as old as the other. Two; she was not responding to anything. The girls eyes just stared straight ahead as if nothing stood in front of them. _"Well. That is just Wonderful. Now what am I supposed to do?"_ She touched her shoulder to see if she would respond. "Haa!" But that brief contact sent a sharp pulse down her nerves, and an images flashed through her head. "Wh-what?" The image she saw, was that of a thousand eyes looking back at her. "Those.." Now she began to understand. _"This is not some kind of afterlife. This is, where everyone ends up once the Infinati take them?"_ But that only answered one of her questions..

Kai's LP: 4000 Nathans LP: 5600

"I was not even aware there was something called 'Accel synchro'." Kai moaned. "Well it is a summon that requires a synchro tuner and a non tuner synchro." Nathan was about to explain. "Wait, it's just better to show you!" Instead he decided to tune all three of his synchro monsters together. "Delta Accel Synchro!" By combining the two fifth level synchros: Hyper Librarian(2400/1800) and Junk Warrior(2300/1300) and the level 2 tuner Formula Synchron(200/1500), a synchro of the highest level could appear. "Tech Genus Halberd Cannon!" A spear wielding cyborg(4000/4000) showed himself. "Two synchro monsters and one synchro tuner is what a Delta Accel synchro monster needs." Halberd blasted its way towards Kai, cutting up the defending Gladiator Beast Tygerius(1800/800). "..That is a nice card. But, you could have summoned it in my turn. Couldn't you?" Kai asked. "Well yes, Formula Synchron can perform..hey wait a minute!" And then it dawned on the Ace of Hearts. "You tricked me! I should have attacked before I summoned Halberd Cannon!" He could have killed the best Equeste(1600/1200) as well that way. "I did not such thing. You are the victim of your own folly, Nathan."

"Well, whoops." A rattled Nathan placed a card down. "Then now it is my turn." She summoned the Gladiator Beast Bestiari(1500/800) from her hand. "And I am aware of your monsters ability, Nathan. Once a turn it can negate a monsters summoning. So why don't you use it?" With the bird and another gladiator on her field, she could summon Gyzarus again. "I'd rather go for the twofer, Kai." Nathan held the effect back. "I see. Waiting to negate the summon of Gyzarus himself. In that case." She activated a continuous spell card, Infected Mail. "I shall destroy your monster another way! Infected Mail allows one level 4 monster to attack directly!" Equeste galloped across the square, leaping around the Tech Genus monster and striking Nathan from the side. "Guh." Then Equeste returned to Kai's deck as the battle phase ended. "Normally monsters that this Virus spell assists are killed once the battle ends, but Gladiator Beasts can avoid this handicap." She then summoned a new Gladiator, a deepsea creature. "Murmillo!"

Nathans LP: 4000

"Uh oh." Murmillo(800/400)'s tag-in ability was one of the monster destroying kind. "Than I negate that summon!" Halberd Cannon opened a black hole beneath the see gladiator and erased him from the field. "Looks like you finally started thinking again." Kai smiled. "Do not disappoint Kein now." She placed two cards down and ended her turn. "What? He is watching me or something?" If that was her idea of a joke, he did not find it funny at all. "Junk Blader!" He summoned the swordsman(1800/1000) of the scrapyard. "Double attack!" Halberd Cannon and Junk Blader charged the Bestiari beast. If their attacks hit Nathan would win the game. "Defensive Tactics!" Of course it would not be that easy. "All damage done to me and my Gladiators is negated this turn!" An array of shields blocked both the blade and the halberd strikes. "Argh. So close." Nathan snapped his fingers. "..I end my turn."

"Draw." An eager Kai drew her next card, but it was not a Gladiator monster. "Hmph. Good thing I have more than one Darius in my deck." She told herself as this time she let Bestiari attack with the Infected Mails effect. "Bestiari has done battle." She declared after Ashworth had been hit by a wind blast. "I return him to my deck and summon Darius from my cemetery!" The whip wielding horse(1700/300) traded places with the bird gladiator. "Then that summon is the one I negate!" Halberd Cannon opened up another hole in time-space. "Hahah. That is what you think." But Darius evaded the hole. "Counter Trap, Gladiator Beast War Chariot!" Darius jumped on top of a chariot and raced towards the Delta Accel machine. "A monsters effect is negated and the monster is destroyed!" The spiked front of the chariot bore a hole through the T.G. monster and scrapped it entirely. "And now darius' own effect is free to be used." Darius used his ability to revive the one Bestiari that still rested in the grave.

Nathans LP: 2500

"You should know that when Halberd Cannon leaves the field, a Tech Genus monster is resummoned." At any rate Nathan could special summon T.G. Power Gladiator(2300/1000) from his cemetery. "Oh no." Kai rolled her eyes and performed the fusion summon once more. "Bestiari and Darius shall form Gyzarus." The armored winged beast(2400/1500) descended and its tornados blew Junk Blader and Power Gladiator away from the field. "And yes I know, draw your card." Kai by now knew the effect of the dying Power Gladiator. "Demistria would not happen to have told you about this deck, would she?" Nathan wondered. "If I did not accept the help of the council, what makes you believe I would accept her help?" She placed a card down. "Don't know. But after I lost to her, I swore to myself to never make the same mistakes again." Nathan shrugged. "Yes instead you are making all new kinds of mistakes." The reaper laughed. "I deserved that. But now I will get serious! Before your turn ends, I will activate the trap Synchro Spirits! I banish Halberd Cannon from my graveyard to revive one of its synchro materials!" Halberd Cannons strongest material was Hyper Librarian, so that was the one Nathan brought back.

_Synchro Spirits, Normal Trap  
>Select 1 Synchro Monster from your graveyard and banish it. If one of the monsters that was used for the synchro summon of that monster is in your graveyard, special summon it to your side of the field.<em>

"Then I activate the spell Batte Waltz! Which makes a copy token of the synchro monster I control." A transparent clone(2400/1800) of the Librarian emerged from his shadow. "They have equal attack, my monster and yours, so he attacks now!" The waltz token threw a punch at Gyzarus. "You are far from my equal." But Gyzarus blocked the attack with its wing. "Quickplay spell card Indomitable Gladiator Beast. My beast gains 500 attackpoints!" Gyzarus(2900/1500) let out a shriek and shredded the token to pieces as a response to its strike. "Ugh, you always have an answer ready. At least the Battle Waltz token does not take or give out damage." The gladiator had however been part of a battle, so it could return to Kai's deck. "I summon Equeste and another Tygerius and resolve their effects in that order." Equeste(1600/1200) allowed her to take back Murmillo from the grave, Tygerius(1800/800) sent that beast back into the grave while allowing her to add a Gladiator Beast Bestiari to her hand. "..I switch my Librarian to defense mode and set a monster and a trap card in face-down defense position." And since Nathan knew quite well what was coming, again, he did not place all the cards in his hands down. But he hoped to at least distract her a little.

"Let's end this!" Kai drew again and summoned Bestiari(1500/800) from her hand. "Gyzarus!" Of course she immediately fused it and Equeste together. "I destroy your two monsters!" This Gyzarus(2400/1500) swept away Nathans Hyper Librarian..and face-down Dandylion(300/300). "?" And when a Dandylion was sent to the cemetery, it would leave behind two fluff tokens(0/0). "You think you are so clever, don't you?" Rather than wasting her battle phase on the deaths of both tokens, only Gyzarus attacked the fluffballs. Tygerius struck directly with the help of Infected Mail. "I return only one of my monsters to my deck!" Gyzarus tagged out for the same Equeste, who used its effect on the Murmillo in the grave again, and a new beast called Retiari(1200/800). "Retiari can banish one card in your cemetery!" The aquatic gladiator stabbed the pavement and hit Hyper Librarian with its trident, removing it from the game.

Nathans LP: 700

"Now you may not understand why.." The Battle phase ended and Tygerius fell prey to the infection of the virus spell. "I chose to leave Tygerius behind, just so it could die. It is because I need at least two in my cemetery, to do this." She searched the cemetery slot and took back the spell Indomitable Gladiator Beast, along with both Tygerius monster cards. "By returning two Gladiators to my deck, I can reclaim this spell." And then she played a spell, another one. "Gladiators Respite! By sending two Gladiator cards out of my hand back, I can draw three cards!" Murmillo and the Indomitable spell were exchanged for three new cards. "Now I have the advantage in every way." She placed two cards down and ended her turn. "Can you still keep up, Nathan?" The turn passed back to him. "I get the feeling I am being underestimated." He sighed and drew his card. "I sacrifice the fluff token for Salvage Warrior!" The aquatic salvager(1900/1600) was tribute summoned, as to enable its ability. "Salvage Warrior can revive on tuner monster in my graveyard."

Out of four choices, he picked Nitro Synchron(400/100). "Nitro Warrior!" He tuned the level 2 nitro tuner with the level 5 salvager so he could special summon Nitro Warrior(2800/1800). "Since Nitro Synchron was used for a Nitro synchro summon, I can draw one more card!" He drew a trap. "Then I attack." Nitro Warriors claws slashed through Tygerius. "And when Nitro kills a monster as a result of battle, another defending monster can be attacked after he is switches modes!" Retiari switched out of his guarding stance. "Take this!" And was cut down by the Nitro synchro. "Then I play this spell, Variety Comes Out! I separate Nitro Warrior into tuner monsters from the grave that equal his level!" He disassembled the level 7 warrior into Junk Synchron(1300/500), Formula Synchron(200/1500), Glow-Up Bulb(0/0) and TG Cyber Magician (0/0) "And?" Kai was not impressed. "I set two cards down and end my turn. That is it.". He shrugged "Well, you did make this a bit more exciting near the end." Kai drew her card. "But, that was my last turn, right?" Nathan grumbled. "That goes without saying."

Kai's LP: 2400

She activated the spell Gladiator Proving Ground. "I can add any Gladiator I want from my deck to my hand." She added a Bestiari. "Now I summon Test Horse, and sacrifice him to revive one of my slain gladiators!" The horse(500/300) gave his life to bring out Equeste(1600/1200). "But why should I go for Gyzarus, when one direct attack will end you?" One of her traps chained to the summoning of Equeste. "Gladiator Lash! When I special summon a Gladiator Beast, you must discard a card from your hand!" The only card Nathan had was dragged away by the whip, Junk Defender. "Aw man." That could have stopped a direct attack. Not anymore. "And finally, I shall destroy two cards you control!" Gyzarus was about to unleash yet another tempest. "I activated my trap, Synchro Material! Which allows me to use your level 4 Equeste as a material." And Formula Synchron could start up a synchro summon during the enemy's main phase as well. "Don't even bother!" But Kai countered that as well. "Counter Trap, Parry! I negate your trap by returning a Gladiator in my hand!" Bestiari retreated to the deck and the trap Synchro Material was sealed. "Now. Infected Mail targets Equeste this turn, and he attacks directly!" The centaur charged. "No, what?" Yet she lost lifepoints instead.

Kai's LP: 1200

_Test Horse, 1/500/300 Earth/Beast  
>You can tribute this card to target 1 face-up "Gladiator Beast" monster in your gravyard and special summon it. <em>

"Barrier Wave. I sacrifice a synchro monster to switch your monsters to defense position. And then I can inflict damage equal to the attacking monsters defense points." Formula Synchron was also a synchro monster, so it was tributed so that Equeste switched to defense position. "You..why don't you just die already?" Kai ended her turn, as she had nothing left to play. "Well I don't know about then. But the game has evolved over the years. Your deck is strong, but.." Nathan drew again. "..Mine wins out." He summoned a dragon(1400/1000) to his field. "Powered Tuner! This monster gains 500 attackpoints for each tuner on the field!" There were three to empower the dragon(2900/1000). "No, you can not do this. I should be the one killing you!" Kai protested. "Yeah I do not agree." Nathan sent out his orders, Junk Synchron destroyed the defending Equeste. "You set the world up to be a survival of the fittest. I do not like that, but at the very least.." Powered Tuner then fired a blast of energy straight at Kai. "It is fair!" The flames reduced her lifepoints to zero. "No. Why you.. why do you get to live." The tendrils of energy came from her dueldisk and stabbed her body. "But at leats..my death will weaken..you.." Were the last words that came out of her mouth before the life was sucked out of her.

_"Weaken..us?"_

...

"Any luck?" Gaunt asked Jason who was concentrating. "No." He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "Try as I might, I can not locate the temple again. It's up in space, that I know. But it appears to me mobile." Jason could not lock on to it. "That is a problem. If we can not get up there, we will never be able to stop them." Even if they still had the technology, to head into space would take too much time. "Maybe we should use their network, sir?" The two had been joined by the last remaining scientist, who had been called to inspect the damage to the system. "I already can feel what you will say next. But I already told you." A still gloomy Dean interjected. "I never had access to the temple. Even if I can teach you how to move along the network, I do not know how to get there. Plus I suspect the reapers dueldisks selfterminate upon their defeat." Gaunt started to think it over. "Then, we need to capture the masked agent currently in town. Before he escapes like Lincoln had done. That is our last hope."

(To be Continued in Mark 138: Time's Up for This Generation)

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>T.G. Halberd Cannon<br>Powered Tuner

-  
>Battle Waltz<br>Variety Comes Out

_-  
>Synchro Spirits (+)<em>

_(+) Weakened version of the trap used in YGO 5Ds_

**New Cards used by Kai Hecter**  
>Gladiator Beast Murmillo<br>Gladiator Beast Retiari_  
>Test Horse<em>

-  
>Infected Mail<br>Indomitable Gladiator Beast  
>Gladiator Beast's Respite<br>Gladiator Proving Ground

-  
>Defensive Tactics<br>Gladiator Beast War Chariot  
>Gladiator Lash<br>Parry


	138. 138: Time's Up for This Generation

**Mark 138: Time's up for This Generation**

"Okay. Nathan has reported back and taken care of one reaper. But the other duelists are still engaged or have not yet called back." Gaunt looked at the latest reports. "None of them have found the masked agent. So I believe he is hiding somewhere in the city, instead of coming out to duel himself." This looked like a reasonable assumption to make, Lincoln had only come out of hiding to capture Jason apparently. "So..what? We need to look for him all over this place?" Sarah did not think they had time for that. "No. We have what we need." Gaunt gestured at the scientist. "Indeed. The network is still active, I have rigged some tools to hook them up to that network. That way we can monitor the activity and track down any hotspots." The man explained. "I see. That way we can find the source of the reaper raids." Dean nodded. "But how has it gone so far?" The scientist showed them a graph on a screen. "There is nothing detectable right now. But we did find some recent spike on the chart in a certain location. That may be worth checking out."

And to this end, the man closest to that location was given a call through the dueldisk. "Yeah?" Macbeth answered it right away. "Macbeth, we have found some unusual activity on the dueling network near your current position." Macbeth started looking around, he was near the city's trainstation right now. "So you are saying that the next masked agent is hiding somewhere here?" He got the gist of their information quickly enough. And with all these powered down trains here, he could see why this spot was chosen. "Okay. I will try to find him." However one more warning was given. "Macbeth. If you engage him, try not to defeat him too quickly. Not until we get there as well. We need his dueldisk intact and him as well." Macbeth sighed. "Easier said than done, sir. But I will try." He knew every minute he waited, more reapers could show up to endanger the lives of the citizens. "We trust you, Macbeth." Gaunt closed off his transmission. "Thank you sir." And the Ace of Diamonds started thinking, which deck would last him longer?

Meanwhile Nathan searched the mall for any sign of life. But all the while could not stop thinking about what Kai had told him before she 'died'. _"What did she mean with 'my death still weakens us?'" _Macbeth had told him what to do with Granel wielders, once they were defeated. He had to tear up their Granel cards. _"But Kai had no Granel card, she was killed by the dueldisk on her own. Why?"_ This happened to Lithium too, this seemed to happen to all reapers that did not accept the input of the cardinal. He came back to the center square, having searched through every nook and cranny. "Maybe." He crouched down and inspected Kai again, specifically her dueldisk. "Her cards?" And this time he noticed something, all of her cards were whited out. "Okay. I have seen this before. But.. not all are whited out." Most of the general cards were left alone, only her Gladiator Beasts were gone. _"Wait?"_ He saw another lifeless duelists and checked his cards. _"Some of his are gone too? What is going on here?"_

_"Ugh. This is more a of pain than I thought." _Back at the station, Macbeth quietly snuck through the station, careful not to alert any possible Infinati of his presence here. _"But where would I hide, if I were.."_ He just assumed that the enemy had not summoned any new reapers yet, the spike was too recent for him to have gotten far away._ "Oh." _Macbeth then stepped unto the railway platform, and came across a few bodies. _"Damn it. Here too?"_ These people must have been the first to fall victim to the one he was looking for. _"Wait. One of them..has a dueldisk?"_ Macbeth walked up to him. "He was not in the tower. But he can not be the masked agent, they would just retreat if they were defeated." Macbeth wondered if this duelist had been hiding here, but then decided to duel when he heard the global anouncement. _"That means.. the one who defeated him."_ Just then he heard a soft sound behind him. "Was you!" Macbeth spun around and came face to masked face with a man standing on the other side of the rails. "Found you!" Macbeth quickly activated his dueldisk. "I challenge you to a duel, so you can not run away now!" The masked one complied. "You entered my domain. What makes you think I should be the one running?" He spoke with a modulated tone.

Mask's LP: 8000 Macbeths LP: 8000

"Yes, I know the speech too." Macbeth cut him off. _"Wait. Actually I should stall for time."_ He drew six cards. "I mean.. I do like a good speech. So show me yours if you must." He let him take the first turn. "You are a clown." But no speech was forthcoming. "Genex Neutron." Instead a summon was his next move, a steel blue robot(1800/1200). "Genex?" And Macbeth was not familiar with this archetype. "Genex are the machines us agents normally use in the name of the design. Machines suit us well." He ended his turn. "Neutron allows me to add a tuner from my deck to my hand during the endphase." He explained and added a Genex Controller to his hand. "Hmm." Macbeth meanwhile only placed one monster down in his turn. "Your turn." He did not want to attack yet, or rather he could not. "Then I summon Genex Searcher." The next machine the enemy normal summoned was a worn down robot(1600/400). The soldier did not attack yet however. "I set one trap and that is all." Macbeth was allowed to keep his monster.

"I see Lincoln has been giving you pointers." Macbeth flipped his facedown Gem Turtle(0/2000). "Had you attacked, you would only have hurt yourself. Lincoln did not make that mistake either." Gem Turtle's flip effect sent the spell Gemknight Fusion from the deck to his hand. "I have seen your duel with Lincoln, yes. We have seen all your duels.." Macbeth played the spell to fuse Gemknights Obsidian and Sardonyx in his hand. "In that case, can you guess what I am about to fuse?" Macbeth combined the two into the crimson knight Citrine(2200/1950). "Of your two available choices, this one was the most obvious." Obsidians effect was triggered when it hit the grave. "I can special summon one normal Gemknight from the cemetery!" The red flail warrior, Sardonyx(1800/900) appeared. "It is a Gemini monster, so I use my normal summon for the turn to resummon Sardonyx on my field." Sardonyx' effect was unsealed. "Now I attack, and Citrine negates all effects during his attacks!" Citrine's sword flared up. "Blazing Acid Carver!" And he melted down the Neutron machine. "I strike the Searcher!" And Sardonyx swung his flail at the other Genex. "Red Sanity Goodbye!" The flail crushed the floating light machine. "Hmph. Bad choice, son." The masked man scoffed.

Mask's LP: 7400

"Huh? How so? Now I can use Sardonyx' effect!" Sardonyx let him add a Gemknight from his deck to his hand; Amber in this case. "Because now Genex Searchers effect activates." Genex Searcher could summon another Genex from the deck when it was destroyed as a result of battle. He summoned a hollow acceleration machine(1500/1900). "R-Genex Accelerator is my choice. You see you should have waited, see what Searcher would bring out. Or even negate its effect with Citrine." Macbeth flinched, this guy was technically right. "My turn I presume?" The masked one asked, and the ace could not say no. "And now here is the keycard of this deck. Observe.." He normal summoned a level 3 hydro-powered machine(1200/600). "Genex Undine, the water Genex. I can discard a water monster from my deck to add a Genex Controller to my hand." Undine discarded another Undine, and a Genex Controller was placed in the Infinati's hand. "And R-Genex Accelerator allows me to summon any monster that is added to my hand."

The Controller(1400/1200) was summoned to his field. It was a level 3 effectless tuner monster. "I combine it with the Controller of all Genex machines!" Then the two level 3 monsters combined their body parts. It was like Undine transformed into a bigger and better weaponized version of itself(2300/1800). "This combination is called Hydro Genex. And he shall attack." The synchro monster stabbed the ground with its wand, creating a geyser of water that launched Citrine through the roof and into the air. "Whoa!" Macbeth could not even see him anymore. "When Hydro Genex destroys a monster, I gain lifepoints equal to that victims attackpoints." And at the same time the enemy's lifeforce shot back up to full. _"Augh. I said I wanted to stall for time, not go 'back in' time."_ The damage he had caused was now undone and then some. "I set a trap and end my turn."

Mask's LP: 9600 Macbeths LP: 7900

"Gemknight Fusion can be taken back if I banish a Gemknight from my cemetery!" Citrine was removed from play, and the fusing spell returned to the field. "Then I fuse the knights Amber and Iolite in my hand!" The spell combined a thunder and an aqua type gem monster. "Oh. Going for either Prismaura or Amethyst." The endresult, Prismaura in this case, did not catch the enemy(2450/1400) off guard. "I discard a Gem-Knight Saphire from my hand, to let Prismaura destroy your monster!" The Prism knight fired a beam of light from its shield which shattered Hydro Genex. "Trap card: Soul Rope!" Unfortunately this played right into the enemy's hands. "I special summon one level 4 monster from my deck, when a monster of mine is destroyed! I summon Genex Blastfan!" A wind blowing machine, Genex Blastfan(1600/1300) was special summoned from his hand. "When Blastfan is special summoned, a dark-type Genex monster is added to my hand." From the deck came another card. "And as you will remember Accelerator allows me to summon any monster that is added to my hand." Genex Ally Crusher, a camouflage camera droid(1000/2000) emerged from the accelerator in defense mode

Mask's LP: 8600

Now all of the sudden Macbeth had less monsters on the field than his opponent. "How did this happen? I guess the theme of Genex is monster spam." He sighed and continued his battle phase. "Sardonyx kills Blastfan!" The defense of the two other machines was too high, so the Onyxians flail crushed the spellcaster machine instead. And its effect this time was used on a Gemknight Emerald. "And Prismaura kills your Ally Crusher, before it can use its effect!" Macbeth had read upon the card text before deciding his next attack. And he found out that Crusher could destroy any card, if a monster of the same element was summoned. He guessed it was not difficult for the Infinati to draw another dark-type machine. "I set a monster and a trap and. And I guess I should switch Gem Turtle to defense too, before I end my turn." He chuckled. "I expected more from the man that humiliated Lincoln." The masked man said as he drew his card. "Not that we are near the end of our duel yet, but I feel like you need some more pressure."

"Genex Spare." What came was a robot(800/1200) that looked a little like Genex Controller. "Spare can take the name 'Genex Controller', a spare controller if you will." He then discarded another machine from his hand. "By sending Genex Ally Chemisterer away, I can turn Accelerator into any element I desire." He changed the machine from the light to the wind attribute. "Synchro summon, Windmill Genex!" This time the wind-attribute Genex synchro(2900/1600) was built. "Windmill Genex. This machine gains 300 attackpoints for each set spell or trap card on the field.."There were three. "Defusion!" Until Macbeth unfused the prism knight into its materials, Iolite(1300/2000) and Amber(1600/1400). Meaning only two remained. "Hmph." But an attack would come regardless, Sardonyx suffered the Windmills(2600/1600) whirling force instead.

Macbeths LP: 7100

"So you call that pressure? What do you _want_ me to win or something?" Macbeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Not as such. But I am aware of your purpose here." The man replied. "To take you down yeah." Macbeth quickly replied, hoping that this guy had not caught on yet even if it sounded like he did. "And now I shall show you just what Lincoln was up against!" He played the spell Double Summon. "I get an extra normal summon this turn." Iolite and Amber were Gemknights too, so with this spell he could normal summon both again to unlock their powers. "Iolite can banish one Gemknight in the grave to return another to my hand!" This time he banished the earlier discarded Saphire to take back Obsidian. "Amber then discards a card to take back a Gemknight that was removed!" Obsidian was discarded once more, just so Saphire could return to Macbeths hand. "Impressive." The Infinati said as he saw Gemknight Sardonyx come back to life as well, all because Obsidian had been sent to the grave.

"Now, I flip Gemknight Emerald!" The monster he had set last turn turned out to be an emerald warrior(1800/800). "I can banish this monster and one normal Gemknight I control, to revive a fusion monster in my cemetery." Emerald and Sardonyx, who was back to his normal mode, were 'fused'. "Prismaura, no doubt."The masked man predicted that the prism was the gem Macbeth would return, and he was right. "I use his effect again!" Macbeth discarded Gemknight Saphire a second time, to let Prismaura destroy the Windmill. "So I declare attacks with all of my monsters! Prismatic Slash! Resin Raze, Quicksilver Wave!" Prism Aura cut along the enemy's body, Amber and Iolite pelted him directly with orange crystal shards. "Hope I did not overdo it there, heh." He was in the lead at last. "And just to be safe, I add Gemknight Fusion to my hand again." He banished Gemknight Sardonyx this time.

Mask's LP: 3250

"That is more like it, that is how you should duel." The masked man had shielded his face from the shards, but seemed otherwise uninjured by the attack. "...?" But this move made Macbeth notice something. _"Why does have have a mask anyway?"_ If this man wanted to blend in with the crowd, would it not have been better for him to keep the mask off. _"Unless, this guy is someone who would stick out in a crowd, even with his normal face.." _He had to know now. "Do we know you?" Macbeth figured asking him would eat up some time as well. "...You are curious as to what lies behind this?" The man tapped his mask. "If its the end of the world, why keep up appearances eh?" Macbeth smirked. "True. I was just accustomed to wearing this thing. But one way or another, it makes no difference." He took the mask off. "!" And gave Macbeth quite the surprise. "You're.. the president!" It was a face often seen on television, the face of the northern continents president. "But that means.." For him to be here at capitol city. "Yes, you are right. My continent is already cleaned out."

"The _entire_ continent... gone already? How is that possible!" Macbeth could not believe his ears, or his eyes for that matter. "The more humans fall, the weaker a duelist gets. That is how our purge grows exponentially. There may be some stragglers here and there, but nothing I need to concern myself with. My reapers over there can take care of it. I came here because this location has the most high profile threats." He pointed a finger at Macbeth. "Even you, who shamed Lincoln, is too much of a thorn in our eye. Especially you, who is skilled in decks of all kinds. Taking you down will limit dueling as a whole." Macbeth still looked rather rattled.. "But why you. Why would _you_ join the Infinati?" The president should already have plenty of power. "I was an Infinati first, Tobias Macbeth. With their help I got elected president of the continent. It was an easy thing to accomplish, when the previous president was just an illusion created by this fake world." He started his turn. "But that is all in the past. In the new world, I will have even more power."

(To be Continued in Mark 139: Through Shattered Looking Glass)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth**  
>Gem-Knight Sardonyx<br>Gem-Knight Iolite  
>Gem-Knight Emerald<p>

-  
>Double Summon<p>

**Cards used by Minister**  
>Genex Neutron<br>Genex Searcher  
>R-Genex Accelerator<br>Genex Undine  
>Genex Controller<br>Hydro Genex  
>Genex Blastfan<br>Genex Ally Crusher  
>Genex Spare<br>Genex Ally Chemisterer  
>Windmill Genex<p>

-  
>Soul Rope<p> 


	139. 139: Through Shattered Looking Glass

**Mark 139: Through Shattered Looking Glass**

Macbeths LP: 7100 Presidents LP: 3250

On the other side of the rails stood the president of the north continent, sir Trudgeon, yet he claimed to have dealt with that place already. Macbeth was pretty stunned by this development, to say the least. "Please do not let this reveal hinder your performance, son." He activated his facedown trap: Ultimate Offering. "By paying 500 lifepoints, I can normal summon again. And I bring R-Genex Magma out from my hand." A steampowered droid(1000/200) was summoned through the continuous trap. "Now Magma's effect lets me add a level 2 R-Genex to my hand." The pyro genex grabbed a R-Genex Crusher. "Wait a second." And before Macbeth could guess what he would do, he did it. "Offering." He paid another 500 lifepoints to normal summon the Crusher, a jar-shaped device(800/800). "Crusher adds a level 4 R-Genex to my hand. I select R-Genex Turbo!" The president added and normal summoned a jetpowered race warrior(1500/1300). "This normal summon needs to payment, for the cycle is complete. Turbo adds a level 1 R-Genex to my hand when he is normal summoned." The Infinati took out and special summoned a level 1 clamp-bearing tuner droid(300/300). "R-Genex Oracle, this one special summons itself when it is added to my hand by an effect."

Presidents LP: 2250

The minister spread out his arms. "Now the parts are all here; Magma, Turbo and Oracle, I combine them!" All the R-Genex machines, except for Crusher, were used as materials to build a level 8 synchro Genex. "Genex Ally Axel." What showed up looked like a masked dasher on wheels(2600/2000). "And this is its effect, by discarding a card from my hand, a Genex machine can be rebuilt for one turn and have its limits removed!" Axel placed his hands on the rails, and converted the metal there into a Genex monster. "I choose the machine I discarded just now: Genex Ally Powercell. It boosts all machines with the same attribute as its own." The dark-type Powercell(3400/0) could plug its cord into the dark-type Axel(3100/2000) to empower it. "Double attack!" The two droids crushed the two fusion Gemknights of Macbeth, Zirconia(2900/2500) and Prismaura(2450/1400). "Argh." The attacks hurt, but at least he was still in the lead "But the machine repairs only last him one turn, after that that monster is banished forever." Searcher melted down into a featureless liquid metal. "End turn." The problem however was Ally Axel. "But that is nothing a good old fusion can not fix." Macbeth smiled, as he already had fusion materials and the spell.

Macbeths LP: 5850

"Prohibition." Sadly the enemy played one last spell before he ended his turn. "Pro-what?" That was such an old card, Macbeth forgot what it did. "Every duelist has one keycard, and I have seen enough of yours. As long as this spell is active, it will prohibit the use of one card of my choosing; Gemknight Fusion." Now he ended his turn. "Oh you must be kidding. That means." Macbeth could not fuse his knights at all, not with this spell. "If that is how you want to play it." He switched Gemknight Amber(1600/1400) to defense mode. "I can still use the fusion spell for something!" Ambers effect allowed him to discard the Gemknight spell, and retake a Gemknight that had been banished before. "I take back Gemknight Sardonyx and then I end my turn." Then the president drew again. "You are not going to set that monster?" The president asked. "Suit yourself." He shrugged as the ace gave no response. "Axels revived monsters can not attack diretcly, you probably realized that. However I can still use them as.."

"Synchro materials." Ally Axel discarded a card and revived Genex Controller(2800/1200). "Now, when I control Genex Controller, I can summon this level 5 machine from my hand without tributes." A fiery cauldron robot(2000/1300) landed on the rails. "Genex Furnace, a fire type machine. By combining that with the Controller." The level 3 tuner's parts were used to upgrade the Furnace into a level 8 steam engine robot(2400/1200). "Thermal Genex. It gains 200 attack points for every fire-type monster in my graveyard. And it inflicts 200 damage points for every Genex machine in my grave, every time it kills a monster!" The Thermal one(2800/1200) unleashed a beam of pure heat at Amber and glassed it. "There are only two fire types, Magma and Furnace, but eightteen Genex monsters overall!" There was no battle damage, however there was 3600 points of effect damage. "Heh. I thank you for that. And so does Orichalcos Shunorus!"

Macbeths LP: 2250

Unexpectedly a large orichalcum statue(3000/0) floated down to Macbeths side. "When a normal monster is destroyed I can special summon Shunorus!" And Amber counted as a normal monster again, as soon as left the field. "It gains 1000 attackpoints for each monster you control!" Besides Axel and Thermal, the enemy still had R-Genex Crusher on his field. Instead Axel had to settle for killing the Gem Turtle(0/2000). "Then this battle is about over, isn't it?" The Infinati let Macbeth take his turn, right after he switched Crusher to defense mode. "But you realize, if you kill one of my monsters." Macbeth drew. "I know, Shunorus will lose attackpower and become weaker than the Genex synchro I leave alive." He placed two trap cards down. "So?" And he attacked in spite of what he knew, as Shunorus destroyed Thermal Genex with a halo of energy. "End turn!" He had to kill the fire synchro first, because he could not risk another dose of that effect damage it could dish out. "But still I did not expect you to use such a card, it clashes with your theme, even if it supports normal monsters."

Presidents LP: 2050

"But I suppose you do not even know the name of the country that card came from. We the Infinati know where every card came from." He summoned Genex Recycled, a level 1 tuner (200/400) made from recycled Genex parts. "A mans imagination is a dangerous thing, especially when he gets too close to the truth." He then combined this level 1 tuner to change Genex Ally Axel into an even higher leveled synchro monster. "That is why we must take it all!" The result was a train-based robot(2500/2000). "Locomotion R-Genex. It takes control of a monster with the highest level!" That was definitely Shunorus(2000/0), which was why it hovered away from his former master and joined the president. "Gah." At least it(0/0) was weakened. "Why did you.." This move made the presidents side weaker, rather than stronger. "Because I know you fear a direct attack less than the death of another monster. Otherwise you would not have killed Thermal Genex." Locomotion R-Genex declared a direct attack. "Trap card! And so came the expected response."

"Fragment Fusion! I can fuse two monsters in my grave together!" The trap merged the fragments of the deceased Gemknights Saphire and Zirconia together. "I can upgrade too, I fusion summon Gem-Knight Aquamarine." The sea blue crystal warrior(1400/2600) stepped in the path of Locomotion. "I see. You were hoping to use that card to send Prohibition back to my hand?" During the endphase a monster summoned with Doublet Fusion would be destroyed, which would trigger Aquamarine's effect which let it return any card to a players hand. "I'd rather trigger that now." Locomotion ran over Aquamarine, smashing it to a thousand brilliant pieces. "Then instead I return your synchro monster to your hand!" The trap managed to send away the train. "Still. One trap of yours has failed you now." He switched Shunorus to defense mode. "As has the other." And he turned his head to his side. "Hello sir Gaunt. I heard many things about you." Gaunt and Sarah stood there on the stairway. "I am disappointed in you, was this the best ambush you could think off?"

"So you knew." Gaunt grimaced. "What was your intention here? To knock me out?" The president noticed the gun in his hands. "You can only shut down electrical technology." The gun was all mechanical, so it could be fired. "Indeed. But you know we have barriers to prevent harm from those. And if it is a gas type of weapon, you already lost your chance to surprise the Infinati when you used it on Demistria's squad." He ended his turn. "No. I think you will just have to defeat me in a duel, sir Tobias. That is the only window where in I am open to attack. But of course.." He tapped the side of his dueldisk. "I only need one second to escape. Can you make in time.. I wonder." Macbeth drew again. "We'll cross that fence when we get there." Macbeth summoned Gemknight Sanyx(1800/900), as he could not give it any better purpose right now other than straight up attacks. "Kill Orichalcos Shunoros! Red Insanity Goodbye!" The knight used his flail of red gems to smash the Orichalcum doll(1000/0) into two pieces.

"This looks like a bad position to be in. But the design is still with me." The president drew a good card. "Pot of Avarice! I send five Genex machines back to my deck, to draw two new cards!" With this many dismantled Genexes, the grave would hardly miss five of them. Especially R-Genex monsters like Magma, Turbo and Oracle. "Power Planner." He normal summoned another Genex machine, a power generator(200/300). "When this machine is normal summoned, a Level 3 Genex can be added to my hand." He added a R-Genex to his hand again, Magma. "Not that loop again." Macbeth moaned. "But hold it, you already have Crusher on the field. " Crusher was the level 2 monster in that cycle. It seemed unlikely he would have another copy of it in his deck. "You are correct." Through Ultimate Offering he normal summoned the same Magma(1000/200) as before, and its effect let him add a different level 2 R-Genex machine to his hand. "R-Genex Overseer." This one, a hovering lamp droid(200/100) was normal summoned with the continuous trap too naturally.

Presidents LP: 1050

"Now Overseer is a tuner, so let Overseer, Magma and Crusher join as one. The fire machine, earth machine, light machine and dark machine became one, a gun toting mechanoid(2500/2100). "Genex Ally Trifoce. This synchro monster gains effects for each different element used in its synchro summoning!" The three barrels on its gun lighted up with the colors of red and yellow. "The fire from Magma lets my enemy be burned by the attackpoints of the monsters they lose to its attack." Flames surrounded the gun. "And the earth from Crusher prevents you from using traps or spells during my attack! So, it appears I win, Tobias Macbeth!" The gun was about to unleash its fire. "Except I already used my spell before you attacked." The guns flames shrank. 'Spell card, Half Shut. Your monsters attackpoints are halved for one turn." Macbeth smirked. "Hmm. That caught me off guard." The president called off the attack, considering the circumstances. "But I will not lave myself off-guard." He placed one trap down and ended his turn.

"Nice. All he has to do is kill that machine, and he wins!" Sarah noticed that Genex Power Planner was still on the field, and very fragile. "That trap must be its protection." Gaunt did not share his optimism yet. "Hmm." Macbeth looked at his hand. "Wait. This could work." He thought out loud. "I activate Dark Factory of Mass Reproduction!" His first spell let him take back two normal monsters, the gemini gems Iolite and Amber. "And now for fusion! You may have prohibited 'Gemknight Fusion'. But I have a lot more fusion cards were those came from! Including Pyroxene Fusion!" He revealed his trap. "I combine Iolite with Sardonyx, an aqua monster with a gem knight, to fusion summon Amethyst!" A purple crystal knight(1950/2450) arrived. "And?" That alone did not make the president too worried. "And this, Particle Fusion!" So Macbeth played his other fusion spell. "I combine Amber with Amethyst, to summon another Amethyst!" From the shell of the first, a second Amethyst knight showed up. "Oh!" And as the presidents facedown trap was returned to his hand, he realized what the plan was. "When Amethyst leaves the field, all spells and traps are returned to a players hand!" Now the Infinati was ready to be taken down. "I attack direct.."

"Go ahead." But the president was smiling. "But know that I am gone the second you finish me off." His hand was already on the disk button he needed to push to teleport away. "A man like me always has an escape, Tobias." Macbeth thought it over, but the president knew what he would say from the look in his eyes. "I am sorry, I can not endanger any more lives due to hesitation." He ended the duel, by letting Amethyst hit the man with its sword. "Very well. I shall send my regards to the council." He grinned and pressed the button. _"And of course I shall tell them all about the plan they have."_ And one instant later he was back in the temple. _"They... they?" _But.. he was not alone. "Thank ye kindly." He was surrounded by Gaunt and Sarah. "You. How did you.. get here?" And he also saw Jason, holding his shoulder. "You!" And then he figured it out. "You tricked me, you made me blind to your presence!" Jason just chuckled. "To all of our presences, actually. We were always standing close by you. Waiting for you to make the shift back to your hideout. And here we are. Thanks to you." He let go off the man, and then he passed out. "You.." As Jason could put him to sleep, being this close to him. "Okay. We are in, the operation commences now."

...

Ada was at her wits end. She had searched high and low, concepts which seemed to have no meaning in this vast empty space anyway, to find others. But she did not stray away too far, as she was worried she would lose track of the one soul she had found so far. "I mean who are you anyway, why are you younger than the Callisto I know?" She kept coming back to her, trying to get her attention. "Why are you here, why am I here? Where is everyone else!" And no amount of yelling and frantic flailing worked. "That is it then.." She sank to her knees. "This is what it is going to be like huh? Just me, and her.." She took a deep breath, as it all hit her. "Forever.." She had never felt this miserable, it was even worse than when.. _"..Younger?" _A thought crossed her mind, distracting it from her misery. _"She is younger, just like that card. The one that was in the box?" _She gasped. "Card?" And recalled a card she had picked up herself. "Ali!" She still had it, she must have_! "Where did I."_ She found it again, in a pocket on her vest. _"But.."_

The card was empty...

"No."

...

"No what?"

Said another voice, a familiar voice, one that made Ada feel like she had not felt in months. She spun around..and saw...

"...Ali?"

(To be Continued in Mark 140: Loose Cog in a Big Machine)

**New Cards used by Tobias Macbeth  
><strong>Orichalcos Shunoros  
>Gem-Knight Amethyst<p>

-  
>Fragment Fusion<p>

**Cards used by President Trudgeon  
><strong>R-Genex Magma  
>R-Genex Crusher<br>R-Genex Turbo  
>R-Genex Oracle<br>Genex Ally Axel  
>Genex Ally Powercell<br>Genex Furnace  
>Thermal Genex<br>Genex Recycled  
>Locomotion R-Genex<br>Genex Power Planner  
>R-Genex Overseer<br>Genex Ally Triforce

-  
>Prohibition<br>Pot of Avarice

-  
>Ultimate Offering<p> 


	140. 140: Loose Cog in a Big Machine

**Mark 140: Loose Cog in a Big Machine**

"Ali!" Ada gasped as behind her stood the one she had been looking for all along. "Is that..you?" She would have ran up to him, if not for her own fears. She had been fooled before. "Uhm, should I be someone else?" But the response he gave was exactly what she came to expect from him. "You..idiot. No you shouldn't." She wiped away her tears. "Hey now. You do not have to act tough in front of me, Ada. Let it all out." He gave her a warm smile and spread out his arms. "Oh.." And she gave in and the two embraced each other. "..." But this wondrous feeling could not last. "But wait." She stepped back again. " How is this possible? Where were you, how did you get here?" There were too many questions in her head, her emotions could not cope with that. "Hey. It was not my fault I was gone for so long." He said apologetically. "And I myself do not fully understand it yet. But we do not have time to figure it out. Not here at least." Ada calmed down and took a deep breath. "Yes. We need to do something about this."

"So, was it you that saved me? Not just here, but also back then? When I was told about Shooting Star Dragon?" Xavier nodded immediately. "Yeah. I can not quite explain it, but the first time I helped you I felt like I was still close to you. I saw and heard all. I saw your duel and you did not notice that card was in your extra deck. I just pointed that out." He then took the blank card from her hand. "My mind was trapped inside there, only my body was sacrificed to god and only my body could be remade by her. Most of the time though I was not even sure what was going on, it felt like a weird dream." He pointed at Callisto. "That is not the same Callisto. That is just a fragment that she herself made, the very same fragment the Infinati tried to take and use against her. Don't know why she wont react though." He shrugged and turned back to her. "But, because you were holding on to me, to my 'card', I was taken by the Infinati too." Ada flinched. "Oh no.. I am sorry Ali! I did not.." But he cut her off. "No. That was a good thing Ada, because of that I was able to help you again. Because I was with you, the Finity core could not 'store' you and me fully, we are still aware." His eyes turned upwards to the void above. "We are the only ones in here, that can make a difference. We can strike at the heart of the design."

..

The ace of Diamonds walked out of the trainstation, when the ace of Hearts contacted him. "Macbeth! Where is Gaunt?" Nathan yelled through the dueldisk. "On a mission. He, Sarah and Jason have managed to infiltrate the temple. I just saw them leave." Macbeth replied. "On their own?" That sounded rather suicidal. "They have a plan. And Jason knows he can warp out of that place, he just could not get back to it. Anyway we took out the agent at the same time, so if we defeat all the reapers here we should have some breathing room." For now no new reapers could be summoned here. "Well, that does sound good. But we have a new problem now." Nathan sounded less enthusiastic. "We need to look over the card archives as soon as possible. I have a hunch, but it won't be good news." Macbeth brought the disk closer. "Did I hear that right? What hunch?" He expected bad news at this point, but not in the form of a theory. "Cards are disappearing, not just theirs but ours as well! The Infinati may not just be taking our lives, but our cards as well!"

"Intruders!" It did not take many seconds before the council discovered about the intrusion. "Three targets have been detected in the temple basin. They traveled along the flow of agent Trudgeon." The council was in a state of frenzy, this development was without precedent. "They must not reach the core! If they can affect it, all our reaper agents will be weakened." One member shouted. "Shall we engage? Our other agents are still occupied with the purge." Another said, while glancing at the world map. By now most continents were painted red, only one country still had a visible clump of green dots to represent 'lives'. "You need not concern yourself with the likes of them, my superiors." But one maskless voice spoke up amongst the rabble. "I shall take care of them, with my new power." Demistria bowed. "Very well, agent Demistria. The mark of fire is already with our lord, you can go." The Cardinal gave her his consent. "I know. There is no risk to the plan if I should fail. But I will not fail." She took out her dueldisk.

"So. Where do we go from here?" Sarah, Jason and Gaunt stood in wide space, with no windows but a lot of machinery. "No clue. We only saw the council room and the archive, this place is new to me. It must be the arrival hall." They saw many doors and halls, and they all looked the same. "This temple is bigger than I thought." Jason sighed. "It has to be, to separate the regular Infinati from the council." But as it turned out, they would not have to concern themselves with directions. "Only on special ocassions can one like me meet with them, in the light of Finity." One door slid open and revealed the redheaded duelist. "Demistria!" Neither Jason nor Gaunt or Sarah were pleased to see her, even if she hid her face behind a mask again. "Oh I was hoping they would send _you_ out." He cracked his knuckles. "I see now. It was your power." Demistria noted the unconscious president in the corner. "You managed to get his mask off and fool his senses. But that will only get you this far." She tapped the side of her mask. "I shall not make that mistake." And Jason remembered the time she saw through his psychic illusions. Apparently the mask protected her from mental deception. "As if I need it in a duel. You saw how I handled Lincoln right? You saw all our duels. So what do you think of your chances now?"

Demistria tilted her head. "What do you think of yours? You were there when I defeated your 'father'." Jasons hand trembled, but he did not give in to his anger.. yet. "You had the mark of fire then to back you up. Now it is gone, right? Eaten by your mighty lord." He saw no mark on her person anywhere. Then Gaunt stepped up. "Demistria. Do you believe you can stop all three of us?" And to that question, she could only give a brief cackle as a response. "I do not need to believe, sir Gaunt. You will never find your way to the council with the knowledge you have. You can only run around like rats in a maze, until I take you down one by one. So which is it, who will be my first?" And then Sarah came forward. "I already know the answer to that. I am not as crucial to this operation as mister Artani and Jason are, so I will duel you first." She placed her deck into her disk. "And who knows, I might even win!" She grinned. "Unlikely." Demistria said, though she seemingly accepted the challenge as she started drawing her cards.

Demistria's LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000

"Okay guys, I will keep her busy. You try and find a way out of here." Sarah drew five cards. "I wanted to be around to see this, but we do have bigger fish to fry." Jason just waved at her and walked to the nearest hall. "We will be back for you, miss Rain. We can not thank you enough for all of this." Gaunt said a bit more and followed Jason. "Hopefully that will not be necessary." Sarah said to herself, as the other woman began the duel. "I summon UFO turtle and end my turn." The turtle machine(1400/1200) was all she played. "Then I summon Shining Angel and set one trap card." The recruiting angel(1400/800) would start Sarah off. "And I attack!" The angel struck the UFO, slamming into its shell. "They have equal force, but also equal ability." Both monsters died, but both deaths triggered their effects. "I special summon UFO Turtle." One could summon any fire monster with 1500 attackpoints or less from the deck. "And I, Shining Angel!" The other was the same, except it summoned light monsters. "Then here we go again." These two were forced to do battle with each other as well, as was the third set that was summoned by the second. "And now." Sarah summoned Wattdragonfly(900/0), Demistria summoned a Cyber Phoenix(1200/1600). "The cycle ends."

"But it continues in my turn." Sarah could not keep attacking, but Demistria could as soon as her battle phase started. "Bring it down." The metallic bird cut down the dragonfly with its wings of steel. "Watthopper!" Though WattDragonfly of course could summon any type of Watt monster from the deck. In this case it was a grasshopper(0/0). "Why did you start using machines instead of dinosaurs anyway?" She still did not understand that part. "I already told you this. My spirits nature was ever changing; the regained memories, the mark of fire, the vanquishing of the chaos architect. It has made me a stronger duelist." She placed her hand on her deck. "The moves we made just now, were for my convenience. Now the deck is perfectly shuffled to counter yours. Everything has been accounted for." She activated a spell card. "Charge Fusion. I fuse Cyber Phoenix on my field, with Volcanic Shell in my hand." Sarah had seen this before. "Machine and Pyro, fused together, to form the bombardement bird Blaze Fenix!"

_Charge Fusion, Normal Spell  
><em>_Send, from your hand to the graveyard, fusion material monsters that are listed on a fire-type fusion monster card, and fusion summon that monster from your extra deck.  
><em>_Once during the game, 2 standby phases after this card's activation, you can add this card from the graveyard to your hand._

Sarahs LP: 7700

But a different fusion monster appeared, a burning phoenix(2800/2300). "Blaze Fenix inflicts damage equal to the number of cards on the field!" Before activating this effect, Demistria placed two cards down. "There are five. Five times 300." The Fenix flapped its wings and bombed the field five times. "Gah!" Sarah felt the blazing heat. "Huh?" But that as all. "Calm down. I would not do anything that could damage the sacred temple."

Sarahs LP: 6200

"Oh." Sarah drew a card. "Well you may like burning, but I like direct damage too." She summoned the WattCobra(1000/500). "Venomstreak can attack the enemy directly!" The electric serpent snuck past Fenix and bit Demistria in the leg. "And when he does damage, I can add any Watt monster from the deck to my hand." She used the Cobra's effect to add another Watthopper to her hand. "I activate the spell, Photon Lead, to special summon a light monster from my hand." The second Watthopper(0/0) appeared besides the first, the writing on their cards revealed their names to be Hip and Hop. "One watt monster can not be targeted by an effect or for an attack, as long as a Hopper lives." And Watthoppers also protected each other. "You are saying I can not target any Watt monster, as long as these exist." Demistria glared at her. "But why would I be worried? Blaze Fenix can not declare attacks anyway, if its effect is used." This move did not hinder her ability to do damage at all. "My turn, I draw." But Sarah activated her trap as she did. "Cards of Sacrifice! Since I control multiple monsters, and their combined attackpoints are lower then your Fenix, I can draw two cards!" Her weak monsters served her well in this regard.

Demistria's LP: 7000

"I shall pay 500 lifepoints, so that I may use the effect of the grave-bound Volcanic Shell." While on Shell was in the grave, Demistria could add a second Shell from her deck to her hand. "I place it down on the field and then I shall use the effect of Blaze Fenix." One trap was gone, but three more monsters had been summoned since the last time. "Seven times." Fenix did another bomb run passed the blonde, dropping seven explosive feathers around her. "This is why I prefer the fire. Regardless of what duelist and what monsters I am up against, there is one constant. Every finite duelist has a mere 8000 lifepoints to hold on to. They alone can protect that." She ended her turn. "Aren't you the same?" Sarah asked. "Or are you going to tell me there is a reason why 8000 lifepoints is the limit to begin with?" She was actually wondering about that. "No. That is just a rule you set up, numbers are only a means to an end." Sarah drew her card. "But if you run out of yours, you will not die, will you? Sounds to me like the numbers are on your side."

Demistria's LP: 6500 Sarahs LP: 4100

Sarah normal summoned Rai-Oh, the King of Thunder(1900/800). "Then what was your reason for using a deck like that? You do not strike me as the underhanded type." It was Demistria's turn to question her. "Oh. I just do not like watching monsters die, that is all. I only have one target I have to take down." And then Sarah activated a new spell. "Full-Force Strike! A monster I control can not be destroyed as a result of battle, damage is nullified and the monsters it attacks is killed instead!" She played this spell on Rai-Oh. "He attacks your Fenix!" The electrode king unleashed thunder on the bombardement bird. The initial shock did not phase Fenix, but the second blast of voltage did. And Rai-oh was untouched by the retaliating fires of the blazing one. "Venomstreak!" Meanwhile the King Cobra hit Demistria directly again, and this time Sarah added a Wattkiwi to her hand. "Death is natural, Sarah Rain. That is the very definition of finity. If there were no limits, we'd break the world and reduce it to nothingness."

Demistria's LP: 5500

"But there has to be a better solution to all of this than killing everyone and doing it all over!" She protested. "It is not death, all minds will be remade, and all past knowledge will be stored inside the design." Demistria started her turn again. "But that is as good as death, for us." Sarah did not think this woman was putting herself in other people's shoes. "It is the only solution, Lord Finity calculated it as such. And we have talked enough." Using the effect of Charge Fusion, Demistria reclaimed the spell from the grave. "Rai-Oh, that card can tribute itself to negate a special summon." Sarahs monster stood in the way of any fusion summon. "But." It did not stand long. "It can not tribute itself, if it is tributed." A Lava Golem(3000/2500) appeared on the field. "Ah!" And Watthopper Hop and Rai-Oh were sacrificed to bring the molten devil out. "And now." Demistria activated Charge Fusion, fusing the Volcanic Shell on her field with another Cyber Phoenix in her hand. "Ignition Beast Volcanon." To summon the explosive dragon(2300/1600). "He destroys itself and one monster you control, and inflicts damage equal to that monsters attackpoints." And Lava Golem was blown to pieces along with Volcanon.

Sarahs LP: 1100

Elsewhere in the temple, Jason and Gaunt were definitely lost. "I am quite sure we have been here already." Jason said, as he consulted his own memories. "I know, but that should not be possible. We turned no corner." They had been walking down a passage that did not seem to end, that shared the same color and texture regardless of distance. The temple could not be this wide. "I feel like there is more to this place than just physical distances. The dimensions are distorted, and there is gravity where there should be none." They were in space after all. "It is strange, it feels..." Jason felt like his eyes were being tricked. "It feels like my own power. But that does not make sense.. A building can't be psychic."

(To be Continued in Mark 141: Shine like the Nova)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain  
><strong>Watthopper

-  
>Photon Lead<br>Full-Force Strike

-  
>Cards of Sacrifice<p>

**New Cards used by Demistria  
><strong>Cyber Phoenix  
>Volcanic Shell<br>Blaze Fenix the Burning Bombardement Bird  
>Lava Golem<p>

_-  
>Charge Fusion(+)<em>

_(+) Based on the spell used by Bommer in the YGO 5Ds Manga_


	141. 141: Shine like the Nova

**Mark 141: Shine**** like**** the Nova**

"The danger is over for now." Said the security guard. "But we found no survivors outside, and lost several of the volunteers." And they did not have a lot to begin with. "You could let me help you." Dean said to the man who never let him out of his sight. "Surely I have proven my trustworthiness by now?" The ex-reaper grumbled. "You are getting there, but I see it as a last resort. I have faith in sir Gaunt." He looked up. "I am certain he will take care of the Infinati." Just then Macbeth, Nathan and Ian walked into the room. "Sirs, how did it go?" The guard greeted them. "Good. But it could have gone better. It appears we have a new problem on our hands." Macbeth walked over to one of the crates packed with cards. "Look." He took out a pack and opened it, revealing to the others that half of the cards were blanked out. "Here too.." Nathan sighed. "Oh. Oh no, I was afraid this would happen." And Dean sounded like he knew what was going on here. "You have seen this before?" Dean shook his head. "No, I have not seen it. But heard of it.."

"When the final day of reaping would come, we were supposed to kill more than humans.."

...

Demistria's LP: 5500 Sarahs LP: 1100

Ignition Beast Volcanon had just destroyed Sarahs Lava Golem, which was not even hers to begin with. "Draw!" But since Demistria used up all her monsters to fusion summon that thing, Sarah could attack her directly now. "I equip Hip with Wattjustment, which boosts his attackpower and lets me draw a card every time he inflicts direct damage." The Watthoper(800/0) gained a gun and was switched to attack position. "Then I summon Snap." Wattkiwi(600/0) joined the Hopper and snake. "Triple attack!" Wattcobra(1000/500), Fox and Hopper unleashed bolts of lightning. "Trap cards!" But Demistria chained to the thunder with both her set cards. "Damage Diet halves all damage I take in a turn." The first trap weakened the lightning that shocked her. "Space Gate then adds counters to itself each time I take damage." An interstellar gateway opened and gained three charges from the Watt monsters. "Well I get some benefits too." Wattjustment allowed her to draw once, while Watt Hydra allowed her to add Wattbetta from her deck to her hand. "I set a card and end my turn."

Demistria's LP: 4300

"I draw." Demistria looked at the card she gained. "This monster can be summoned without tributes, if I control no monsters." And she summoned it. "What the?" Before Sarah appeared a pendulum shaped angel, a level 10 fire lord (0/0). "But that is.." It looked almost exactly like Sephylon, the Time Lord Callisto played in her duel against Ansoni. Just the face behind the glass looked different. "When I ended the life of the Chaos Architect, we gained access to all the cards she created. She did not even get to use all of them in her duels. This one, Time Lord Metaion, suited my deck just fine." She paid 500 lifepoints again and added the third Volcanic Shell from her deck to her hand using the effect of the ones in the grave. "I can now destroy Space Gate to summon a monster whose level stars does not exceed the number of counters on the Gate." She special summoned the level 1 Volcanic Shell(100/0) from her hand. "The power of Metaion sends all other monsters on the field back to the hand when it attacks. Metaion can not be destroyed as a result of battle and no damage passes it. Also the opponent takes 300 damage for each one. Enough to end this duel." Four times 300 added up to 1200 damage. She could not endure that.

Demistria's LP: 3800

"But!" Sarah quickly placed a new card on the field. "You special summoned this turn, so I can summon the Extra Veiler from my hand!" A matador showed up. "Any damage I would take is sent back to you this turn!" This allowed her to survive Metaions flames. "Clearing the field, offsets the loss." She continued her assault even with the Veiler present, Metaion unleashed flames that forced all other monsters back to the players hand. "..." She took 1500 points of damage, but as usual she did not even react to the damage. _"At least I am still in the game."_ Sarah sighed a breath of relief. _"But my hand is rather full of cards I can not use right away, so.."_ She played her facedown trap card, Beckoning Light. "I discard four cards from my hand, Watt Cobra, Watt Betta, Batteryman AAA and Batteryman Fuel Cell, to take back three light-type monsters." She took back all three Shining Angels. "Then I play the spell Reload , I shuffle all cards in my hand back into my deck!" The Angels, Extra Veiler, Wattkiwi and Watthopper returned to her deck, and she could draw six new cards.

Demistria's LP: 2300

"Now. This hand is very good. I can now do this!" The batteries Fuel Cell and AAA were banished from the cemetery. "Batteryman Industrial Strength! Two dead batteries must be removed to special summon it, and it can banish another thunder monster to destroy one monster on the field!" The Industrial battery(2600/0) charged its dynamos, and used up Thunder King Rai-Oh's energy to strike at Metaion. "Huh?" But the electricity bounced off of the angels body. "Metaion can not be destroyed by card effects either." Demistria explained. "Shoot! Then I will have to do this the Sarah Rain way!" She smiled and activated two spell cards. A continuous spell and a normal spell. "First Wattcine; all damage you take is given back to me as lifepoints! Then Wattkey; Watt monsters can attack directly this turn!" She then normal summoned Wattwoodpecker. "Tazerbeak can attack twice in one turn!" The woodpecker turned into pure lightning and struck twice. "So I gain back life." Wattcine healed her, while Demistria lost life.

Demistria's LP: 300 Sarahs LP: 3100

"And now I activate the spell, Thunder Short!" Her next card would inflict 400 damage to Demistria for every monster she controlled. "!" Even though Metaion was her only monster, 400 damage was too much already. "Damage Diet!" So she activated her diet trap card that halved the effect damage. "Hey, you did not have any cards set down!" Sarah protested. "Damage Diet can be banished from the grave as well, though in that case it only halves all effect damage I take in a turn." And she could not have used it last turn because the trap could not be used during the damage step. "Ugh, and I got so close too." Sarah groaned.

Demistria's LP: 100

"No matter how close you are, in front of Finity's predictive abilities the distance may as well be the length of existence." Demistria drew again. "But you have done well up until now, you pushed me to use the foundation of the Infinati." Just then Time Lord Metaion left her field. "Time Lords can only stay with their master for one turn, afterwards they return to the deck." She then resummoned Volcanic Shell(100/0) to the empty field. "Dark Hole." And then sucked it up into a massive black hole. "Meklord Skiel?" Sarahs Batteryman and Wattwoodpecker were also crushed by the spells sheer gravity, but she was already worrying about what would come next. "But of course." Because a monster had been destroyed, she could special summon Meklord Emperor Skiel(2200/2200) to her side. "Direct attack." And the emperors cannon charged a shot at the unguarded Sarah. "Wall of Revealing Light!" Which she luckily managed to turn off with her continuous trap. "You are taking an awful gamble with your life, Sarah Rain."

Sarahs LP: 100

To use the trap succesfully, Sarah had to pay 3000 lifepoints, just so Skiel and any other monster with 3000 attackpoints or less could not declare an attack. "You would have taken less damage had you not used that card." She placed the last card in her hand down and ended her turn. "Yes, but I am thinking of the long term. I am not getting anywhere If I can't take a risk." Sarah activated the spell card Recycleable Batteries. "I take back two Watt monsters from my graveyard!" She reclaimed the two cards she discarded last turn, Betta and Cobra of the Watt family. "Venomstreak!" And the latter she normal summoned. "Direct attack!" The Cobra slithered towards the woman. "Wall of Fire." But it scurried back to Sarah as soon as a blazing wall of flames surrounded its target, Demistria. "This permanent trap can banish any extinguished fire monster to negate any direct attack." She banished one of the UFO turtles in her cemetery to lit the the wall up. _"Oh come on."_ Sarah cried out mentally. _"That trap is the one thing she needs to shut me down."_ Demistria really was lucky! "I guess you met my wall with one of yours." She placed two more cards down, just in case her Wall of Light alone could not cut it. "I suppose I did. Were I a more poetic duelist, I would call this the test of thunders light against fire's light."

"But my walls have no limits, yours can not exceed 3000 points." Demistrias's deck had just the answer. "Second Booster." She summoned a jet machine(1000/500). "This card destroys itself, and adds all of its points to another monsters attacking power." The Booster flew up and attached itself to the Meklord of the skies, giving Skiel(3700/2200) an additional 1500 attackpoints. "Oh boy." Sarah's Revealing Wall was not high enough anymore. "It appears I win, unless your traps can stop this." Skiel flew over the wall and readied another shot. "Well. Before you fire, can you answer me one thing? It's been nagging me for a while now, why do you still use Skiel?" She thought Infinati on her level would get access to the Wisel emperor. "That is simple enough to answer, because I prefer it. Like you said, we are duelists who enjoy direct confrontations more." Skiel had the ability to declare direct attacks under certain conditions after all. "But you did not need to ask, your mind will become one with all knowledge!" The attack was released.

"Because I actually do have a trap that can save me!" Sarah flipped Wattkeeper. "!" And she revived a Watthopper(0/0) with it. "Hop! Protect me!" Hoppers effect drew in any attack directed to another Watt monster, and she obviously had summoned it in defense mode so that monsters destruction would not harm her. "And you keep saying that we should not care about our deaths, because our memories, knowledge and such will become one with everyone else's. But what about the rest?" She asked. "The rest?" Demistria repeated, sounding confused by her word choice. "The experiences; what you felt like when you tasted ice cream for the first time, when you watched your favorite show, when you saw your first crush. You can not just reduce that to data." She fumed. "Emotions.. are not quantifiable, they do not need to be stored." She replied coldly. "Then I will say it again, you _are_ killing everyone. If you take away those sensations, you take away what seperates one from another, they lose themselves!"

"It is not the mind that endangers the world, but what the mind now knows. Seperation is the only answer, or do you have another?" Demistria countered her rant with a question of her own. "N..No." Sarah said softly, while Demistria ended her turn. Skiel(2200/2200) lost the Second Boosters boost. "But I do know that your answer is not the right one!" She summoned Wattbetta from her hand, a level 2 tuner goldfish(100/0). "I synchro summon my Wattchimera, Zoltron!" The lion/snake/eagle hybrid was summoned by uniting Wattbetta with the level 4 Cobra. "And then, I discard Electric Virus from my hand." Demistria was mildly surprised to see Skiel float over to Sarahs side. _"Tat monster can take control of one machine for one turn." _The Virus had brainwashed her Meklord. _"But Firewall can stop that one's attack too."_ She would get it back next turn, and then she could absorb Wattchimera and declare a direct attack with Skiels effect. There was still nothing escaped the path of finity's estimates.

"Demistria, have you never considered how others feel about this?" Sarah asked her suddenly. "What?" Leaving the masked woman nonplussed again. "I mean people like Lithium, and Lincoln, they talked like they were enjoying all this. But you were different, you even admitted that." Even when she killed Callisto, she had said she had to fake malice just to make sure Callisto snapped. "I mean, what about your family? Do they get the same treatment as we do?" And Demistria had to have some family left. "It is no use to remind me of them, or of anyone. The Infinati are my only family in this world." But it appeared Sarah was wrong. "Oh. I am sorry.. about that. But." The blonde activated her last card, the trap Limit Reverse which could revive any monster with 1000 attackpoints or less. "I will not be sorry about this!" She revived Wattbetta(100/0) again. "Synchro summon!" And she tuned the level 1 Meklord, level 6 Chimera and level 2 goldfish together. "A level 9 synchro?" And Sarah called out Mist Wurm(2500/1500) the thunder worm. "Mist Wurm returns up to three cards back to your hand!" Sarah only needed to return one, the Wall of Fire. "What? But this was not.." Demistria never saw this coming. "Direct attack!" And there were no flames left to protect her.

Demistria's LP: 0

"Sarah!" And just then Jason and Gaunt returned to the temple hall. "Guys!" She was happy to see them, but weirded out too. "How did you end up back here?" She scratched her head. "That is what we would like to know." Gaunt turned to Demistria, and noticed she was defeated. "You knew this would happen, didn't you? This place is like a maze." The only way they could go further was to go back. "Our masks have filter out psychic interference for a reason." Now that she had lost, she could not deny them any answers. So she began to explain. "Grand design is not just the location furthest away from the world, but also the closest to the other world. Time and space are distorted here, where Lord Finity rests. Here the desynchronization of both worlds is at its lowest." She took the mask off. "Without these, anyone can get lost. That is why no reaper is allowed here." She handed the mask over to Sarah. "I have lost, I admit this. I can not stop you anymore. But I believe.. even if you reach the core, you can not stop Finity."

..

"What is this?" Ada could not comprehend what happened. Xavier asked her to follow him, and even though she saw nothing on any horizon before she met him, now she was looking at a solid feature in the distance. It was as if very thick fog had lifted before her eyes. "Wait, I have seen that before!" It resembled a crystalline computer chip, whose protruding wires were surrounded by halos. And two solid rings flowed around this thing. Upon closer inspection Ada realized the rings were made of cards. "This is it, Ada. This is the true form of our enemy; Lord Finity."

(To be Continued in Mark 142: Root of Memories)

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Wattbetta<br>Electric Virus  
>Mist Wurm<p>

-  
>Wattjustment<br>Reload

-  
>Limit Reverse<p>

**New Cards used by Demistria**  
>Metaion the Time Lord<br>Second Booster

-  
>Dark Hole<p>

-  
>Space Gate<br>Wall of Fire


	142. 142: Root of Memories

**Mark 142: Root of Memories**

"So. You accept your defeat, and think that will make us even?" Jason snatched the Meklord Skiel card from Sarahs dueldisk. "Did you think I would forget what you did to my sister? Because I might just be curious enough to see what would happen if I tore this card up." He had seen her do the same to Lincoln before. "It will not make a difference. When you reach my level my memories can freely leave and enter the core." The same thing happened to Lincoln as well in this case. "And.. I did not put all of my life inside that card. Lincoln 'died' that time, only because that was not his true body. If you tear up my emperor, you will only push away the part of me that knows what I have done." In essence, he would be left with a Demistria that was innocent. "Tch. Then maybe I should just kill you. That is what you have done to my sister after all." His hand started to shiver. "We are not killing anyone, Jason!" Sarah protested. "Why not? these people deserve it! Do you think we can just throw the book at them, and toss them in jail? That never works for humans such as her!" He yelled back at her. "Regardless of whether or not it is the right thing to do, right now we still need her." Gaunt cut off the argument before it could get too heavy. "Demistria. You can either help us or.."

"No. I shall not get in your way. My task was merely to delay. Yet if I lost, then it must mean the design wants you to pass." She walked over to one of the halls corners. "Maybe your lord just miscalculated." Jason fumed. "...Sarah." Demistria ignored that remark and turned to the girl. "The mask should show you which door you need." Demistria already knew where to go, though she seemingly stood in front of a dead end. "Oh?" Sarah put the mask on. "Oh!" And through it she saw a whole new environment. "It's like one of those one-way mirrors. I can see everything from this side of the mask!" Most opened and closed doors were gone, only two remained. Demistria was standing next to one, while the other must have been the one Jason and Gaunt had taken. "A hidden entrance then." Gaunt did not see what Sarah saw, but figured they could just follow her. "Hmph. Well, if I can not get at you, maybe I will deal with the one that gave you your orders." Jason said as the three walked through the door. "But, you better stick around.."

..

"Where..what..who.." Ada could not take it all in, that which was revealed to her. "Lord Finity, or simply Finity. This is its true self. Or rather, a visual recreation of its core." Before them hovered the planet-sized core, which resembled both an electronic circuit and a geological crystal formation. "And those cards, why are they floating around it?" The core was surrounded by two rings of cards, who were as vast as the seas. "Those are the stored remnants of humanity, I reckon." The two could walk all the way towards this river of cards and stepped on it. Their feet only sank in slightly. "These cards represent every human being on the planet; their hopes and fears, fantasies and desires. There is a card for everyone." Ada picked up one card. "Then I would hate to be the guy whose dreams amounted to a card like Shapesnatch." She said and put the card away again. "Not everyone dreams large, or has a vivid imagination. Not everyone has just one card either. But they all end up here, if Finity has its way."

"So then, what do we do here? Pull wires loose until it cracks?" Ada looked up. It would take weeks to do enough damage to a microchip of this size. Then again they could hardly call it 'micro' anymore. "No. We do what we always do. Remember that this world is based on the duel, even the program that keeps it all in check has to adhere to these standards." Xavier explained. "Hey, when did you learn all those big words?" Ada had not heard him speak like this except when he had 'lost his memory'. "Dunno. Sometimes they just pop up in my head. Maybe that other guy left some terms behind in my head." He scratched the side of his head. "But we need not concern.. ehr.. bother with that yet. This is why we are here, to weaken this thing from the inside. Maybe we can even free all the people he absorbed already." He then placed his hands next to his mouth and began shouting at the core. "Hey, Finity guy! We challenge you to a duel!" And for a minute, there was only silence. "Do you really think this will.."

But on the 60th second exactly, a low hum came from the core and light spread across its surface. "Oh. It appears we did get a reaction from it." Ada now wondered how one was supposed to duel this thing. **"Core defense system activated" **A loud metallic voice echoed across the void, as if the one speaking was all around them. **"Initiate all-card duel mode." **On the river of cards a small light with a hexagonal crystal inside appeared. "Terminate targets" It drew in five cards at random from its surroundings and placed them in front of it. "All card duel mode? Then.." Xavier and Ada looked at where they were standing. "We have to make our decks from this?" Xavier did not know where to begin drawing. "Even worse, we have to randomly pick whatever we find. We could end up with wildly conflicting or unusable cards." Ada somehow doubted their computer opponent would make as many errors as they did. "Well, we can not go back now. Let's do it!" Xavier randomly took six cards out and inspected them. "Good enough, lets duel together, Ada!"

Ada/Xaviers LP: 8000 Core Defense Systems LP: 8000

"Well at least our lifepoints are the normal amount." Ada said. "I place a monster down and three trap cards!" Xavier had the first turn and this was what he used it for. "Hey. Consult me next time!" Ada snapped at him for his rash move. "Oh, sorry Ada. It's just that we do not have a lot of time." Considering that every second a new card was added to the halo of cards, wasting time would just mean more imprisoned humans. "I know that, but we should not rush things either. This is a very volatile set-up." Now the enemy took its turn. **"Main Phase: Normal Summon Pursuit Chaser."** It called out a police squad droid(1400/600). **"Battle Phase: Pursuit Chaser targets face-down monster card."** The Chaser crushed a face-down Fox(300/200) with its hands. "Monster Effect: Inflicts 400 damage when a monster is destroyed." And the machine's siren flashed its lights, hitting the two duelists. "Awgh. Guess the damage feels real here too." Xaviers hand felt numb. The killed card itself was cast into the other ring of cards.

Ada/Xaviers LP: 7600

"But what you killed was Fox Fire. Now his effect will activate!" Fox Fire normally revived itself during the endphase, if it was killed in battle. "That only works when you have it in attack position, Ali!" But Ada knew the effect better than Xavier did. "Really? Dang, I always miss the fine print." He was not accustomed to these cards. **"Main Phase 2: Set 2 Cards." **The system was done with its turn now. "Hmm. Let's use this one. This should give us a huge advantage." Ada pointed at one monster card. "Ah yes of course, a synchro summon!" He summoned an impish boy(800/200). "Eccentric Boy. This tuner monster can tune itself with another monster in my hand!" He revealed a level 5 normal monster in his hand, Ocubeam. "We shall synchro summon a level 8 monster!" With this setup the possibilities were endless. **"Response: Trap Card: Curse of the Circle." **But the synchro summon never came to pass. "Hey, what?" Eccentric boy was trapped within a pentagram seal. "Crap. That trap prevents you from using the sealed monster as a tribute or synchro material." Ada cursed. "Of all the cards he could draw." Xavier felt his luck was lower then Finity's luck. "Ugh. We end our turn." And the worst part was that this left the tuner wide-open.

**"Main Phase: Normal Summon Dark Assailant." **It looked like, at the very least, the enemy also drew normal monsters from time to time. In this case he summoned the assassin skeleton(1200/1200). "Oh no you don't." Ada flipped one of the set cards face-up. "Gozen Match. This continuous trap forces both us and you to duel with only one type of attribute!" Dark Assailant was a dark-type, Pursuit Chaser was an earth-type; one of the two had to go. "Choice: Send Dark Assailant to Graveyard." Of course the enemy chose to send the effectless monster to its cemetery. Dark Assailant joined Fox Fire. **"Battle Phase: Pursuit Chaser targets Eccentric Boy." **And soon that pair gained the company of the tuner boy, as the squad chaser destroyed him. "Well this is not going swimmingly." They received another 400 points of effect damage too.

Ada/Xaviers LP: 6600

"Okay. That was pretty bad. But now we are going to fight back!" Xavier said as Ada picked another card from mass. "This one at least has more attackpower." She summoned a Samurai warrior; Samurai Sword Baron(1600/1200). "Baron attacks Pursuit Chaser!" The samurai cut down the squad machine with one stroke of its sword. "Yeah, we damaged you at last!" Xavier cheered and the two ended their turn. **"Main Phase: Normal Summon Milla the Temporal Magician." **Unfortunately the defense system gained a monster with even more attackpoints. **"Monster Effect: Inspect and Confirm one face-down card, when normal summoned."** Milla waved her wand around and scanned the first of Xaviers two traps. **"Confirmed, face-down card is Level Conversion Lab: Trap card. Battle Phase:"** Then Milla gathered energy in her wand. **"Milla the Temporal Magician targets Samurai Sword Baron."** And she blew Baron to pieces with her white magic spell. "Well this just keeps going back and forth."

Ada/Xaviers LP: 6400 Core Defense Systems LP: 7800

"There must be a way to distinguish the good cards from the bad in this whole collection." Ada sighed as she was about to draw again. "Well as soon as we touch one, it is the one we will draw. I don't think we can cheat the system." All the cards were facedown in here, as soon as they looked at one, they could not put it back. "Maybe we need to develop a feel for this?" Xavier suggested. "Like this?" He closed his eyes, and stuck his hand in the card mass. "Maybe I can.. sense which one feels more comfortable to use. Which one.." He let his fingers touch each passing card, until he found one that felt pleasant. "This one!" He drew it. "!" And he placed it facedown. "What was it?" Ada asked him. "Twinheaded Behemoth. That should buy us some time." The behemoth was one of their first dragon cards, its revival ability would buy them at least one turn. **"Main Phase: Tribute Summon."** However the enemy was ramping up his game, as he tributed Milla for a level 6 monster, a darkred dragon(2200/1700). **"Des Volstgalph."**

"Volstgalph?" It was another rarely seen card from the old days. **"Spell card activation: D.D. Designator. Effect: Declare name of card and inspect opponents hand. Declaration: Ocubeam." **The enemy designated the Ocubeam monster Xavier had not been able to use earlier. **"Condition met: Banish Ocubeam." **And afterwards the designator spell would banish the card since the enemy had it in his hand. **"Monster Effect: Gains 200 attackpoints when spell card is played."** And thanks to the death dragons own effect, it(2400/1700) powered up. "Wait. This is even better Ali." Ada flipped his other trap. "Overworked! Any monster who has its attackpower raised, is destroyed!" An explosion occured, which took out the Volstgalph card. "Whew, thank god. I hate pronouncing that dragons name." Xavier chuckled. **"End Phase."** The opponent could do nothing else about it. "Ha! He is wide open now!" Xavier clenched his fist, while Ada drew a card. "And we will not hesitate to use that opening!" She sacrificed the Twinheaded Behemoth for Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch(2400/1000). "Direct attack!" The emperor of flames tossed a fireball the enemy's way, dousing it in brilliant flames. "How do you like that Finity, there is plenty more where that came from!"

Core Defense Systems LP: 5400

While that duel was going on inside the core. Outside the council had taken notice of this miracle. "This is an impossibility." And none of them could explain it. "The defense system is activated. But we received no transmissions or uploads that alerted the firewalls. Nothing should even be able to reach the core program!" Even the Cardinal was unable to get a grip on the situation. "This situation is unprecedented. What will happen if the defense system is taken down?" Another council member cried out. "Was it one of the humans we absorbed? Was one of their memories contaminated?" Another said. "No. The marks are ours, those are the only codes that can cause enough damage. But if it was one of the absorbed.." The Cardinals eyes passed over the human bodies of Ada, Urizen and Kein, who were now kept in storage pods. "Scan the bodies. If one of them is responsible, we will erase the memory from the core. It is the only way to be sure!" The Cardinal ordered.

"You will not lay one hand on them."

But that was the cue for Gaunt and his companion to enter the council room. "The intruders!" The masked men roared in unison. "You failed us, agent Demistria." The Cardinal was displeased with his underlings performance. "Heh. What are you so affraid of? The situation is the same isn't it? You outnumber us." Jason liked the fact that these people were panicking. "Or is our presence here something your computer did not predict?" He chuckled. "Lord Finity is more than a mere computer! And he knows all! Your coming here is indeed of no consequence." The Cardinal fumed. "Oh! There hey are!" Sarah meanwhile noticed the pods. "Kein, Ada, Urizen! What are you doing with them!" Inside those pods they looked even less alive than when she had last seen them. "Bodies are nothing more than assembled data, they will be reconfigured when the time comes. But.." The council glanced at the world map behind them. "That time is still not here." A few green spots remained. "Yet you are losing this war." The number of red reapers now outnumbered the green targets. "That is why we are taking the war to this place." Gaunt activated a dueldisk. "Because I know.. if I take your core down, the reapers will stop being a threat. That is why you hesitate to duel me."

(To be Continued in Mark 143: Incalculable)

**Cards used by Xavier Ali/Ada Wolfram**  
>Fox Fire<br>Eccentric Boy  
>Ocubeam<br>Samurai Sword Baron  
>Twinheaded Behemoth<br>Thestalos the Blaze Monarch

-  
>Gozen Match<br>Level Conversion Lab  
>Overworked<p>

**Cards used by Core Defense System**  
>Pursuit Chaser<br>Dark Assailant  
>Milla the Temporal Magician<br>Des Volstgalph

-  
>D.D. Designator<p>

-  
>Curse of the Circle<p> 


	143. 143: Incalculable

**Mark 143: Incalculable**

"Looks like break-time is over." Macbeth sighed as he noticed an unwelcome presence in the streets. "We better get down there." Meklord Granels drove towards the R-tech building, surrounding it from all sides. "There are dozens of them. I never even knew we had this many reapers." Dean started to get second thoughts about his plan aiding the other duelists. "And we have less and less." Nathan looked at his deck. "I do not know what my spirit card is supposed to be, but half of my original deck is already gone." Most of the duelists could not even put together proper decks any more. "We will have to make due with what is left." Said Ian, who no longer had Exodia available. "Well I still have my Masked Heroes." Macbeth had lost both Ojama's and Gemknights already. Most of the cards that remained were the ones R-tech developed themselves, like the Steelswarm series. "Does the boss know about this?" Nathan asked his fellow Ace. "He left before we figured this out. But I am sure he will succeed." Macbeth nodded. "Well, for his sake he'd better." Dean fumed. "Because I bet if he gets killed, all those nice cards he and his company designed will disappear like ashes."

Meanwhile, above the clouds..

"Are you certain that we fear you? We could sweep you away with one shot." The cardinal stepped in front of the core, inside the room of light. "With our ultimate Meklord." His lifepoints were still as high as the last time, and Meklord Emperor Granel Infinity(26725/23425) still gained attackpoints equal to half its masters attackpoints, and the attackpoints of the synchro monsters it had absorbed. "I prepared my deck for you, I will not hesitate to duel you. Cardinal." Gaunt placed a stack of cards into his dueldisk. "Sarah, Jason. You now what to do should I fail. But for now keep an eye out on the others." Sarah nodded, Jason just folded his arms. "You know what I will do, should you fail." He could not stand the sight of any of these people, but he had to let Gaunt duel them first. It was 'his plan'. "So this is where it happened." Gaunt stepped into the core chamber, and saw the transparent body of Lord Finity. "Let's duel."

Cardinal's LP: 46850 Gaunts LP: 8000

"You trespassed into my domain, so I shall take the first turn." The Cardinal drew only one card. "But it seems you have a disadvantage too." Gaunt noted this as he drew five cards. "Because of this set-up, which allows you to share your field with all reaper agents down below, you must act as if you were in a continuous game. So whatever you had left over from my sons duel with you, stays." While Urizens team did not keep their cards, the Cardinal ended that duel with no cards in his hand, so now he had to start off with just one. "And you can not attack in the first turn of a duel. The reapers below could not do that either." Gaunt had already defeated one Meklord duelist, he knew how this worked.. "But the reapers below lack one thing, Gaunt Artani." Granels chest opened. "What?" And Shooting Star Dragon(3300/2500) emerged from the machine. "Granel has a third power; once a turn it can summon one of its absorbed synchro monsters in defense position." He placed a trap down and ended his turn. "That means all of the abilities of Ada Wolframs dragon are mine to use!" The ability to negate attacks and negate destruction effects, Granel(23425/23425) had gained a fearsome ally, and it only lost 3300 of its attack and defense points in this exchange.

"I set a card and a monster, end turn." Gaunts first turn was surprisingly lackluster. "You believe you can defend against me?" The Cardinal sneered and switched Shooting Star to attack mode. "By machine is equipped with Opti-Camouflage Armor! That means it can attack directly!" Granel was, even with all of its points, just a level 1 card. So it could camouflage itself and release a direct shot at its enemies. "Gaunt!" Sarah cried out as the cannons blast filled the room. "Trap card!" But Gaunt was not a goner yet. "Magic Cylinder!" A pair of cylinders saved him, one tube swallowed all the energy up, and the other released it back upon the masked one. "!" And he would receive the damage instead. "That is one weakness I have found in your playing style, Infinati. Your own monsters strength can harm you too." Gaunt told the reeling cardinal. "You..that trap card." The man was surprised, but quickly recovered. "Magic Cylinder; the trump card of your son the champion." He realized which deck Gaunt was using now. "Of course. This deck was originally mine.."

..

Ada/Xaviers LP: 6400 Core Defense Systems LP: 5400

**"Main Phase: Normal Summon Dark Valkyrie. Set Card in Magic/Trap Zone." **The duel against the defense system continued, and by now Ada and Xavier had secured the lead. "That is all it is going to do?" And in its turn it summoned the corrupted counterpart to Dunames, the Dark Valkyrie(1800/1050). **"Field spell activation: Ancient Forest."** And then it played the first field of the game, and the duelists were cast into a lush enclosed forest. "Spoke to soon." Xavier sighed. "This could be trouble. Monsters that attack here will be destroyed afterwards." Ada did not like this, nor did she like the rest of the enemy's field. "Draw." Xavier pulled a card from the card ocean. "Axe of despair? That is a good one." He wondered if he should equip it to Thestalos. "No. It is obvious he is trying to trap us. Why else would he leave her in attack mode?" Thestalos(2400/1000) was already stronger than Valkyria on his own. "We will lose the equipment either way. We will attack the normal way!" Thestalos gathered fire in its hands.

**"Quick-play Spell Card Chain: Rush Recklessly. Effect: Give 700 points of attack to a controlled monster."** But before the Monarch could unleash his next firestorm, the winged witch(2500/1050) flew towards him. "Damn it!" And she counterattacked Thestalos who was now the weaker of the two. "Oh man, he bamboozled us!" Xavier thought Ancient Forest was the trap, but it had placed another down. "Yes. Also do not use that word again." Ada groaned, almost longing for the eloquent Ali again. "Sorry. But now what? We have no monsters in our hand anymore." They could not summon a new defender. "Obviously, we have to end our turn. I mean even if we did summon a new monster, her effect can kill it." At least during the endphase Rush Recklessly stopped affecting the Valkyrie(1800/1050). "Battle Phase: Dark Valkyria attacks the player." Valkyria flew above the trees and unleashed black lightning on the dueling duo. **"Field Card Conditions met: Dark Valkyria is destroyed." **Afterwards the witch came tumbling down and shattered upon impact with the ground. **"End Phase."** But it too seemed to lack luck in the monster drawing department. "Alright. Nothing in our way. Better get a monster this time." Xavier slammed his hands together.

Ada/Xaviers LP: 4500

"Spirit of the Breeze?" It was Ada's turn to draw, yet she ended up with a rather weak offensive monster. "Aw. We can not even equip that one with Axe of Despair." Xavier thought they could get in some nice damage if they had a better monster. "Even if we could, we'd just lose it to that accursed forest." She instead placed it face down, along with a trap card. "At least it has high defense." At any rate she did not want to dwell on the fact that she could not get a feel of the cards, not as good as Ali's feel anyway. **"Main Phase: Spell Card activation: Shield Crush. Effect: Destroy monster in defensive position."** The enemy did not get a monster this time either. "Gah!" Instead he used a spell that instantly destroyed any defending monster, like the Gyroid. "Well that was a bust." Xavier watched the Gyroid break into a million pieces. He was thankful though that they did not get another direct attack their way. **"End Phase."** But at this rate they would not get anywhere. "I feel like it is just stalling us." Ada looked up. "What if the council members know about us, what if they can.."

"Well, if they can get to us here. There is nothing we can do about it. Ada. There is no point in worrying about that." Xavier took a card out. "Ah. Now this is a good one!" He summoned to the field, the Power Breaker(1900/0). "This one will attack you directly!" The warrior cut the core crystal twice, leaving two sizeable gashes. **"Field card conditions met." **Of course Ancient Forest reacted to this by destroying the attacking Power Breaker. "Aha! That is just what I wanted to happen!" Xavier flicked his finger. "When Power Breaker is destroyed by one of your cards, it will take out a spell and trap you control as well!" The Breaker threw his armblade away to cut down the Forest spell card. "Incredible. That was like the best card for this situation." Ada did not think such luck existed. "You gotta see these cards as more than just cards Ada. That is what callisto told you, wasn't it? The cards are part of us." Xavier turned back to the core with a grin. "That is not something a data-driven blockhead like you can comprehend, is it?"

Core Defense Systems LP: 3500

**"Main Phase: Normal summon Sergeant Electro." **Being a machine, the defense system ignored Xaviers taunts and summoned a new machine(1600/1300). **"Monster effect: Select 1 face-down card and block its activation." **The sergeant targeted the facedown Level Conversion Lab, and stunned it with a voltage blast**. "Battle phase: Electro sergeant targets player."** And then it fired another blast directly at Xavier and Ada. "Gaaah!" Xavier definitely liked this lightning less than Valkyria's. "Ggh. You have a point Ali. This thing is not a _human_ enemy. Even if that attack just now did feel like it was made out of spite." Their turn came as soon as they stopped smoldering. "Okay, draw phase. Try it Ada. See if you can draw something good." The only other card they had right now was another trap, which was pointless to use against the Electric machine officer. "Just concentrate on the cards, and look for the one that feels most comfortable." He said to her, as she dug her hand into the mass of cards. "I will try."

Ada/Xaviers LP: 2900

She closed her eyes and tried to rely solely on touch. _"Ugh. They all feel the same." _Each surface felt smooth, and flat, like they really were nothing more than cards. _"Come on." _Yet the further her hand searched, the stranger her fingers felt. The cards got rougher, dustier and sharper. "Ow!" She retracted her arm when she felt one card cut into her skin. "Wait." Except she held the card in her hand. "This one?" It was Debris Dragon. "I summon this one!" The level 4 tuner dragon was normal summoned. "Nice!" Xavier shouted excitedly, as the Debris Dragon used its effect to revive Spirit of the Breeze(0/1800) from the grave halo. "Synchro summon!" The level 3 spirit was tuned along with the dragon to form a level 6 dragon synchro. "We summon Seven Swords Warrior!" The chinese dragon(2300/1000) came from one of the smaller halos that composed the extra deck cards. **"Synchro...monster."** Even the computer sounded like it was surprised by this development. "And we will play Axe of Despair!" They equipped the warrior of seven swords(2300/1800) with the despairing axe. "As you would say.. Monster effect: deliver 800 effect damage when an equip spell card is put on it!" The warrior shot a blast from the axe, chipping away another spike of the crystal.

Core Defense Systems LP: 2700

"And then Seven Swords Warrior can send the equipped card to the grave, to destroy one monster you control!" The warrior hurled his axe away, which decapitated the Electric officer. "And now, a direct.." But their enemy did not leave himself unprotected. "Attack?" A new machine appeared, one very _very_ familiar to them. "Meklord Emperor Wisel?" The silver machine emperor(2500/2000) was summoned. **"Monster effect: special summon this card from hand when monster is destroyed by card effect."** Seven Swords could not kill that one. "He had it in his hand already? How did he make a lucky draw like that?" Ada cried out as the two could only end their turn. **"Main Phase: Monster effect: Equip synchro monster to itself."** And Wisel(4800/2000) immediately absorbed the Warrior. **"Battle Phase: Direct attack."**

...

"Hmph. You halved my life instantly, is that what you believe?" The cardinal emerged from the reflected blast, unharmed. "Even if you let me draw one card, that one card is enough to nullify your efforts." He unveiled the trap that saved his lifepoints; Infinity Force. "This trap reduces all effect damage and then destroys all face-up monsters you control. Luckily yours are well hidden." Then Shooting Star struck, and it punched the facedown monster. "But your lord can not counteract every possible card!" Gaunt yelled back, as the facedown monster was revealed to be the Dark Resonator(1300/300), whose destruction in battle could be ignored once a turn. "Not just the steelswarms, you are using his synchros against me as well? You are a fool, and a slave of sentimentality." The Cardinal ended his turn. "Maybe so, but that does not change the fact that you fear synchro monsters. And I need one right now to stop your direct onslaught!" Gaunt summoned the Armageddon Knight(1400/1200). "Synchro summon!"

_Infinity Force, Counter Trap  
><em>_Activate only if you control a face-up "Meklord Emperor" monster when your opponent activates a card effect that would inflict effect damage to you. Reduce that damage to 0, and destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls._

The level 4 knight and the level 3 Resonator were tuned to each other, to form a level 7 scythesman(2800/2300). "Heavenly King, Dark Highlander!" The divine king prevented all other synchro summons. "A synchro worthy of a king indeed, but it is defenseless against me." The cardinal of course was not exactly going to perform any synchro summons. "I know it alone is no threat. But.." Gaunt activated the spell, Darkworld Shackles. "!" Granel Infinity was chained down to the floor. "Granels attack and defense points are reduced to 100!" Highlander raised his scythe. "Do not overlook this thing!" But Shooting Star banished itself from the field, to negate Highlanders attack on Granel. "But be happy, you at least chained up my Meklord Emperor." The Cardinal chuckled. "..." And Gaunt started to think, what were the chances he would draw a spell destructive card on his next turn? With Finity's luck by his side, the odds were with him. "Highlander!" So instead he used his synchro monsters other effect. "Highlander can destroy all equip cards equipped to a monster and inflict 400 damage to the opponent for each one!" Opti-camouflage Armor and Darkworld Shackles were destroyed.

Cardinals LP: 46050

"Oh. You saved me the trouble?" Granel(23025/23025) powered down a little. "It appears, you are a slave of fear instead." Gaunt then placed one trap card down and ended his turn. "That is a natural response. As you are now." Granel used its synchro killing power to absorb Dark Highlander into its body. "You will follow in your sons footsteps quite well." And then Dark Highlander was resummoned to the cardinals field in defense mode. "So, can you answer this. What did you hope to accomplish here, Gaunt Artani?" Yet as he asked this, one screen on the wall began to flicker. "What?" And soon others followed. "I'd say you are about to find out, Cardinal."

(To be Continued in Mark 144: A Virus Fit for a King)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani  
><strong>Dark Resonator  
>Armageddon Knight<br>Dark Highlander

-  
>Darkworld Shackles<p>

-  
>Magic Cylinder<p>

**New Card used by The Cardinal  
><strong>_Infinity Force (+)_

_(+) Based on the trap used by Luciano in YGO 5Ds_

**Cards used by Xavier Ali/Ada Wolfram  
><strong>Spirit of the Breeze  
>Power Breaker<br>Debris Dragon  
>Seven Swords Warrior<p>

-  
>Axe of Despair<p>

**Cards used by Core Defense System  
><strong>Dark Valkyria  
>Sergeant Electro<br>Meklord Emperor Wisel

-  
>Ancient Forest<br>Rush Recklessly  
>Shield Crush<p> 


	144. 144: A Virus Fit for a King

**Mark 144: A Virus Fit for a King**

Cardinals LP: 46050 Gaunts LP: 8000

The Cardinal was about to declare an attack on the open field, but he was distracted by the screens around him. "Enough time has passed." Gaunt whispered. "What was that?" Behind his mask, the infinati's eyes narrowed. "You did not believe, I would come into this lair and risk it all on a duel?" Something was damaging their systems. "What? What have you done?" Several of their monitors stopped displaying anything but error messages. 'It is a virus! He uploaded a virus! We are losing communication with the reapers and masked agents down below!" One council member gasped. "Impossible! How! This place was supposed to be impenetrable mainframe-wise!" Lincoln cursed. "Even if this world is only partially real, it is still founded on the principles of technology. And this very temple is saturated with it, so I hid a virus in my own dueldisk. And let time do the rest." Gaunt smirked. 'So you came to us, to deliver us this? Do you think such a thing will cripple us?" The Cardinal clenched his fist. "You made this virus. We will discover the cure as soon as we gain your knowledge!"

He activated the spell card; Gift of the Weak. "Attack!" And Granel(23025/23025) released a shot from its cannon. "Don't be mistaken. Losing to you is not part of the plan." Gaunt revealed a trap card. "Hidden Soldiers! Because you special summoned a monster this turn, I can summon a level 4 dark monster from my hand." Gaunt summoned a Mystic Tomato(1400/1100) in defense mode. "And I banish Necro Gardna!" Gaunt banished the grave guarder from his cemetery to negate Granels attack. "Hmph. You sent that monster to the grave with the effect of Armageddon Knight I see." However Shooting Star still had an attack left and it crashed into the tomato, splattering it across the room. "When Tomato dies." Of course Gaunt now was able to summon a dark monster from his deck, if it had less than 1500 attackpoints. Ï shall summon Steelswarm Scout." He called out the scouter of the swarm. "You created the virus because you knew your chances were slim, Gaunt Artani. Do not deny that." The Cardinal could draw two new cards thanks to Gift of the Weak. As that spell triggered whenever a monster was destroyed by a level 1 card like Granel Infinity. "Maybe so. But first I must l show you the power of the steelswarm, Cardinal. The deck of my making."

"I sacrifice Steelswarm Scout, for Steelswarm Moth!" The scouter drone was replaced by the adult moth(2400/0). "When he is tribute summoned, using a member of the swarm as a tribute, two cards on the field can be returned to a duelists hand!" The moth flapped its wings and raised up a storm. "A payment of 1000 lifepoints is what it asks! And in return I send Granel back to your deck, and Shooting Star Dragon back to mine!" The winds pushed Granel off of the field and into the Cardinals hand. Shooting Star meanwhile had never been the cardinals card, so it could only go to Gaunts extra deck. "Then I attack Dark Highlander!" The heavenly king was summoned in defense mode last turn, luckily its defense was 100 points lower than Moth's attack. "The steelswarm were born from a memory of mine, whose authenticity I can not even be sure of. But I remembered days wherein dueling was not about fusions, rituals or synchronizations. In the old days, sacrifice dominated the scene. That was what I wanted to recreate with this archetype."

Gaunts LP: 7000

"I understand." Said the masked woman as she turned away from the disrupted screens. "The steelswarm are not a family, they are a plague. They are what carried the virus. The minute you drew a Steelswarm card, you infected the dueling network here." Infestation was the theme of this card series, she had gathered that much from her duel with Urizen. "Indeed. And now it is too late to turn back the wheel. And it remains to be seen which one gives out first, your mainframe, or your lifepoints.. Or your very core. If what you were panicking about holds any influence on all of this." He ended his turn. "Whatever is going on inside the core of our lord, he can deal with it. I set a trap card and a monster down. And I end my turn." The Cardinal was for once pushed into defense, but his high lifepoints were still putting Gaunt at a disadvantage. "The fact that there is something in that core that causes trouble for you, that gives me hope." Gaunt glanced at Sarah and Jason. "It gives us hope." Sarah nodded and Jason smiled..

...

"How is this happening?" Said a panicked reaper as he was about to duel Ian. "Hey do not ask me. You are the one who challenged me." The other duelists reponsed, slightly confused as well. "No. This is not how it was supposed to be!" The reaper had started its assault with the mighty Granel Infinity by his side. But now the Meklord was nowhere to be seen, it disappeared as soon as he started the duel with Ian. _"Whatever is going on.. I assume this is because of what that mister Gaunt is doing up there. Well, I am not complaining."_ Ian drew his cards. "Come on, come on, reaper. I am right here." He laughed.

...

"Strike!" Gaunts Steel Moth struck the monster the cardinal had placed face down. "You destroyed Meklord Army of Skiel!" A winged blue machine soldier(1200/1000) was crushed. "When it is destroyed and sent to my grave, another Meklord Army machine can be called from my deck." He summoned a second Meklord Army of Skiel(1200/1000). "Hey. I watched that duel you had with the others. Shouldn't you be out of those by now?" Sarah thought this duel was continuing from the triple team duel she had seen a day ago. And every duelists normally only could have three copies of a monster in their deck. "This is another example of limitlessness." Demistria spoke up. "The cardinal duels for all reapers, whatever change occurs here occurs with them as well. But as long as they are connected, he can not run out of cards." She explained. "So in essence, he has an infinite number of Granel emperors in his deck." Jason could not believe what he was hearing. "..I set a monster and end my turn."

"This makes you desire an destruction effect, does it not? Because I can keep summoning these Skiels until you run out of cards." The Cardinal placed another card down. "But as soon as you choose to destroy my monster, my Meklord will again break free from my hand." He ended his turn once more. "And if you do not, I eventually shall." The Cardinal chuckled. "You sound so confident in your deck. Is this because of your lords predictive abilities?" During his standby phase he revived Steelswarm Scout(300/200) from the cemetery, and in his main phase he placed two cards face down. "Then, did your lord predict this as well?" He then flip summoned the Morphing Jar(700/600). "!"The council members gasped as the jar forced every player to discard all the cards in their hands, and drew new ones. "Now Granel has left your hand. That means I can do this!" Gaunt sacrificed Steelswarm Cell and Morphing Jar for Steelswarm Longhorn(3000/0). "I pay a 1000 lifepoints to destroy one monster you control!"

Gaunts LP: 6000

"Some might call it amusing that you should ask that, Gaunt Artani." The Cardinal activated a trap card: Lightspeed Pulse. "Because apparently, the lord did." The trap forced the activation of a face-down spell on the field, and he used it on his own set card. "Reboot!" The spell was flipped face-up. Ï send one Meklord card in my hand back to my deck, and add a Meklord card from my cemetery to my hand!" A Meklord Army of Granel was sent back to his deck. "No!" And of course he reclaimed Meklord Granel Infinity. "You destroyed my monster." The soldier Skiel was killed by Longhorns effect, and the emperor Granel(23025/23025) was returned to the field. "He did not even get to weaken his lifepoints!" Jason cursed. "Your efforts were all for nothing, they lead to mere inconveniences. There is no problem the lord can not overcome! You are welcome to try again!" But Gaunt could not, all he could do was switch Steelswarm Moth to defense mode. "Indeed, that is all you could muster. But it was a great resistance, that much is certain. You are a worthy opponent, Gaunt Artani. As such I shall tell you the real name, before you go. My name is Godfrey Riemann. And your real name is Charles Abel. Now that we both know this,. you are ready for Finity's embrace.

_Lightspeed Pulse, Normal Trap  
>Force the activation of 1 face-down spell card. If the timing of the activation of the spell card is incorrect, negate the effect and destroy it. If it is not a spell card, it is returned to its original position.<em>

...

"Disarmanent!" Xavier shouted out the name of the trap that allowed them to live through the next attack. "This trap destroys all equip cards on the field!" The Seven Swords Warrior that had been absorbed by and equipped to Meklord Emperor Wisel(4800/2000), was taken away and left Wisel(2500/2000) with less attackpoints than its targets lifepoints. "Gah!" But the blade it swept along side them did not hurt any less. Ada and Xavier were both knocked down. "Agh, are you okay Ada? Are you bleeding?" Xavier freaked out right away. "Ali. I do not think we _can_ bleed here. You did not figure that out yet?" She groaned and got up again. "Sorry. I am not used to being around people again I guess." He nervously laughed. "But still, what do we do about this now?" The core defense system finished its turn. "It drew the Meklord, it did not even need intuition. Meanwhile we have no cards left in our hand or on our field." Disarmanent was their last unused trap card. "We will need more than 'a feel' to counter this things favorite card."

Ada/Xaviers LP: 400 Core Defense Systems LP: 2700

"More than this too." Xavier cringed as he saw the latest card in their hand, Kabazauls. "Well. There is nothing we can do about that. Let's just hope he does not draw another monster with the dark attribute." Ada placed the monster down. As long as they had Gozen Match on their field, neither player could have monsters of different elements on their field, and Wisel was of the dark element. **"Main Phase."** The core added another random card out of the flowing card rivers. ".."Ada and Xavier held their silence, and hoped for the best. **"Battle Phase."** And those were the magic words. **""Meklord Emperor Wisel attacks face-down card."** Kabazauls the red hippo dinosaur(1700/1500) was cut into pieces, but at least his masters endured the round. "Main Phase 2: Set Card. End Phase." And they were given another chance at taking down this enemy. "We will not get another lucky break like that. And this place looks more unstable with every second." Ada was about to draw another card, as the void around her flickered from one color to another. "Wait. Ada! I have an idea!" When Xavier chimed in. "We need something more! Let's draw together!"

"What?" Ada retracted her hand from the cards. "How will that help?" She did not know what gave him this idea. "Maybe, if we focus as one, we can get the best kind of card! Two minds work better than one after all!" He extended one hand. "If you think it will help.." She held it. "Okay. Like this." The two crouched down and their free hands started searching through the mass. And as if drawn by an unseen force, both their fingers inched closer and closer to the same spot. "Ah!" Ada's other hand touched Xaviers hand, and they both touched the same card at the same time. This could not be a coincidence, could it? "We draw!"

"?" They looked at the card they drew. "Isn't this?" It was the last thing any of them thought they would get their hands on. "Does this mean that she is here helping us?" Ada looked behind her back as if she expected to see a third person. "Well I am not looking this gift horse in the mouth. And we have exactly ten monsters in the graveyard, so.." The two placed it on the disk. "We special summon Sephylon, the Ultimate Time Lord!" From their hand they brought the same angel that Callisto had summoned in her duel with Ansoni, the lord of time and vessel of the creator god, Sephylon(4000/4000). **"Sephylon.. detected.." **The core defense system sounded like it did not know how to compute this. "We have 10 monsters in our graveyard; Fox Fire, Eccentric Boy, Samurai Baron, Twinheaded Behemoth, Monarch Thestalos, Breeze Spirit, Power Breaker, Debris Dragon, Swords Warrior and Kabazauls!" The conditions were right for Sephylons arrival. "And we attack Wisel!" The Lord of time fired off ten golden beams.

**"Chain reaction, trap card activation: Negate Attack."** But the beams were absorbed by a portal in time and space. "Shoot!" Sephylons attack was stopped. "But he should not be able to absorb this monster at least." They ended their turn. **"Main Phase: Spell card Activation: Wave-Motion Cannon."** The enemy placed a spell cannon on its field. "Uh Oh. If he gets to charge that up." Every turn the cannon stayed intact, it would gather energy. And at the start of the next turn the core system could release the cannons energy to wipe out their remaining lifepoints. **"Switch Meklord Emperor Wisel to defense mode. Set Monster Card: End Phase."** And he shifted its tactics to defending and stalling for the very purpose of getting to the next turn. "Gah. He went chicken on us." Xavier shook his fist at it. "Its decision is logical. We need a card that bypasses its defense. But.." They had few options, as Wisel could still negate the activation of a spell or trap card once per turn. "Our last shot. We draw!"

They pulled another card out again, together. "Hang on. Are we drawing our own cards, or.." This time they gained a monster they knew someone else liked to use. A fiend Urizen was known to use. "Well, just because he used it, does not mean it is his representation here." Ada shrugged. "But we will take it. We summon Lancer Archfiend!" The two summoned the spear wielding demon(1500/1600). "This monster adds piercing to another monster we control!" Sephylon was chosen. "But his Meklord has 2000 defense, so.." They only had a chance if the other set monster had less than 1400 defense points. "No matter how much we worry Ada, it will not change what this guy has on his field. We can only.. go ahead and attack!" Sephylon created a lance of pure energy and hurled it at the card that was set before them. "Destroy it!" The lance pierced the monster and turned it to dust, and the core defense system started losing lifepoints.

(To be Continued in Mark 145: Centuries between Seconds)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Necro Gardna<br>Mystic Tomato  
>Steelswarm Cell<br>Steelswarm Moth  
>Morphing Jar<br>Steelswarm Longhorn

-  
>Hidden Soldiers<p>

**New Cards used by Cardinal Godfrey**  
>Gift of the Weak<br>Reboot_  
>Lightspeed Pulse<em>

**Cards used by Xavier Ali/Ada Wolfram**  
>Kabazauls<br>Sephylon, the Ultimate Time lord  
>Lancer Archfiend<p>

-  
>Disarmanent<p>

**Cards used by Core Defense System**  
>Wave-Motion Cannon<p>

-  
>Negate Attack<p> 


	145. 145: Centuries between Seconds

**Mark 145: Centuries between Seconds**

Core Defense System's LP: 0

"It worked!" The attack of Sephylon managed to pierce a face-down Kozaky(400/400), which allowed it to deliver enough damage to destroy the defense of the core. **"Defense system overridden, can not persist in function." **The Crystal itself started to splinter and defragmented along with its Meklord Emperor Wisel. "We did it!" Xavier cheered and did a dance of joy. "Calm down Ali, we are not there yet!" Ada pointed at the bigger problem, the core itself. "We still need to break that down. So let's go." She started running down the river of cards. "You're right. I am ready!" Xavier followed, and the moved towards the heart of Finity..

Godfrey's LP: 46050 Gaunts LP: 6000

"I shall equip my Meklord Emperor with a Union monster." The cardinal summoned a metal man(400/400) and fastened it to the right arm of Granel(23025/23025). "Now whenever the Meklord destroys a monster, all other monsters of the same type shall perish along with it." Of course he played this union monster more for the sake of his reapers below, as he did not expect Gaunt to survive this attack. "Now, attack the Longhorn!" A massive amount of energy came from Granels cannon. "Corrosive Contagion Infestation!" Gaunt activated a permanent trap card. "I return one Steelswarm monster to my deck and add a new one to my hand!" He sent back Longhorn, leaving the defending Steelswarm Moth(2400/0) to take the brunt of the attack. "I shall take Steelswarm Genome out of my deck." Cardinal Godfrey let out another short laugh. "That is another thing an infective deck like yours is good at, running and hiding. But mark my words, Gaunt Artani, there is no place that the power of the Infinati can not reach!" He placed two cards down and ended his turn.

"No. You should mark my words. I have told you before." He activated a spell card, Fiends sanctuary. "Your power is your weakness as well!" He special summoned a metal fiend token(0/0) from a hexagram seal. "He means to ram it into Granel?" The token could reflect all damage done to it, back to its enemy. The death of the token would halve the enemy's lifepoints at once. "A card like Infinity Force will not help you against this attack!" The devil token was reduced to a black sludge after one countershot from the Machine emperor, but its effect did the job. "Hnghh." 23025 points of battle damage were returned to the Infinati.

Godfrey's LP: 23025

"Did you think even such a loss would surprise lord Finity?" The cardinal smirked. The core behind him pulsated as a trap card was played. "Damage Vaccine Omega Max! All damage I have taken this turn from one attack or effect is undone!" Godfrey's life shot back up to what they were before the token died. "You keep saying your statements, I will keep saying mine. The word of Lord Finity is the one that will be remembered in the end."

Godfrey's LP: 46050

"I was not aware your lord.. could even speak." He said as he activated a spell. "Resonator Call, I add a Resonator monster to my hand." He claimed Clock Resonator and placed it face down. Then he ended his turn. "He speaks to us in ways you can not understand. He only speaks to those who can." The Cardinal drew a card and summoned a Meklord Army of Granel(1700/1200) to his field. It immediately released a stream of energy bullets at the facedown monster. "I figured you would say as much." But the bullets bounced off if the monster without inflicting damage, as the set monster was a Clock Resonator(1200/600). "A monster that can not be destroyed once per battle. And a tuner as well. You return to the fools hope that is synchro summoning, so soon?" Granels soldier failed, so the emperor had to deliver the killing blow himself. "The steelswarms were my idea. The synchro monsters were for the king.. for my son!" He discarded a monster from his hand. "Barrier Resonator! By discarding this monster, I can negate the destruction of a tuner I control!" The electric Barrier Resonator took the blow for the earthen Clock Resonator. "And yet in the end, he chose to abandon everything you made for him.."

"He abandoned those cards because I tried to test him without telling him the truth. That was in the past, Godfrey." Gaunt drew again. "This is the now. He saved my life once, now I will save his. But.. I would always have done this for him." He summoned Steelswarm Genome(1000/0) to the field. "Escape from the Dark Dimension!" Then he released Necro Gardna(600/1300) from the banished card pile. "This is the card that will break everyone free! I synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend!" Gaunt took the level 8 synchro card from his extra deck and placed it on the field, by tuning the level 3 Resonator along with the level 2 Gene demon and level 3 Necro warrior. "It attacks your army machine!" Red Dragon Archfiend(3000/2000) appeared in the room of light and swept its blazing claws through the Granels soldier. The loss of 1400 lifepoints also slightly weakened the Granel Infinity(22325/22325). "A useless gesture. That just gives it more to eat." Lincoln chuckled from the sidelines. Gaunt then placed a card and ended his turn.

Godfrey's LP: 44650

"We do not understand you, Gaunt Artani. But then we have abandoned the bonds of blood a long time ago." The Cardinal reactivated the effect of the Emperor, its chest opened and released tendrils. "Fiendish Chain!" But before those tendrils could ensnare the red dragon, the Meklord itself was captured by black chains. "Your monster can not attack or keep its effects!" Granel was held down, even the immense attack boost was taken away from it(0/0). "I know why you abandoned those bonds. Because you would not be able to do this if you still had cherished and loved ones!" He glared at Demistria for a second and then he looked at Jason. "You even went as far as to demand from Jason that he'd betray his sister and father, just to get him to join your cause! You can not see things our way anymore, can you?" Cardinal Godfrey just placed two cards down and ended his turn. He did not answer Gaunt. "Then I have nothing more to say to you." Red Dragon Archfiend gathered flames in its mouth. "I.."

"I do not attack." He said. "What? But it is powerless!" Jason shouted. "I have a bad feeling about this, his facedown card.. why don't you play it?" The stared the masked cardinal down. "A hunch is it? Your intuitions are sharp." The cardinal placed the one card. "Dust Tornado. I destroy your chains." The Meklord(22325/22325) could free itself, and the fiendish trap shattered. "Then if he had attacked." Sarah gasped. "We would have had an amusing death scene." Lincoln finished her sentence. "Even with those masks, I can tell when you are concerned or shocked, Godfrey. And you were not concerned at all." With their apparent lucky draws, he did not have a lot of reasons to be worried. "I activate Red Dragon Vase. I draw twice when I control a Red Dragon Archfiend." The spell gave him two new cards, while denying him the ability to summon anything new for this turn. "I set three cards down and end my turn."

"Well. You probably have a response for this." Granel tried to absorb Red Dragon Archfiend again. "I do! Counter trap card: Dark Illusion!" The tendrils this time phased through the demonic dragon. "I negate an effect that targets my dark monster and destroy the owner of that effect." Dark energy lashed back at Granel. "But I can sacrifice Buster Blaster to save Granel." As a Union monster, the Buster gunman had to be destroyed first before its wielder could die. The darkness did not damage Granels armor. "And you also prepared for an attack of course. Which is why you left your dragon in attacking position." Once again the emperor lowered its cannon. "Necro Gardna, yes." Gaunt banished the Gardna from play once again, to negate this attack. "But such an obvious move, you gave me two turns to prepare for it!" A trap chained to Gardna's effect. "Counterforce: When a battle between two monsters is called off, it inflicts damage equal to the difference of attackpoints between those two!" The difference was almost worth 20000 points. "Gaunt!" And all of that was sent Artani's way. "I know such a card exists, I expected it at one point or another, Godfrey. This is also why.." Gaunt chained to that trap with his own. "I needed the Red Dragon! I activate the trap card: Crimson Fire!"

"What!" The damage CounterForce unleashed was blocked by an aura of flames that covered the dragon from head to claw. "Crimson Fire reflects damage created by a spell or trap card that was meant for me! And it does not just return the damage I would have taken, it doubles that damage!" The 19325 points that equalled the difference of strength between the synchro killing emperor and the synchro, that became 38650 points of damage all for the Cardinal. "Gah!" He was overwhelmed by the blast, knocked against the wall. "Cardinal!" Demistria gasped. The rest of the council were muttering in a state of turmoil. "All the lifepoints. I can not believe he wasted it all." Lincoln was disappointed in the cardinals performance. "No.. How did this happen." Godfrey had been hit hard, he did not have the strength to get up. "Ask your lord, he has all the answers." Jason yelled from the side, laughing at the same time. "..How." The cardinals mask started to crack. "Do you end your turn, Godfrey?" Gaunt meanwhile knew this duel was not yet over.

Godfrey's LP: 6000

One card was set on the field, though strangely not by the Cardinal himself. "...?" Gaunt did not know how that happened, but he moved on. "Now. Granel and the Red Dragon are on the same level." 6000 lifepoints translated into 3000 attackpoints for Granel. "But, I will not end this duel with just the Demon Dragon." Gaunt played his final trap card, Red Carpet. "I control Red Dragon Archfiend, so the Red Carpet summons two Resonator tuners from my grave." The level 3 Clock(1200/600) and level 1 Barrier Resonator(300/800) returned to life. "I shall also activate this spell: Resonant Destruction." Gaunts continuous spell resonated with the two tuners. "When a Resonator is used as a synchro material, I can destroy one of my opponents cards." He took all three monsters. "You see everything, so you have seen the first time my son and me summoned this card." Red Dragon and the Resonators became synchro materials for a level 12 monster. "Come forth, Red Nova Dragon!" The blazing scar-red dragon(3500/3000) flew out of the extra deck. "It gains 500 attackpoints for each tuner in my cemetery!" Besides Clock and Barrier, there was also still Dark Resonator for Red Nova(5000/3000) to draw power from. "And now, he crushes your Meklord Emperor once and for all!"

"Gah!" A dazzling flash of light flooded the chamber, nearly blinding Gaunt. "Spell card." Godfrey spoke up again, but with a more lifeless tone. "Enemy Controller." A control pad appeared, and its wire hooked up to Red Nova Dragon. "Second effect: switch Red Nova Dragon to defense mode." The quickplay spell forced Red Nova into a guarding stance, and its flames fizzled out. "I was too late too destroy it." This was the card Resonant Destruction tried to take out, unfortunately it could use its effect before it was destroyed. "Now, we move to the cardinals turn." Godfrey drew a card, but disregarded it. "And we absorb the synchro monster." Gaunt was out of tricks this time, even a synchro monster as strong as Red Nova could not avoid Granels tendrils. "It appears you failed, sir Gaunt!" One council member cackled. "I have done enough." Gaunt knew he was about to lose his life, but remained unshaken. "Even now, Granel has but 3000 attackpoints and its owner has 6000 lifepoints. Your reapers will be in for a surprise"

"The core.. has been breached." But now the cardinal began to talk about a seemingly unrelated subject. "The Grand Design is compromised." By now his mask had been completely peeled away, revealing a pale wild-eyed face underneath. "The core? The defense system failed?" Lincoln flinched. "It was those three wasn't it?" He looked at the bodies of Urizen, Ada and Kein in the pods. "We should have just killed them when we had the chance!" He cursed. "Or maybe it was his virus?" Demistria pointed out that the temple's computers were still going haywire because of what Gaunt had uploaded. "The reapers are weakened, we can not communicate with them or coordinate new plans. We can not even leave this temple thanks to you!" Another council member hissed at Gaunt. "Just finish him off, so we can at least figure out how to remove one problem!" He screamed at the cardinal. "All shall be joined." It was with a smile, but nonetheless Gaunt fell as Granel(6500/3000)'s direct attack reduced his lifepoints to zero.

Gaunts LP: 0

"Sir." Sarah looked away, but Jason kept his eyes on the man as he collapsed. "Well played." He then took his dueldisk that carried the virus to admire the handywork_. _"You were quite the magnificent bastard, Gaunt." He smirked. "Don't smile just yet kid. You two are next." The council snapped at Jason before they turned to Godfrey once more. "What does the lord say? What can be done to remove the virus? And what do we do about the invasion?" They all knew they had not yet cleaned the world up entirely yet, and at this rate they were threatened with the loss of all the memories they had collected so far. "There is a solution. Only one solution." The cardinal still spoke with his unwordly mono-tone. "The agents are too weak to continue the purge, and the design is too damaged to contain it or to deflect further attacks. Everything must be.. unified." Suddenly.. "Arghk!" Not just the cardinal. "Gyah!" But every Infinati in the room doubled over in pain. "What the hell is it doing?" Lincoln managed to say in between spasms. "This is..Finity's solution?" Demistria even passed out from the agony. And not just her. "Hey, what is going on?" Sarah watched, horrified, as one after the other Infinati gave in to the pain and slumped down like the life had been sucked out of them. "Look at his.." Jason noticed something different, his lifepoints..

Finity's LP: 78000

"He took all their lifeforce? Their lifepoints?" There were seven members in the council, besides the cardinal. Now their life, along with Demistria's and Lincolns, were clumped together. "All are one." The cardinal was the last to fall, yet he still spoke. "This was the final fail-safe, we all agreed to this." More voices were speaking, Lincolns and Demistria's could be distinguished among them. "We must initiate the ultimate purge mode: **One." **And soon the source of their voices, their new host, took physical form. **"Mode One."** Before the two stood Lord Finity. **"Commence Total System Defragmentation."**

(To be Continued in Mark 146: Existence in the Corner)

**New Cards used by Gaunt Artani**  
>Clock Resonator<br>Barrier Resonator  
>Steelswarm Genome<br>Red Dragon Archfiend  
>Red Nova Dragon<p>

-  
>Resonator Call<br>Red Dragon Vase  
>Resonant Destruction<p>

-  
>Corrosive Contagion Infestation<br>Escape from the Dark Dimension  
>Fiendish Chain<br>Dark Illusion  
>Crimson Fire<br>Red Carpet

**New Cards used by Cardinal Godfrey**  
>Buster Blaster<p>

-  
>Enemy Controller<p>

-  
>Damage Vaccine Omega Max<br>Counterforce


	146. 146: Existence in the Corner

**Mark 146: Existence in the Corner**

Lord Finity had taken solid form, resembling more of the Meklords it created and less of the Infinati it had gathered. Before Sarah and Jason stood a stainless silver humanoid robot with four spiked limbs and four spiked rods implanted into its back. The only part that reminded them of their human enemies was the infinity symbol on its face, the original mask. "That, is a really raw deal here." Jason had seen it absorb the memories and knowledge of all the council members, and Lincoln and Demistria as well. Their life now filled the three cores of the machine. "And he still has.." And half of those lifepoints became the attackpoints of Meklord Emperor Granel Infinity(42300/39000), which was still on the field. "And I guess we are next." Sarah gulped; she did not expect things to turn this drastic this soon. **"We are one." **The lord of Meklords continued to speak with all the voices of its followers. **"And all should be one." **A compartment of its right limb slid open, revealing a glass case holding many cards. **"You shall join us first."**

"Jason." Sarah spoke up, while Jason was too shocked to even think what to say. "You have to go. You have to warn everyone." He snapped out of his daze. "What? Are you serious? That thing will murder you." He really did not like her chances. Rather; he did not like anyone's chances. "That is why you should go. Tell Macbeth, Nathan, start a plan together. Maybe you can even overwhelm him with all the volunteers and duelists you have there. We can't both leave because it would just follow us straight away." She activated her dueldisk. "But.. you know what it will do to you!" He yelled. "I know. And believe me, I have never been more scared." She said as Jason noticed her trembling hands. 'But.. it is at least nice to know you have changed.. a little." He also noticed her smile. "The Jason most people know would just have run away without hesitation." He flinched. "I.." And he was again at a loss for words. "Thank you." Was what he came up with, before he used his ability to warp out of the temple. "You're welcome." She looked back at the enemy. "I am ready." She drew her cards. **"As are we, we are."** The machine took two cards from the lifeless cardinals hands. The two continued the duel where he left off. _"Take care, everyone."_

Finity's LP: 78000 Sarahs LP: 8000

...

"Gah!" Jason surprised everyone with his sudden re-emergence in the lobby of R-tech. "Jason?" Nathan and Ian were there. "What happened? Things were all crazy down here. We figured you had something to do with it!" Jason blinked and spotted the bodies that were all over the building. "First they lost their Granel meklords, then they regained them, and then their lifepoints dropped drastically!" At a certain points it became quite easy to dispatch all the reapers. "Then, their lifepoints did not go up again?" Jasons fear that Lord Finity would boost all of its reaper agents as well appeared unfounded. "Go up? What did happen? And where.." Only now did it come to Nathans attention that two people were missing. "Things have gotten worse. Much _much_ worse." Jason looked up in the sky, expecting the enemy at any moment. "Gaunt could not defeat the cardinal. But he did drive him to a desperate tactic, they are running on their last lifeforce now. The problem is, I do not know if we can overcome that. With what we have left.."

As he said that, Nathan and Ian shared a look. "What?" Jason did not like that expression either. "Actually. We discovered something bad too. And if sir Gaunt has fallen, it is going to hit us hard... Jason, you should take a look at your deck." Jason did so, and came to a shock. "What is this?" Most, if not all, of his Vylon cards were blanked out. "That is." He also looked at the cards left in Gaunts dueldisk, which he still held, and most of those were gone too. "Yes. The Vylon archetype was one developed by Gaunt, along with the Steelswarms, Gishkis, Gemknights and such. It appears whenever a duelist loses their life to the Infinati, or when a Reaper loses, the cards he created consciously and subconsciously are taken as well." Jason noticed only a few cards remained of his one deck. "But." Yet all of his Morphtronic cards were still there. "Oh. We managed to guard some R-tech designers, the ones who create the fluff or throwaway archetypes to pad out a set, and we still have a hundred people left in the tower."

Ten minutes later, Macbeth got a call through his dueldisk. "What is it?" He had been out on patrol to locate the masked agents again. He found one, but he had already fainted for unknown reasons.. "What?" He found the masked agent in the local school. "Yes. I will be back as soon as possible!" Yet those concerns did not seem as important anymore. "Everyone!" He shouted to three volunteers he had taken along with him. "We need to go back, now!" And though they did not understand why he was panicking, they knew it had to be something severe to rattle him like that. "How much time do we have?" He asked to the ones on the other end of the line. "I see." But they did not know, it all depended on how much time the duelist up there had bought them. "Sarah." Macbeth had enough information now to realize things did not look good for her. "Aaaaah!" Just then a loud piercing noise came from their dueldisks. "What the hell?" It was a loud shrill that cracked the windows all around them. "The dueling network.. is picking up activity?"

What happened next could be witnessed by all living duelists in capitol city. From the nothingness of air, 'it' arrived. "Is that him?" Ian, Nathan and Jason raced to the window and the machine lord warp itself there in the sky, where it hovered above the buildings. "Yes. But.. it's been only minutes." He knew Sarah could lose, but that fast? "Look!" Besides Lord Finity itself, Meklord Granel appeared. This model dwarfed all the other ones they had seen so far. "It must have used Gaunts knowledge to find a way to remove the virus. It can freely travel along the network. There is no place where we can hide from it!"

Back at the school, the duelists watched the bronze tank hover above them. It was moving away from them. "Nathan? Can you still hear me? It must be coming for you first!" Macbeth frantically tried to warn the other Ace. "Gah. No use. That thing fried the communication link-up." He could not get through to him. "Curse it. We will never be able to catch up with them in time." They could only observe from a distance, as Granel and its new master moved towards R-Tech HQ.

"It is coming from above!" Nathan noticed the two machines were floating at a height that was shared with the top floor. "We have to meet the enemy there!" He rushed off. "Damn it. There was not enough time." Jason cursed as he and Ian followed. "Do not worry. I came up with a few more strategies to take down opponents like him. Jason you should go to the holding room and hold the line there, to defend the citizens in case we fail. We will try to keep in touch!" Ian ran ahead of him, leaving the other behind. "Why do people always ask me to stay behind?" It was almost like they expected him to be too affraid to face this enemy. "Damn!" He hit the wall, as he caught his own hand shaking. _"It can not end like this. Lifestream dragon, my powers, what was it all for if this just comes along and tears it all away?" _

The Ace of Hearts and Darkend ended up on the roof of the skyscraper. "So. You have come for us." Nathan and Ian stood before enemy, he was already there. **"All should be one." **The meklord repeated. "Yeah, we guessed as much. But you will find we do not go down without a fight." The two activated their dueldisks. **"It is pointless to fight, against this."** A glass plate on the machine's shoulder plate slid open, revealing a number. "That many?" It was the number of lifepoints it had remaining; 111400. "Jason said he stood at 78000. How did things get worse? Did it eat more Infinati members before it came here?" That seemed likely, considering the unconscious agent Macbeth found. "Well, she must have done some damage, considering the odd numbers here. We can not let efforts go to waste. It is time to make a difference too. I shall go first, Ashworth. My deck is probably better suited to combat this threat." He drew six cards. "Okay. But stay on your guard." Nate took a step back. **"One more shall fall."** Lord Finity had a pair of cards in its hands as well. **"One-two cards shall be placed down, end that ends the turn."**

Finity's LP: 111400 Ians LP: 8000

_"He always takes the first turn huh. Just like his reapers."_ That was a pain, Nathan thought. But at least Ian could get the first attack in. "Here goes nothing! I activate Foolish Burial and discard Twilight Rose Knight from my deck to the grave!" He sent away a level 3 dark warrior tuner. "Then I summon Dark Bug! Its effect revives any level 3 tuner in my graveyard!" The block-bodied insect(100/100) brought out the Knight of the Twilight Rose(1000/1000). "Synchro summon! A dark tuner and an insect type, together they shall form The Dark Diviner." A dark sorcerer(2000/1000) wearing a black cloak and red hood was what Ian called out. "His effect activates when he attacks!" The Dark Diviner gathered energy in its staff. "His attackpower become the same as its attack target!" Meklord Granel(59200/55700) soon had an equal in the jetblack diviner(59200/1000). **"Dangerous..."** Said the echoes coming from Lord Finity. "Indeed... When Diviner attacks, he can not be destroyed as a result of battle! And he strikes now!"

**"But...Yet..However.. Intercept Wave."** Yet in the middle of its charge, Finity revealed a quickplay spell it had set. "!" A radio wave emitter was attached to Granels body, and it emitted scrambling noises. "Synchro monsters shall be switched to defense, and returned to the extra deck." The Dark Diviner dismissed his black magic and crouched to the floor. "Uh Oh." There went that plan. "Ergh. I shall set two cards down." He still had some traps left at least to defend himself with. **"Useless.. Pointless.. It will not work."** But as he declared the end of his turn, the enemy declared the activation of their other set card. "Royal Decree?" All trap card activations became invalid. "Ian!" Nathan gasped. "I am sorry, Ashworth. I think I only ended up making things.." And then Ian was attacked directly in mid-sentence, he was not even given the time to apologize. "No!" Nate saw Ian get hit with enough power to defeat a seven duelists at once, and of course he too fell. **"The next target, The Ace of Hearts."** Finity did not even care about Ian anymore.

Ians LP: 0 Nathans LP: 8000

"You want me huh? Well here I am." Nathan drew six cards. "But this time the first turn is mine!" He placed two cards down and summoned two monsters. "I discard a card from my hand to summon Quickdraw Synchron. Then I normal summon Big One Warrior and combine the two!" The level 5 gunslinger tuner(700/1500) and level 1 warrior(100/600) joined up to form the Drill Warrior(2400/2000). "I halve its attack to let it hit you directly!" Drill Warrior(1200/2000) launched its drill right at the enemy, disregarding the enormous machine that was with it on the field. "Then I discard the last card in my hand, to banish my warrior until my next turn. And then I end my turn!" Drill Warrior removed itself from the field. **"Nathan. Shall be with us." **Finity added another card into its card canister. **"Direct attack. Attack Nathan."** And the cannon fired off its energy. "Nice try! I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Royal Decree card!" A cyclone took out the trap negating trap. "Then with my traps freed, I activate this trap: "Defense Draw!" The trap was one all Aces liked to use, it negated the damage he would take and let him draw a new card from his deck. **"Defense.. Dr**aw?" And seeing that trap used, its voice pattern changed. "Huh?"

Finity's LP: 110200

For a slight second, Finity spoke with one tone. "Kein?" One that weirded Nathan out a lot. **"One more turn, til you join us."** But that moment was short-lived, it went to its normal tone and placed one card down. "Do not know what happened there. But It is time to put a dent into your plans." Drill Warrior(2400/2000) returned to the field during his standby phase, and this activated its secondary ability. "I can now add a monster In my graveyard back to my hand!" He took back Quickdraw Synchron. "Then I discard a card from my hand to special summon it!" Once again the gunslinging tuner(700/1400) showed up on the field. "And then I normal summon Keyman, the Key Warrior, and make its level higher by one, using its effect!" Keyman the Key Warrior went from level 2 to 3. "I may not have all my synchros left, but the Junk and Drill series. They remain untouched. So.." He let Quickdraw assume the name of Junk Synchron for this process. "I summon Junk Destroyer" So he called out the four-armed destroyer(2600/2500) of cards. "He destroys a card for every non-tuner synchro material monster I used." He used only one, but that was all he needed. "Attack!" The Junk Destroyer fired off a killing energy blow with its hands.** "No. Not even that. Trap card: Infinity Wall" **

The energy never reached Granel...

_Infinity Wall, Normal Trap  
><em>_Activate only if you control a face-up "Meklord" monster. Negate card effects that would destroy cards you control during this turn._

_"Almighty.. this things luck is something else."_ Even just one draw let it outclass Nathans entire strategy, the Wall shut the Destroyer down. "This is all I can do huh.." He let Drill Warrior fire another direct attack at Lord Infinity, it was about all he could do with his empty hand and useless synchro summons. He could not even banish Drill Warrior from the field this turn. **"No re**gret, no shame." Then Lord Finity took its turn, and once again sounded like Kein Schiver. "All are here." It absorbed Junk Destroyer, but left Drill Warrior alive for the attack. "Waiting for **you."** And Nathan winced mentally, before Granel(60600/54500)'s attack on Drill Warrior ended his resistance physically. _"Drat."_

Finity's LP: 109000

"Nathan? Other guy..do you hear me?" Jason stopped running for a moment, not just to catch his breath but also to get more information about the heavy blasts he heard up there. "Macbeth? Are you there?" He could not find anyone on the network. _"Do not tell me. I can not be the only left, can I?"_ Just then every inch of the tower rumbled. "What?" Jason looked up through a window and saw.. "No.." The building itself, was starting to come apart.

(To be Continued in Mark 147: Fall out Future)

**Cards used by Finity  
><strong>Meklord Emperor Granel

-  
>Intercept Wave<p>

-  
>Royal Decree<br>_Infinity Wall(+)_

_(+) Based on the trap used by Jose in YGO 5Ds_

**New Cards used by Ian Darkend  
><strong>Dark Bug  
>Twilight Rose Knight<br>Dark Diviner

-  
>Foolish Burial<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth  
><strong>Keyman the Key Warrior

-  
>Defense Draw<p> 


	147. 147: Fall out Future

**Mark 147: Fall Out Future**

"It's gotten quiet up there. Maybe they defeated it?" Back in the conference room, the survivors were waiting patiently for the worst to be over again. "No. This feels different." But Dean did not believe this was an ordinary Reaper attack. "I mean you did see that thing, right?" He referred to the silver machine that came with this Granel. "As far as I know, no reaper can do that." Teleporting sure, but flying is right out." The other people eyed him cautiously. "How come you know so much about this? You do not work here." One citizen pointed out. He expected those words from the lone security guard or scientist. "And why are you in cuffs?" Ever since all had been rounded up to share the same room, things had gotten uncomfortable for the ex-reaper. "Look. That does not matter now." The guard tried to calm down the crowd. "He is not an enemy, we should.." At that point everyone felt the same shockwave that Jason experienced earlier. "What now?" The people started to panic again. "That.. power." Dean could feel the energy, closing in.

"We need to get out of here!" Jason rushed into the room. "Huh? What do you mean?" His frantic warning did not help the freaked out mob much. "This place is coming apart one floor at a time, we are not safe here!" The guard cringed. "Coming apart? Is that thing destroying the building? What are the Aces doing about it?" Jason shook his head. "It was on the roof a minute ago. If it is moving now that means Nathan and that other kid are already gone. And.." He looked up. "It is not so much destruction, as it is.. defragmentation." He knew what was coming. "Damn. I was too late after all." Everyone else saw it too now, the ceiling was changing. "What is happening?" Part above them corroded away. Stone and metal was reduced to black dust, the dust shattered into microscopic particles and those particles became one with nothingness. "Eeeaaahhhh!" There was nothing left to stand between the last few humans on earth, and their exterminator. Lord Finity and Meklord Granel hovered in the sky. All floors above them had been erased.

**"The last of mankind. Come on and join the others."** It spoke with its mass of voices. "The last? Are we all that is left?" Dean never imagined it was this bad. "It is true. I saw as much back at their temple." Jasons hand trembled. "But the bodies, Nate and.. what did you do to them?" The Guard shouted. **"Analyzed, decomposed, stored. When the new world is created, their molecular structure will be rebuilt to suit the timeframe." **'They' spoke in uncaring detail. "I have heard enough. Run!" And by now the duelists did not need to tell everyone, the people were fleeing for their lives. "Then it is just me after all." Jason did not know where Macbeth was, but he would not get here in time. "Damn it. I can duel too! I know how a Meklord works, you need my help!" Dean, as frightened as he was right now, knew they were better off using as many duelists as possible. "Can't you still turn on us and side with that thing again?" The guard still did not trust this. "I doubt it. Lord Finity here has absorbed every Infinati it came across already. The only one on_ its _side, is it itself." Jason rasped. "But you can not duel, your cards are almost all gone." The guard retorted. The fact was that Deans Karakuri deck was another series that disappeared along with the minds that created cards. "Then I will just use another deck!" Dean fumed. **It does not matter, all shall come."** Lord Finity meanwhile seemed to run out of its patience. "No. I will duel it." The guard took a dueldisk that was lying around. "You?"

"You said you only played it once or twice, and that was ages ago!" Dean protested. "Than you can help me with that. If you still wish too do so. Sir Ian has already given me some pointers on what cards would work well against this Meklord." He had a stack of cards already. "Let me guess, you want me to go after the people and make sure they are safe." He was used to hearing that request by now. "Please." Was all he had to say then. "I shall see to it..ehrm..." He replied, realizing at that point he did not even know the guy's name. "It's Preston." The guard answered. "Okay..." Jason did not think much of their chances either, but he left without mentioning that. "Then we begin." The guard drew his cards. "Finity!"

Finity's LP: 109000 Prestons LP: 8000

"Holy hell. It is still that high?" Dean was shocked to see how little Nathan and Ian had managed to chip away. "We shall not sully their efforts. But I believe my deck can cripple this kind of opposition quite easily." As usual the enemy took the first turn. It had Meklord Granel(60600/54500) on its field, Gift of the Weak activated and two cards in its hand. **"We know all cards that remain, that are left. The remnants.. Nothing can stop us now."** It placed both those cards down and ended its turn. "Is that so?" He played a spell card. "System Down! I shall banish all machines on the field and in your graveyard!" A high dosage of short circuiting electricity was sent towards the machine emperor Granel Infinity. **"The spell of malfunctioning hardware, the nightmare of the devoted electronic slaves. It is.. futile, pointless." **Sadly it could undo the effects of this spell with its counter trap card, Dark Bribe. "But that's.." Preston recognized it as a card Urizen often liked to use. **"Of course, Artani is here too."**

Dark Bribe prevented the use of any spell or trap, like System Down. But they could draw a new card in exchange for their loss. "Shoot. I set three cards down and one monster." But he still had other plans. "What are you up too?" Plans which intrigued Dean. "If he can not counter this, it will be quite nice. Because I activate, the trap Life Equalizer!" His next trap was a doozy. "When the difference between two players' lifepoints is higher than 8000, they both end up with just 3000 lifepoints!" The actual difference was a dozen times more than the required amount, so the conditions were very much correct. **"The dream to be equal with the strong, to close the distance between the nothingness and the infinite. Hopeless." **But this card too was blocked, by the counter trap: Seven Tools of the Bandit. At the cost of 1000 lifepoints it could dismantle any trap. "That things got life to burn." Dean cursed, as that payment might as well have been a pinprick. "This thing predicted both my cards? Before I even set them?"

Finity's LP: 108000

**"You try, but you fail.** Because you want to fail." And then unexpectedly, it spoke with one voice.. "Sir?" And Preston recognized it instantly, that same tone his boss always used. "You want to be one with us. You shall admit this." Lord Finity summoned Machina Peacekeeper(500/400) and equipped it to Meklord Granel(60100/54000). "I want to see the others again. That much is true. But I do not want it to be like that!" He yelled at the machine lord, as it entered the battle phase. "You know you can not resist." Granels cannon destroyed the facedown monster. "I know what is right and what is wrong, and this is wrong!" The facedown monster turned out to be a Magnetic Mosquito(300/1000), whose flip effect was triggered. "Mosquito destroys a machine monster you control!" The metal bug flew up and readied its needle. "Wait!" But Dean knew what Finity would do. "His Union monster negates the destruction of the monster it is equipped to!" Machina Peacekeeper took the mosquito sting for Granel, and was destroyed. "What? Damn it!" Then due to Gift of the Weak, Finity could draw two cards. And Machina Peacekeepers own effect added another Peacekeeper to its hand. "You can not resist, even we **could not. Not even the signers.." **

**"Red Nova Dragon."** Just then Granels core opening widened and a monster was summoned from it. **"Once, the emperor Granel shall summon one monster it has equipped to itself, to the field in defense mode."** The Red Nova(3500/3000) that had been absorbed during Gaunts duel, was now flying in front of Meklord Granel(56600/54000). "He took Urizens ace monster too?" Neither duelists expected this. "We end our turn." This complicated matters. "Maybe I can use this?" The guard, starting to worry, showed his drawn card to Dean. "Electric Virus?" It was a monster that took control of machines. "Kgh. That effect lasts just one turn. And Red Nova can negate an attack once per turn it seems." Dean saw the text on the Nova dragons card, that thing was a pain even without tuners in Finity's cemetery. "But that thing has another synchro monster equipped to it, cant we at least free that one?" The Guard saw Nathans last card, Junk Destroyer, helplessly stuck to Granels core. "No. He will just reabsorb it.. We might get a free attack out of it, but we risk two direct attacks in turn." He sighed. "Set it down." Was his suggestion to Preston. "If you say so." Electric Virus was placed down. "End turn." But the guard was not so sure about this.

**"We shall summon Machina Peacekeeper, and Junk Destroyer."** The second Peacekeeper union monster appeared from Finity's 'hand' and was equipped to Granel. While Junk destroyer(2600/2500) came from Granel(54000/54000)'s core as well. **"Then, to offense. Our dragon shall be in attack position."** The Scar-red dragon got out of its defensive stance**. "Red Nova attacks the first, destroys the set, kills the facedown." **Urizens synchro dragon burned the Electric Virus to a crisp with its fiery breath. **"Then the direct attack comes, and so will the end."** Granel targeted Preston directly, and sent the blast away. "Now what?" He cried out. "Use that trap!" Dean pointed at one of the facedown cards. "Okay, I activate Dimension Wall!" But the energy slipped into a dimensional tear. **"Dimensional Wall? All battle damage is reflected?" **And before Finity could spin around, the energy re-appeared behind it and struck it in the back. "Oh! I did not think it would return lethal damage as well!" The guard exclaimed. "Ian made a nice choice with this card." Just like that they had halved the lifepoints of their enemy. And Granel(27000/27000) was severely weakened as well. "Guess even with all of your calculations, you can not compensate for the amount of effects we throw at ya!" Dean chuckled.

Finity's LP: 54000

**"We set two cards and end our turn."** But the Meklord did not let that get to him apparently. "Hmph. A thousand voices, and not one of them is upset." Dean grumbled, while Preston drew another card. **"Why should we** be upset?" When once again one of the thousand spoke out over the others. "..Siren?" It was the psychic student who talked now. "This is what you wanted to do to us, to all of us. We understand now, it was a good thing. What lithium and the others have done, it is a good thing." Both duelists could not believe their ears and were speechless. "Ada is with us too, she does not fear or hate you here. All are at peace.. inside us." While this did weird him out, Dean managed to snap himself out of it. "No! This is not you!" He pointed at Lord Finity. "I know enough about you, about what we reapers did. We control knowledge and memories, but nothing more! What you have.. what you are.. is nothing more than an accumulation of data! You may know who everyone speaks and talks, but you are _not _them!"

"He is right!" Preston activated Jar of Greed, which let him draw one more card. "You are nothing like sir Gaunt!" He then played a spell card, Acid Rain. "So get out of our sight!" The spell created a storm of acidic rain that would destroy all machine type monsters. "Machine Peacekeeper." But of course, this Union machine sacrificed itself as well, to keep Granel intact. "It is a **pity then. When you were not 'Dean', you would have understood us." **It said. Yet Preston followed up on the first spell with another. "Dark Hole! I destroy all monsters on the field!" Because the first spell was merely an appetizer. **"The darkness of oblivion?"** A Black hole showed up in the sky, and sucked in both Meklord Granel and Junk Destroyer. Red Nova Dragon remained safe as it was immune to destruction effects. "We are beyond that, we are eternal." But soon the black hole was torn to shreds, and Granel(25300/25300) showed itself once more. "What? How?" Preston knew Granel could not have survived that. "He summoned another from his hand!" But Dean knew new Meklords could be summoned, if a monster was destroyed by a card effect. The Emperor had been in Finity's reach for the last 2 turns. "Oh no." They were running out of options. "Looks like there is only two ways for this to end now. Set them both down.."

They placed a monster, Spirit Reaper, and a trap down. "But if it comes to it. I am sorry to ask this of you, but.." Dean knew which trap was placed. "No. This card was my idea, not Ians. I prepared myself to defeat the enemy." They hoped the former would buy them some time, but the latter would settle this for certain. **"It will not end this way, no matter the cost. Mystical Space Typhoon.****" **Unfortunately they played a quickplay spell before the turn was up and destrooyed their trap. "No!" The trap was Self-destruct Button. Ssince the difference between their lifepoints are higher then 7000, both their would have become 0. But even a suicidal hope was taken away. "Machine Peacekeeper." Meanwhile two cards were equipped to the new Granel Infinity, the first was the final copy of the Machina Union monster. "Opti-Camouflage Armor." But the second was the direct-attack enabler spell. "There goes option one." And with that, the Spirit Reaper was as good as useless to them. And then a direct attack from Granel(27000/27000), and Prestons life was wiped out. "...How.." And Dean could do nothing to save him. **"And you shall understand again." **Finity unceremoniously took Prestons life, and then turned on Dean. "Ah!"

Prestons LP: 0

"Damn it. Everyone wait. He will just pick you off one at a time if you run like.." Jason ran out of R-tech, as the people scattered in every direction. "..that." And as soon as he left the tower, its corrosion continued at an accelerated pace. "Oh come on.." R-Tech HQ evaporated like water in the air, nothing remained of Gaunts precious bastion. **"None can resist anymore. There are not enough cards left in this world." **Finity calmly floated down from where the tenth floor used to be, along with Meklord Emperor Granel and Red Nova Dragon. "Tch. I think you have a few chips loose, to make that kind of miscalculation." Jason took a deck of cards out. "I still have 40 cards."

"I should have done this to begin with. I will be the one to shut you down, Finity!"

(To be Continued in Mark 148: Then There was One..)

**New Cards used by Finity  
><strong>Machina Peacekeeper  
>Red Nova Dragon<br>Junk Destroyer

-  
>Mystical Space Typhoon<p>

-  
>Dark Bribe<br>Seven Tools of the Bandit

**New Cards used by Dean/Preston  
><strong>Magnetic Mosquito  
>Electric Virus<br>Spirit Reaper

-  
>System Down<br>Acid Rain  
>Dark Hole<p>

-  
>Life Equalizer<br>Dimension Wall  
>Jar of Greed<br>Selfdestruct Button


	148. 148: And then There was One

**Mark 148: And then There was One**

"What happened? Where did the building go?" Macbeth stood there slack jawed by the sight on the horizon of capitol city. First the top half of R-tech tower just disintegrated, then the rest followed not ten minutes later. "Screw this. We can not defeat a thing like that!" The volunteers that were with the Ace quickly discarded their dueldisks and started running. "Wait, we can still win if we stand together!" Macbeth called out after them. "Forget it Ace! All we have left is crap! Nobody in their right mind would duel at a time like this!" They replied quickly before they scurried off to hide somewhere in the city. "Damn it." Macbeth however knew where he had to go..

..

Finity's LP: 54000 Jasons LP: 8000

"It appears you took quite a hit on the way down, oh lord." Jason faced the master of all machines, and the mightiest Meklord Granel(27000/27000). But both their power and lifeforce had been cut by half since the last time he saw it. **"More than enough, sufficient to destroy you at once, to make you join us."** But Lord Finity also still had controlled Red Nova Dragon(3500/3000), and the OptiCamouflage equip spell card. No matter what Jason would defend himself with, he'd lose in one attack if he did not get rid of that spell first. Then there were the two cards in its hand two cards down on the field to worry about. "Even if I was the last man on earth, I would not join you. There is nothing there for me." He summoned Morphtronic Celfon(100/0) to the field. "Go!" He let it roll a dice and the result was three. _"Could be worse."_ He picked up three cards, one of which was a Morphtronic. "I send the other two cards back to my deck and special summon Morphtronic Magnen in defense position!" The cellphone called out the magnet(800/800). "I also set two traps down and end my turn!"

**"The choice is not up to you. Direct attack." **Granel was about to cloak itself and fire a shot straight at Jason. "I disagree! Collected Power!" But Jason flipped his first trap. "I switch all equipment cards on the field to a monster I control! And I select Magnen!" Before the cannon could fire, Granels Camouflage armor was stripped away. The Union monster Machina Peacekeeper was also collected, and placed on to Magnen instead. "As Magnen is not a level 1 monster, the Opti-spell does not work on it. But you can not keep it either!" The armor destroyed itself. **"Then if the direct approach can not succeed." **Granel aimed at Celfon instead. "Tsk tsk. Did you forget about Magnens effect?" But the weapon was magnetically drawn towards Magnen instead. "In defense mode it has to take all attacks." Granel Infinity fired away. "And thanks to your Peacekeeper, It will not die!" Even a stolen Machina Peacekeeper had to take the blow for its wielder, though the noise of the blast shattered all windows around them. **"Red Nova."** But the dragon could also get a hit in. "Morphtransition!" Until Jason revealed his second trap card. "I negate your attack and switch the position of Magnen!" Red Nova's flames were doused and the Magnet morphed into its humanoid form.

"Impressed yet?" Asked a smug Jason. **"We end our turn."** But as per usual, the many voices of Finity displayed no emotional reaction. "Tch. You really are as dead as they come. It's what I should expect from pure data." Jason drew a spell from his deck and smirked. "Hidden Armory!" Jason discarded the top card from his deck, Morphtronic Remoten, to add an equip spell to his hand. "I take out Double Tool C&D. This spell I can equip to a morphtronic and when it attacks your monsters effects will be negated!" With this even Celfon could kill the Mighty Granel who gained its attack points from its own effect. "Pole Position." Except the enemy took that into account as well. "What?" A permanent trap was played which made the strongest monster on the field immune to all spells. "Gah." Jason looked at his hand, and realized he had nothing to get rid of that trap. His plan was shot to pieces. _"At least he did not use that trap while I was attacking. Of course by that time Granel wouldnt be the strongest monster anymore."_

"Celfon!" So he again had to rely on the mobile phone's ability. "Six!" And that reliance paid off, as he got the highest possible dice roll. "I special summon Morphtronic Magnen!" And in those six cards were many more morphers, but he only wanted one. "In defense mode. And I also switch the other Magnen to defense mode." Both Magnets activated their defensive abilities to draw in attacks. **"A feedback cycle. Attacks are disallowed."** Unless there was a way to divide attacks, any attacker would be unable to decide a target. **"We shall set one card down." **Besides the one set trap they already had on the field, two more cards were set. **"End turn."** But that was as much as they could do with the field set up like this. _"...I could stall. But." _Jason had a very bad feeling about this. Even if this thing did not emote well, he could sense an aura confidence that dripped off of it. _"I have to get rid of Granel, while I can."_ He summoned the level 3 tuner Vylon Stella(1400/200) to his field. There were only so few Vylon cards left for him to use. "Celfon!" One more time he would use his monsters effect. "Go!" He tossed a die..and it landed on a 1. "!" It was like he was paying for his stroke of luck in the last turn. _"Come on." _

"...I summon Morphtronic Videon!" But his fortune spell had not run dry yet. He could special summon the level 4 camcorder morpher(1000/1000). "Synchro summon!" And he could bring out his last Vylon synchro monster. "Vylon Epsilon!" The level 8 white angel(2800/1000) was summoned by using the level 1 Celfon as a synchro material, along with Videon and Vylon Stella. "I shall pay 500 lifepoints to equip Stella to Epsilon!" The Vylon tuner could fasten itself to Epsilon thanks to its own power. "And I have seen Urizens dragon in action twice now. I know it can negate my attacks. But I am not attacking." Vylon Stella did kill any monster its wielder did battle with, but that was not the effect Jason paid for. "Epsilon sends an equip card to the grave, to destroy a monster!" Stella was unequipped, so Epsilon could vanquish the Emperor. **"Negative. No.."** But the golden rays it released bounced off of Granel. **"Land of Demise, you special summoned a monster, so we played a field spell." **When Epsilon had been summoned, they had activated the quick-play spell Land of Demise to place Meklord Fortress on the field. "Damn!" The Fortress forbade a synchro monster from using its effects on a Meklord, so Epsilon had to target someone else. "And Red Nova can not be destroyed either." So he had nothing to target. "Ugh. I set two cards down and end my turn."

Jasons LP: 7500

**"Synchro Killer."** Of course Epsilon was immediately absorbed by Granel(29800/27000). **"Synchro summoner."** But it quickly released the synchro monster and resummoned it to Finity's side of the field in defense mode. **"You are out of time, Jason Castle. Just like your cards."** It equipped Epsilon with a spell of its own; Break Draw. **"We know all possible strategies, you can not escape."** Now it used Jasons own effects against him, as Epsilon sacrificed the spell just to destroy one of the Magnens. **"Wisel One.." ** Then the Meklord Army of Wisel(1900/0) was normal summoned. **"Piercing, trampling."** And it gave Granel Infinity(27000/27000) the ability to pierce through defense. "Tch." And then the battle phase started. Meklord Granel fired first, shooting at the Morphtronic that remained. "Zero Gravity!" Jason reacted quickly, using his third trap of the duel. "All monsters are switched to defense position!" Granels attack fizzled out.

**"You will become part of finity, order."** But then the Lord of Lords flipped the second trap. **"Chaos Infinity; all monsters on the field are switched to attack position." **Jason gasped as his magnet demorphed, and the stolen Epsilon was ready to attack as well now. **"And a Meklord machine is summoned from the deck."** A Meklord Army of Skiel(1600/1200) emerged from its deck, though its effect was negated. **"This is the card that represents the madness of the limitlessness. Infinity, can not be allowed to exist. All shall adhere to the borders set out by this world."** Luckily Granel Infinity had already lost its chance to attack when it was switched to defense position. But four more monsters could strike now. "Red Nova." First was the fiery dragon, who released a meteor blast that reduced Magnen and its surroundings into a smouldering crater. "And now a triple direct attack, right? Wrong!" Vylon Epsilon struck second. "Morphtronic Scramble! I negate your attack and summon a Morphtronic from my hand!"

Jasons LP: 4800

Epsilon could not touch its former master, as a summoned defending stapler(1400/1000) reflected its rays. "I summon Morphtronic Staplen from my hand." Two attacks were still to come. **"Granel One." **Soldier Granel peppered Staplen with bullet shots. "Ha. This Morphtronic can not be destroyed as a result of battle, when it is in defense mode." The bullets bounced off of it. "And when it is attacked, it will switch one monster to defense mode and itself to attack position." Staplen transformed into its robotic form, and Jason chose to switch the last attacker, Meklord Army of Wisel, to defense mode. "I will keep resisting as long as I can!"

**"Many of us have said the same thing. It does not make the difference."** Finity ended its turn once more, Chaos Infinity destroyed Meklord Army of Granel during this time. "Well, you yourself must have seen I am some kind of miracle." Jason drew again. "I defeated Lincoln with the help of a synchro, and I will do the same to you!" He activated Junk Box, a spell that revived a Morphtronic. "Remoten!" He brought back the ipod former and level 3 tuner, Remoten(300/1400). "Remoten banishes Morphtronic from my graveyard, so I can add a Morphtronic of equal level to my deck." Videon was removed in exchange for a level 4 Boomboxen. "I normal summon Boomboxen, and I shall these two to bring out Power Tool Dragon!" The boombox(1200/400) and remote became the level 7 mechanical dragon(2300/2500). "I pick three equip cards from my deck." With how the dueling scene was now, he did not have many good equips left. **"Break Draw, Megamorph, Double Tool C&D. We choose the first." **But enough to get some mileage out of Power Tools equip adding ability. "Good. I shall equip it to my Dragon."

"And then I will attack Meklord Army of Wisel!" He could not afford to let a pierce-enabler stay on the field, so he took care of that one first. "I can draw a card now!" And Break Draw let him draw once more. "I set this one down. I also switch Morphtronic Staplen back to defense." He did not want to attack The Skiel soldier, as its effect would be unsealed once it hit the cemetery. And then it could summon another Wisel soldier from Finity's deck. **"What **is the use?" But as Finity started its turn again, one Infinati's voice became more audible. "Lincoln?" Jason did not expect that. "You barely defeated me, what makes you so sure you can withstand the might of all of us? You are just one man. You are not even the strongest in your family." And strangely, yet upsettingly, a laugh came from that voice. "Haha. We already killed your sister, let your father kill yourself." Jason started to tremble again. "Shut up. You are not really there." He knew this was not Lincoln speaking, this was just Finity saying what Lincoln would say in this position. "We are more real than her at least! Ahahaha." Yet it got to him. "Shut up!" And every time he shouted, they just laughed louder. Yes, they. Almost all the voices inside Finity joined Lincoln in his laughter. "SHUT UP!"

He activated the trap card Safe Zone. "You will not fool me!" While it 'laughed', it had tried to use Granel Infinity's effect on Powertool Dragon. "Safe Zone, this trap saves my dragon from destruction in battle and targeted effects!" Power Tool Dragon hid safely inside a spherical barrier, The Meklord Emperors tendrils could not break through it. "I just drew this trap, the one thing that can stop your monsters effect. How do you explain that? Was it luck, coincidence, fate?" Finity silenced itself. "You can't can you? Whatever gave my Lifestream Dragon also wants you to lose." He smirked. "Nonsense, **foolishness, nothing more than false hopes."** Instead Finity turned to the battle phase. "Epsilon." Vylon Epsilon struck first. **"A monster equipped with Double Tool C&D, must receive all attacks during the enemy's battle phase."** Golden energy rained down on Morphtronic Staplen, filling the pavement with holes. **"It is not destroyed, and switches to attack position."** Staplen unmorphed. "But I switch your Emperors position too!" Granel Infinity turned to defense mode. **"Red Nova."** The red dragon burned through Staplen, blasting it into the distance.

Jasons LP: 2700

"Ugh. The monster that destroyed an attack-position Staplen loses attackpoints!" 300 attackpoints were taken from Red Nova (3200/3000). "Now, at the end of each battle, monsters that attacked the holder of the Double Tool are destroyed." During the clashes, Staplens tool had left parts of itself behind in Vylon Epsilons and Red Nova Dragons bodies. Though only Vylon Epsilon died from those inflictions, as Red Nova was still immune to destructive card effects. "Record this data, Finity. By the end of this duel, you will have seen a dozen more miracles. That is the strength of the cards I use, and the strength of mankind."

**"But.."** Finity ended its turn at this point. **"Mankind is weak.. and rotten."** But what it said, caught Jason off guard. "What..did you say?" Those words were familiar, too familiar to him. **"And Jason is weak too. Jason could never win." **His eyes widened even more. "No. You can not talk like that, you can not!" It was not possible. Those words were the same as his fathers and sisters. "They are not part of you!" He did not understand what was going on, was it still toying with him? "You are not my family!" He yelled. **"But we are everyone's family here. We know enough, we have enough. Part of the Chaos Architect, of Callisto, is with us." **So they said, though he heard nothing of her own voice yet. "No. You killed her, do not play games with me Finity! Why don't you come out and talk for yourself! Or are you just nothing more than a machine?" He was through talking to dead people, he wanted the guy in control. **"There is no one voice We are Finity, you are Finity.. the world is Finity."**

**"And so the world shall remain.."**

(To be Continued in Mark 149: Too Far from too Close)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Morphtronic Staplen<p>

-  
>Safe Zone<p>

**New Cards used by Finity**  
>Meklord Army of Wisel<br>Meklord Army of Skiel

-  
>Land of Demise<br>Meklord Fortress  
>Break Draw<p>

-  
>Pole Position<br>Chaos Infinity


	149. 149: Too Far from Too Close

**Mark 149: Too Far from too Close**

"So this is the core. But.." Ada and Xavier reached the center of their current universe. "It is just like before, sorta." The surface of Finity's true form was covered with pods, and inside those pods were the remnants of all the people in the world. Their eyes wide open, yet all in a deep coma "How do we get them out?" Xavier tapped the glass of a random persons pod. "Is that even glass you are touching?" Ada knew nothing in this place was what it seemed. "Don't know." Xavier tried to hit it harder. "It feels like glass, but very strong glass... Maybe if we shout hard enough, they will wake up?" Though even if that were the case, he did not know with who to begin. "But wait. Everyone is in here except for me, because you helped me. But..who helped that fragment of Callisto?" Xavier shrugged. "Maybe it is because she was like me, stuck in a card. Ma..aaah!" And in the middle of his speculating, some one gave him quite a startle. "What is there to scream.. Aaah!" She turned around and saw her too. "How long has she been standing there?" It was Callisto, the younger Callisto she saw earlier. "Better yet, how did she get here?" last time they saw her, she was as immobile as a statue. "..." But now she was here.. and her mouth moved..

Finity's LP: 54000 Jasons LP: 2700

"You are the world you say? Next thing you're going to tell me you are the future as well." Jason did not like or get what Finity was saying now. His sister was part of him too? "You can not bring back the dead, you are no god." It was his turn again. "But then again, neither was my sister, my father or.. me." He remembered when, for a brief moment, he had the power of all signers at once. "It was all a lie." But knowing that this world was just a copy of the real world, he realized how little it all meant to be a god of this world. "Draw!" But he did not want to think about that now, he only wanted one thing. "Power tool Dragon uses its effect!" He wanted the enemy dead. "I choose Megamorph, Rainbow Veil and Double Tool C&D." Three equip spells were chosen from his deck. **"Double Tool C&D."** The enemy went for the latter of the three, as with Pole Position in place, his Meklord Granel(27000/27000) had nothing to fear from it.

"If that is your choice." But there was another monster Jason could take down. "I equip it to my dragon, and he attacks yours!" Red Nova Dragon(3200/3000) had been weakened last turn when he killed Morphtronic Staplen, and Powertool Dragon(3300/2500) gained 1000 attack points because it was attacking while it had the Double Tool equipped. "The spell also negates the effects of monsters it does battle with!" Red Nova could not banish itself to negate Power Tools attack, and it was cut down by the machine's saws. "Because it also still has Break Draw equipped, I can draw another card from my deck." Jason added a trap to his hand. "I set this one facedown before I end my turn." Lord Finity then drew a card. **"Safe Zone prevents us from making your synchro become one with us. But.. yet.. however.."** The Meklord(26950/26950) had Power tool in its sights. "It does not negate damage." Safe Zone, Jasons continuous trap, only kept a monster safe from damage, not his owner**. "Straight forward attack. The conclusion." **The blast was released.

Finity's LP: 53900

"Power Frame!" But the colossal beam that tore its way towards the synchro dragon was intercepted by a cubical frame-barrier. "This trap negates your attack!" The energy scattered, blasting walls of nearby buildings to smithereens instead. "And makes the attacked monsters attackpower become equal to the attackers!" Power Tool absorbed the Power Frame and grew in size until he(26950/26950) could compete with Granel itself. **"Not Possible."** Lord Finity said in a flat tone. "What? What is the matter, used one of your formulas wrongly? Or is that just what one of the Infinati inside your head told you to say?" Either way it seemed like the lord of lords had nothing to counter this upset, as it placed no traps down and no monsters. "Heh. That is another problem with you, you do not even comprehend emotions only the basest of reactions. Had you placed a trap down, you could have bluffed me into not attacking. But no, you only set what logic tells you to set. Thanks.. Finity." Jason drew again. "Now I know I can attack." And he immediately entered the battle phase.

"Double Tool C&D's effect activates!" Power Tools already immense power total gained a boost of 1000 again. "By the by, Granel is no longer the strongest on the field. Your trap, Pole Position, is making my monster immune to spells instead!" Finity's permanent trap had kept Granel safe from Double Tools other effect negating ability until now, but this exchange was different. This time Granels effect that let it gain attackpoints equal to half its masters lifepoints was taken offline, so Powertool(27950/2500) had no trouble at all crushing this Infinity emperor(0/0). The dragons shovel smashed it into the ground, sending bronze metal parts everywhere. "This is it, this is where your terror ends!" Lord Finity had no response. "Yes, I know what you all must be thinking. Your lifepoints are still high. But PowerFrame's boost remains even after Granels destruction." His synchro monster(26950/26950) could wipe the floor with Finity with just one more attack. "But this duel is not over yet so." He reused Break Draws effect, and draw one more card. Then he activated the ability of Powertool Dragon, adding a Morphtronic Repair Engine to his hand after Megamorph and Rainbow Veil were rejected. "End turn. At this point Break Draw destroys itself." Break Draw could only stay on the field for three turns, but it had helped Jason plenty.

Finity's LP: 25950

**"We have come to a conclusion." **Finity suddenly said as it summoned a Meklord Army of Granel(1600/1200) to the field. "Oh?" Jason was not affraid of the soldiers effect to halve Power Tools attackpoints, as no monster could compete with it(13475/2500) still. "Humor me, what is your theory?" He would indulge the machine, now that he felt assured of victory. **"Your luck, and your power. It ties in with the chaos architect. We posit that your blood relation to her allowed some of her power to flow back into you, upon her death."** Jasons mouth twitched. "Her? Now she is dead again to you? Which is it?" It was back to playing games again, was it now? **"The architect is dead. We have analyzed what remains of her. A memory is with us, but the code of the signers is still partially with you. Not the marks she created, but the original six."** His eyes widened. "You mean, the marks of the condor god? I collected five of those.. so when she died. They returned to me?" If so, he noticed no glowing tattoo on his body.

**"Unknown. We shall find out, once you become.."** Jason raised his finger. "One with us. I know! You're a broken record, Finity. I guess one of your limits is your vocabulary!" Jason drew again. "Power Tool!" And his synchro not only gained back its lost powers, as Soldier Granels effect lasted for only one turn. But it also added on to that when it finally managed to pick Megamorph from the deck. "Attack his monster, and terminate this bastard!" Because Jasons lifepoints were lower than Finity's, Megamorph doubled the Tool machine's strength. And then the synchro(30250/2500) and all of its equipments rushed towards the puny Army Meklord. **"Meklord Factory, and Malevolent Catastrophe." **Two traps however were chained to his attack. "What?" The second resolved first and destroyed all spell and trap cards. "No!" Not only did this take away all of Power Tool Dragons equips and frames, it also destroyed Safe Zone. _"When Safe Zone is destroyed, the monster it kept safe goes with it!" _So his monster died as well in the malevolent storm.

"And Meklord Factory will.." Jason read what the other card did; it destroyed an attacked Meklord monster while putting any Meklord Army monster in the grave back in the duelists' hand. "But Granel Infinity is an emperor not a .." Just when he started thinking the destruction of Army Granel would not revive Emperor Granel, he realized Malevolent Catastrophe destroyed Finity's cards too. "His field spell!" Gift of the Weak, Pole Position and Meklord Fortress were all cast into the grave as well. "When Meklord Fortress is removed from the field, a Meklord Emperor can be added to his hand!" Finity of course went for a second Meklord Emperor Granel. "No, no, no, no!" And since Meklord Factory resolved last, Granel Infinity(12975/12975) was ready to be summoned in Finity's hands, as the Meklord Army of Granel was blown up. "No. How could it get to this?" Jason had little left in his hand, and nothing at all that could kill the Meklord Emperor a second time. "Damn it. I set a card down in my monster and my spell/trap zone." All he could do, was what he just did.

"Jason?" It was more than the man that showed up next though. "Macbeth?" Jason saw the Ace of Diamonds running towards him. "Oh my god." But only when he came within the devastated battlefield did he see how dire Jasons situation was. "It is still so strong." He saw what everyone had been up against. "It was even worse before this. It had four times as much life.." Jason said. "But then, you are doing well, right?" Hearing that Jason believed they were making progress with it. "No. This was the best I could do. And if I fall, you will be all that's left. Everyone else has run or is already inside that thing." He knew Nathan and Ian were gone, and assumed Dean and that security guard were defeated as well. "No.. everyone. And.. I do not even have enough cards to make a proper deck." Macbeth claimed. "Then, it _is_ up to me.." Jason sighed. **"But it is our turn."** Finity drew and summoned the Meklord machine Meklord Factory had placed in its hand; Army of Wisel(1900/0). **"The unknown shall disappear, nothing will be a mystery to us."**

"Gh. I still have Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror!" A mirror of darkness absorbed Wisels energy. "Dark-type monsters can not activate their effects!" The permanent trap would at least take care of Wisels effect. Letting Granel Infinity have piercing now would be too much to handle. **"We do not need that power, we just need you." **Lord Finity started to lift itself from the ground, as did Meklord Granel. **"Jason. Come to us, Jason."** The Wisel machine cut down whatever monster Jason had set down with its energy blade. And the emperor now had Jason targeted. "Jason!" And a beam as wide as a truck cut into the streets, swallowing the duelist whole. "No!" Macbeth cried out before he was flung backwards by the sheer forces of that attack. **"Is he gone, dead?" **Lord Finity scanned the smoke and debris and detected a signal. "Not.." But while the rest of the area had been turned into a ten yard deep crater, the part of the street that Jason stood on was just fine. As was he**. "Morphtronic Lantron."** Now Lord Finity found out why, because Wisel had destroyed a Morphtronic Lantron(200/200). "When you.. destroy Lantron. All other damage.. I take in a turn.. is reduced to nothing." He said in between breaths. While his life was fine, his body did not agree with Granels energy.

"Damn it." He dropped to his knees, that attack sapped his stamina. "Don't give up! Jason!" Macbeth yelled at him from the edge of the crater. "I do not have much of a choice." He snapped back at the ace. "But I.. do not know what I could do." Jason knew the deck he had put together, he knew he had used just about every good card he had left. _"I still have the Repair Engine. But no Motrphtronics to discard." _The other cards in his hand were Urgent Tuning and Turbo Rocket. "Maybe.." He could use the latter to ram it into Granel and inflict some damage to Lord Finity. _"But that will not even kill him."_ And with Wisel on the field, he could not even stall for time. _"I just have to.."_ He did not stand up, but he did manage to drew a card from his deck. "See what my deck tells me to..do?" But the card he gained, was one he had forgotten about. "This trap?" He looked at a card which he used in the past, one with a specific purpose. _"He is.. smiling?"_ From the distance Macbeth could tell Jasons expression changed, but not why or what the card was.

_"If that is how it should be._ I set two traps and that is all." Even though he had a monster, he did not place it down, he put all his stock in his set cards. "Have you accepted? Or do you merely see no other road?" The Lord of Meklords entered its battle phase once more. "No. I have seen something different, something I do not understand yet. But I I soon hope I shall." He showed the enemy his smile of confidence. **"... Hope. This world has no place for hope. Hope extends too far, cuts too deep. Hope is the path to death."** Granels cannon charged up. "You are wrong about that, Finity, or whoever I am talking too now! This world needs hope! Without it, it will never grow and die off! In fact I believe it was hope that made this world to begin with! The hope that man would live on! Simply shutting off everything and starting over is not the answer!" At this point he flipped his trap. "But then I chose the word 'hope' for a reason. This is my trap: Hope for Escape." He paid 1000 lifepoints to activate it. "This card was one of my liking, one that would help me defeat the one I could never beat. The one who was always ten thousand steps ahead of me."

Jasons LP: 1700

"Here is an equation for you! Take the difference between our lifepoints and divide that by 2000. Hope for Escape lets me draw a card times the result of that sum!" He started drawing cards from his deck, the difference allowed him to draw twelve times. **"What makes you.. him.. Jason so certain that this will help? Your deck is no longer useful."** Jasons deck could barely afford this many card pulls. "Because I felt it. I felt a connection. This trap, I know for certain it was not in my deck before. Just like Lifestream Dragon, it is a miracle. And now I know who is giving me these miracles." He ended up with twelve new cards. Yet his deck was not empty yet. "You're right, my sister lives!"

"What the?" And as this happened outside, the inside of the finite void started to rumble. "Light? Here?" Ada and Xavier saw a light shine through to them, coming from the dark walls which they previously had believed to be shadows that stretched out beyond their field of vision. "The cards are.." There were several beams, some hit the cards while others hit the pods on the surface of the core. And one hit Ada. "Ah!" But she did not feel it, it was merely pointing at her. "Wait." Pointing at something that was with her. "This card?" The light shined on a card in her coat, one she did not realize was with her. "Shooting Star.. Dragon?"

And then the motionless Callisto said the word she wanted to say for a long time..

"Family.. is the answer."

(To be Continued in Mark 150: Hope has no Limits)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Megamorph<p>

-  
>Hope for Escape<p>

**New Cards used by Finity**  
>Meklord Army of Granel<p>

-  
>Meklord Factory<br>Malevolent Catastrophe


	150. 150: Hope has no Limits

**Mark 150: Hope has no Limits**

"Family? What?" The young Callisto spoke a word, one that required a bit of context before Ada and Xavier could figure out what she was going on about. "Hey?" But just then five beams of different colors shot towards them, light rays different from the ones that were already shining upon them. "Take it. Brother." Callisto extended her hand and the beams hit four pods. "Hey. There he is!" The one closest by held someone whose face they recognized; Urizen. "Then the others must be.." A blue shaft of light had hit Keins pod and took something away; a card. "The former signers?" A red beam had found Sarah, a dark beam located Urizen, and Nathan was targeted by the golden beam. "Then, I too.." Ada was cast in a green glow, and two cards of hers were taken away. "Where is it going?" Black Rose Dragon and Debris Dragon flew into the radiant tear, leaving this void. As did a trap from Nathan, a synchro monster from Kein, an effect monster from Urizen, a spell from Sarah and three powerful cards in their own right (Honest, Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted). And.. a tenth unknown card left as well. "Brother is.. dueling." The girl with them explained, though she did not face them. "Brother? That's Jason right?" Xavier looked up. "He is fighting Finity right now?"

Finity's LP: 25950 Jason's LP: 1700

"She lives, part of her does. Not just inside you, but in me as well. These cards are the proof." Thanks to the trap, Hope for escape, Jason had drawn twelve new cards. It included seven of the ten cards that came from the core of Finity himself. **"The breach, the defense system. It was them, it can not be."** The lord clutched its chest, light was coming from its core and headed for Jason's deck. "Ah yes, you mentioned there was a problem with your systems even before Gaunt used his virus. I do not know who that is, but I guess it was one of the signers." He even had gotten some synchro monsters to add to his extra deck, all of them were cards formerly used by the signers. "I should have known something was up when I took Gaunts dueldisk. All of his Steelswarm cards and Red Dragon Archfiend support cards were blanked out. But one synchro monster remained." He showed it to his opponent. "The miracle that defeated me and my sister way back, the dragon that Gaunt managed to retrieve when he dueled you. Shooting Star Dragon!" He understood it now, why that card alone did not disappear from Gaunts disk. The one who it was connected too had never fully been absorbed.

**"No. There is nothing to confirm this. This can not be reality."** Finity's many voices started to raise their tone. It almost sounded panicked. **"Those cards were integrated, those memories archived! They can not be released!" **Meklord Emperor Granel finally fired its direct attack on the still defenseless Jason Castle, shooting a laser down from above. "Contrary to what you believe, Finity, mankind is not just a collection of separate data. The keyword here is family." But he special summoned a Battle Fader(0/0) from his hand, the card he received from Urizens spirit, to end the battle phase. "As long as one link in the family line remains, all cards lost from that line can be remade!" Granels blast dispersed, hitting the buildings around Jason instead, forcing some to collapse into rubble and dust. **"Nonsense, humans are single beings. There is nothing to connect them but the network. And we control the network, Finity is the network!" **It placed two cards down and ended its turn.

"You are the one who said the network is made from the people's subconscious. Maybe it is more interconnected than you think?" Jason started his turn. "I mean. That is also why synchros came into existence, right?" He normal summoned Turbo Rocket, the level 2 rocket tuner(0/0). "When I normal summon a monster, I can special summon Turbo Booster!" The tuner was joined by the level 1 one-shot droid(0/0). "I synchro summon Turbo Cannon!" the two united into the level 3 Cannoneer(0/0). "It destroys a monster on your field and inflicts damage equal to half its atatckpoints!" The cannons fired a shot at Granel. **"No! Infinity Squared."** But they activated a permanent trap. **"We banish a Meklord to negate the destruction of one."** Granels core glowed as it absorbed the deceased Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk into itself and deflected the Turbo blast with its right arm. "Well that is a problem. But I have only begun to show you my tricks!"

_Infinity Squared, Continuous Trap  
><em>_This cards effect can not be negated. Select 1 face-up 'Meklord Astro' monster you control. That monster can activate its effect(s) multiple times in the same turn.  
><em>_If Meklord monsters you control would be destroyed (as a result of battle or by a card effect), you can banish 1 "Meklord" monster from your graveyard instead. _

Jason looked at his deck. With all the draws he performed, and all the times he used Power Tool Dragons and Morphtronics Celfons effect, only seven cards remained. "Morphtronic Repair Engine! I discard a Morphtronic to revive another." So he had to take care of that first. "I bring back Morphtronic Celfon." The mobile phone(100/100) morpher was the one he repaired, at the cost of a discarded Morphtronic Boarden. "Then I activate Vylon Matter! I return three equip cards from my grave to my deck!" Morphtronic Repair Engine, Double Tools C&D and Megamorph were the ones he placed in his near-dead deck. "I use its second effect to draw 1 card." He drew the spell Magic Planter. "Now with six or more cards in my deck, I feel safe enough to use Celfons effect!" Celfon rolled its numbers and ended up with a four. "Morphtronic Scopen!" And the level 3 microscope tuner (800/1400) was one of four cards picked up from the deck, so it could be summoned. "Scopen is in defense mode, so its level increases by 1! I shall tune it together with Battlefader and Celfon!" The now level 4 scope joined with the two level 1 monsters and became a single synchro monster. "If I can not destroy your Meklord, I will send it back!" Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier(2200/1400) was synchro summoned.

"Keins card!" Macbeth meanwhile started to realize just what kind of cards Jason had drawn. "First I play Magic Planter, I sacrifice my Shadow Imprisoning Mirror to draw two cards." He gained Honest and Megamorph. "Then I discard Megamorph and Rainbow Veil, to send your two monsters back to your hand!" Granel and the Army Meklord Wisel were removed from the field. "Then I use this spell! Monster Reborn, I resurrect Power Tool Dragon from my graveyard!" Jason raised the tool dragon(2300/2500) from the dead. "Morphtronic Repair Engine, Double Tool C&D and Rocket Pilder, you choose which one I take!" Three equip cards were shown. **"...Repair Engine." **And it went for the first. "Good. I shall use this spell once more, I discard Morphtronic Slingen from my hand to revive Morphtronic Lantron!" This repair engine rebuilt the lantern morpher(200/200). "It is also a tuner!" Jason then combined the level 1 tuner with the level 7 Power Tool Dragon. "Lincolns memories will include this monster; Lifestream Dragon!" To the field was summoned the miracle dragon, Power Tools organic true form(2900/2400). **"That card." **The arrival of Lifestream Dragon restored his masters lifepoints, bringing it back up to half the initial amount

Jasons LP: 4000

"Before I strike, I activate Falling Current!" A spell was played to change the level of Lifestream from 8 to 3. "Direct attack! This is for my sister, for the signers and for everyone else you have claimed as your own!" Brionac and Lifestream Dragon then charged the Lord of Lords, who had nothing to shield itself for the first time since it invaded the city. **"Not possible, not possible, not possible."** It just repeated itself as it was blasted back to the ground by Lifestreams energy waves and then bombarded with frozen spikes from the Ice Barrier Dragon. **"All cards should be accounted for, there is no data on Lifestream Dragon. No point of origin. We must know, we must understand." **Lifestream Dragon landed right next to Jason. "What is so hard to understand? People think up new ideas all the time, cards are just a part of that." He placed his hand on his extra deck. "And just now, the subconscious of all human beings inside you has dreamed up another new cards, and it materialized in here along with cards like Brionac. Let me show you the ultimate dream, the strongest synchro monster that will ever exist." He activated his other trap card now, Urgent Tuning, to perform a synchro summon while still in the battle phase. **"What is this?"**

Finity's LP: 20850

"Lifestream Dragon is a synchro monster, but also a tuner monster. I wondered why at the time. I knew there were cards like Accel Synchro monsters, but none could use such a highlevel tuner. So.." The synchro tuner lowered to level 3, the level 3 Turbo Cannon and the level 6 Ice Dragon formed one new being. "It was not ready yet. Lifestream was just the messenger. Now here is the message itself." Before Lord Finity, hovered a dragon(4000/4000) as brilliant as the sun. "Over Limit Accel Synchro monster: Shooting Quasar Dragon." Macbeth looked at it with absolute astonishment. "Is that.. good?" The rest of the citizens, now in hiding, also noticed the descent of this four-winged phenomenon. "Quasars attack amount is determined by the number of non-tuner materials used for its summoning!" Jason explained as the dragon lowered its neck and let Jason climb on top of it. "I used two!" Then it took off into the air. "So I shall attack twice more!" Quasar released two mirage copies of itself, which crashed right into Lord Finity and cut its life down even more.

Finity's LP: 12850

"How.. did you do that?" Macbeth yelled at the airborne duelist. "What this? I can visualize projections remember?" Jason just wanted to take this new creation for a ride, the power this thing gave off felt great. "That was not what I meant. Are you certain our friends are still alive in there, and they gave you that card?" Macbeth had seen too much to immediately accept this kind of good news. "I see no other explanation for it." Jason replied. He was not about to question it. **"There is none."** But the duel had not reached a conclusion yet. **"The defense system breakdown is the only explanation. Data is escaping, the chaos architect left behind too many problems in the system." **The lord emerged from the smoke, its metallic body no longer stainless or dent-free. "Oh right. I suppose I should let you have your turn now." Jason placed two cards down and ended his turn. **"But this can be absolved; there is nothing we can not repair. We are the edge of possibility, we control the limits of what can we said and done!"**

Lord Finity began to float.** "Ancient Leaf." **It played a spell card, sacrificing 2000 lifepoints to draw two cards**.** **"We shall sever Granel, Discard Wisel, throw away Skiel."** It discarded three cards from its hand, the two machines Brionac had forced off the field, and another Meklord Army of Skiel. _"It is bringing out something new, now that his lifepoints are too low to make a decent Granel?" _This was the first time Jason witnessed this type of summoning condition. **"By removing any three Meklords, we can summon from the hand.. Infinity Cubic Incarnate: Meklord Astro Mekanikle!"** More bodyparts were discarded, including its six transmitter spikes and the mask on its face. Lord Finity had summoned itself to the field, a white and golden star-like machine lord(4000/4000). **"Half of us feel proud that you made it this far, Jason Castle. The summoning of Mekanikle has never been required before by the design."** Mekanikle's chest held four cores; three green ones and one red core. **"The other half has run out of praise, and patience!" **

Finity's LP: 10850

The middle core unleashed its rays of bloodred light. **"Once a turn, we can absorb one synchro monster. One connection between multiple spirits."** The strands entangled Shooting Quasar Dragon. "Oh no you don't! You did not think Shooting Quasar would just get one effect after all the trouble I went through to summon it?" Quasar surrounded itself in golden light, and fended off Mekanikle's attack. "Once a turn it can negate an effect and destroy the effects origin!" Quasar flapped its wings and created a cutting wave that headed towards the divine Meklord. **"Infinity Squared." **However the permanent trap allowed Mekanikle to endure this counter effect. **"We banish Meklord Army of Skiel." **The wave hit Mekanikle's armshield and dispersed. **"And, Infinity Squared allows Meklord Astro monsters to use their effects as often as they want." **The first attempt had been negated. "Oh crap." But the second time succeeded in drawing Shooting Quasar in, adding its powers to Mekanikle(8000/4000) "Jason!" And leaving the duelist suddenly without a ride.

**"Worry not. Fear not. Regret not. Now that we have absorbed the creation of mankind, you will be next."** Mekanikle's left arm cannon took aim at Jason who was rapidly falling to the streets below. "You will not die this way." And a mass of cube lasers was released from it. "I will not die your way either! I activate Cal of the Haunted!" In mid-fall, he played a trap to revive a monster in his graveyard. "I resurrect Red Nova Dragon!" The scar-red dragon was also available to Jason now, as it had been sent to his grave when power Tool killed it. "I use the effect of this dragon!" Red Nova grabbed Jason and then banished for one turn itself to negate Mekanikle's attack. "What in the world?" Macbeth saw Jason disappear entirely, while the cube laser veered off into the distance, exploding in the sky a few miles away. **"...Set card, end turn."** Then Jason and Red Nova returned to the field during the endphase. "Okay. That was odd." Jason shook his head. " Felt like less like dimensional travel and more like time travel." He did not want to do that again, so he let the dragon put him down on top of a skyscraper.

**"Synchros. They keep on coming. They keep on making more bonds."** Mekanikle could not absorb Red Nova yet, as it was summoned during the endphase. **"Those synchro monsters will be you undoing by the next turn."** Finity placed a card down. "What was that?" Jason did not like the sound of that. **"You will see, we will show you soon. It shall be demonstrated."** They ended their turn. "Hmm." Jason began his turn. _"This is not good."_ His deck now only had five cards left. He had to find a way to get rid of its remaining lifepoints, or else he'd lose his deck before he'd settle this duel through their lifepoints. "Draw!"

"I summon Debris Dragon!" But he had a few moves left. "This tuner will revive any monster with 500 attackpoints or less." Ada's level 4 dragon(1000/2000) used its powers to raise the level 3 Morphtronic Boarden(500/1300) back to life. "And I synchro summon Black Rose Dragon!" He tuned Debris with Boarden to form the destructive fire dragon(2400/1600). "When he is synchro summoned, all cards shall be broken!" Black Rose unleashed a storm that encompassed the whole cityscape. "Infinity Squared can save your Meklord, but not the monster it has equipped or itself!" Meanwhile Red Nova Dragon(6000/3000) could survive this thanks to its destruction immunity, and would be able to finish off the weakened Astro machine. **"You are falling back on the predictable paths." **But the finite one activated a trap. **"Guard Formation Infinity, no cards can be destroyed his turn."** Mekanikle's energy cores powered down, to provide a charge to a barrier that surrounded it and every other card.

_Guard Formation - Infinity, Normal Trap  
><em>_During this turn, negate the effects of all face-up effect monsters you control, and the activations of effects that would destroy a card(s) on the field._

"Damn." And at this rate, his deck would die before either player would run out of lifepoints, he would reach his limits too soon.** "Even if hope is endless, you are not. We have analyzed your 'miracle', now every move you make becomes predictable. Your defeat is inevitable."**

(To be Continued in Mark 151: Ex Machina Deus Est)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle  
><strong>Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier  
>Turbo Booster<br>Shooting Quasar Dragon  
>Red Nova Dragon<br>Debris Dragon  
>Black Rose Dragon<p>

-  
>Monster Reborn<br>Falling Current

-  
>Call of the Haunted<p>

**New Cards used by Finity  
><strong>Meklord Astro Mekanikle

-  
>Ancient Leaf<p>

_-  
>Infinity Squared<br>__Guard Formation - Infinity (+)_

_(+) Based on the trap used by Placido/Primo in YGO 5Ds episode 132_


	151. 151: Ex Machina Deus Est

**Mark 151: Ex Machina Deus Est**

Finity's LP: 10950 Jasons LP: 4000

Jason faced off against Lord Finity under continuingly graver conditions. Even after he drew up to 12 cards, he could not get close to defeating him and his new Meklord Astro Mekanikle(8000/4000). And his deck of a mere four cards was up against Finity's bottomless deck "Predictable? Tsk, I set one card down and then I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" The revealing swords rained down around Jason and the building he stood on. "I believe this spell was from Sarah Rain, now you can not attack me for 3 turns." The light swords stood between him and the enemy. **"Then we shall not need attacks."** Mekanikle's deck gave it another card, and then it lingered in its standby phase. **"Now is the time, the moment. Like you said earlier, a card of our level does not resign itself to one single effect."** Lord Finity's cores charged back up, and now an aura of flames surrounded it. "?" It had another power that activated during the standby phase. **"We can sacrifice the monster equipped to us, and release it to damage our opponent. The synchro monster of all men and women will end you!"** Shooting Quasar Dragon (4000 atk) was freed, only to be converted to pure energy. "That means 4000 damage!" Macbeth figured out that much.

"Then I activate this trap card!" But as the Quasar was fired off to inflict all that damage, the trap Nathan had given him was used. "Synchro Barrier, I sacrifice a synchro monster to nullify all damage I take in a turn!" Red Nova was also converted to energy, protective energy that shielded Jason. **"Give it up. Surrender, you are running out of time."** Finity activated its other set card. **"Foolish Burial. We revive one monster from your grave, to your field."** And they used that trap to bring back Red Nova Dragon. "Hey, what?" Jason quickly realized this was not really for his benefit. **"Join us, return to us, dragons of the flame and shadows."** Thanks to Infinity Squared, Mekanikle(4000/4000) could absorb both synchro monsters, Black Rose and Red Nova, and absorb their powers.** "Damage is negated this turn and the swords keep us at bay, but Mekanikle can not attack now." **The Astro Meklord(9900/4000) had to pass a battle phase to use its burning effect. **"We set one monster and one trap, and end our turn." **

Now Jason got another draw, one that reduced his decksize to three cards. And he only had a few cards left in his hand too. "I set two cards down." But the swords would keep him from physical harm, it was the burn effect he had to worry about. "Your move." Because he realized the permanent trap, Infinity Squared, would let Mekanikle use _all_ of its abilities more than once a turn. **"How will you take this? Will you lose by Urizen and Gaunts hand? or Ada and Xaviers?"** So Mekanikle could not only tribute Red Nova equipped to its body, but also Black Rose Dragon. "Xavier?" Though Jason, for a second, focused more on 'why' Finity would drop that name. "The Answer is upon you." Both equipped synchros were recycled into destructive flames and dark matter, and shot out of the Machine lords cannon. "Rrgh! I activate my spell card!" Jason yelled before the blasts enveloped him and the place he stood on. "Oh no!" The Ace cried out as he saw the duelist disappear in smoke, and his lifepoints dropped by 5900 points. "Wait. It's.."

Jasons LP: 100

But before they had gone down, they had gone up. "What I wanted to say was, Emergency Provisions." An annoyed cough came from the smoke. **"You live?"** It appeared he had jumped to another rooftop, and also played a quickplay spell to restore his lifepoints before the impact. "The emergency spell sacrificed the swords of light and Call of the Haunted, giving me back 1000 lifepoints for each." Because of that he barely escaped defeat that time. **"Your continued resistance is straining the parameters, we can not allow this."** It flipped its facedown Meklord Army of Skiel(1200/1000) face-up, and then activated a spell card. **"Boon of the Meklord Emperors. The only monsters that exist are two Meklords, so we draw two cards." **Two spells were placed in front of Lord Finity.** "Then we activate one of two, the spell Infinite Impact!" **Jason flinched as another monster was brought to his field. "But that one can't be summoned like that!" He protested as Shooting Quasar Dragon(4000/4000) returned. **"Infinite Impact disregards any summoning requirements."** Mekanikle of course activated its synchro killer power and red energy strands headed for the Over Limit Synchro monster. **"All synchros belong here."**

"I have seen enough of that effect, I discard Effect Veiler!" But Jason threw away his spellcaster card, to seal the effects of the divine machine for one turn. **"Why will you not.."** They placed the other card they had drawn face-down. Then when it ended the turn and let Jason draw his cards, the second part of Infinite Impact's effect was put in motion. **"Cease!"** The spell now gave a free attack to any monster weaker or equal in strength to Shooting Quasar Dragon. "So this is how you will circumvent the fact that Mekanikle gave up its battle phase, you turn my standby phase into one?" The Astro Meklord flew higher into the sky and fired its cannon from above. "But I can.." Jason was about to discard another monster from his hand. **"No. We have priority."** But they played their card first. "He has Honest too?" The angel was about to boost Mekanikle's attackpoints. "Quasar!" But Jason managed to negate it by using his dragons effect negation effect. **"We predicted that."** But they flipped their facedown spell as soon as Quasar had used up its effect. "Limiter Removal!" And he watched them activate the quickplay spell that doubled a machine's attackpoints. "Honest!" Only now could he use his Honest angel card. "My monster gains attackpoints equal to yours!"

Mekanikle(8000/4000) had twice the attackpower now, but so did Quasar(8000/4000). The problem was that Honest resolved first, when the enemy had not yet removed its limiter, so it only gained 4000 attackpoints instead of 8000. "They are equal in strength!" Macbeth gasped as the cosmic dragon avoided the laser blast, which blasted another city block to rubble, and charged towards its attacker. **"Infinity Squared, banish Meklord Army of Granel!"** Lord Finity shouted before the two monsters clashed. A burst of gold and silver filled the skies. "Ugh. He survived that one." Jason already knew that the Meklord was not destroyed, thanks to that accursed permanent trap. But.. "When Shooting Quasar Dragon dies, I can summon Shooting Star Dragon from my extra deck!" From the explosive cloud emerged the Divine Meklord Mekanikle and also the ultimate dragon of the winds, Shooting Star Dragon(3300/2500). **"The original miracle."** Now Infinite Impact had played out in full, so Jason could finally take his turn.

"Everything is ready." His deck held only two cards now, he knew how to get more. "Pot of Avarice! I shuffle back five dead monsters into my deck and draw two cards!" He returned Vylon Stella, Turbo Rocket and the Morphtronics Remoten/Scopen/Lantron. **"Tuner monsters."** All five were tuners. **"Shooting Star Dragons effect: Draw cards from the deck and return them to that deck. Then it can attack for each drawn tuner." **With the deck set up like this, the odds were high that Jason would get all five of those tuners. "That is right. I make my own luck now." However, Pot of Avarice also forced him to draw twice. If he drew any tuner, his plan would be shot to pieces. "All or nothing!" He took the two cards from his deck. "And!" He looked at them, a spell and a non-tuner monster. "Success!" The five remaining cards in his deck were the five tuners. **"But that is not enough, We are superior." **Though there was still the problem of Mekanikle being more than twice as strong as Shooting Star. "I took that into account!"

"Look at these cards." Jason activated two equip spell cards, Double Tool C&D and Rocket Pilder. "The first will give my dragon 1000 attackpoints extra. The second will make it indestructible and lets it weaken the monster it does battle with, by an amount equal to its attackpoints!" Then he used the third and final card in his hand, summoning a small flyer(0/0) that carried a big zero around. "And then I play Zero Gardna. I sacrifice this monster to negate all damage I take this turn." The Gardna sacrificed itself and a no-damage barrier was raised around Jason. "Now. I activate the effect of Shooting Star!" So by using the Accel synchro dragons ability and revealing those five cards, Shooting Star gained four extra attacks this battle phase. "I attack!" Jason raised his hand to the clouds, as Shooting Star split itself up into five dragons. "Attack one!" The first blue reflection(4300/2500) was about to hit it. **"Necro Gardna." **But Finity banished a monster from his cemetery to block the attack. "Necro Gardna! When.." Jason never saw that one hit the cemetery.

**"We discarded it, during our duel with Sarah Rain. We determined to save it, until its effect became crucial."** Jason cringed, he had forgotten used-up cards from previous duels would be in his grave too. "Rrrgh! The this will be the actual first attack!" The yellow mirage struck next, and it piledrived into the Meklords laser blasts with the boost of Rocket Pilder. Though it was destroyed instantly, its master suffered no damage, and it managed to take 4300 points away from the machine(3700/4000). "Second attack!" Then the purple mirage charged all the way into Mekanikle's cannon, overloading it with the flames from Rocket Pilder and destroying it entirely. "Third attack!" Now Mekanikle(0/4000) was weak enough for Jason to actually hurt Finity when he struck it, and the red mirage swooped across the Astro Meklord. **"Infinity Squared."** But of course he banished a random Army Meklord to repair his meklord before it could be destroyed. "Fourth attack!" The green mirage hit it last, delivering another 4300 points of damage.

Finity's LP: 2350

**"You are out of attacks, you have reached your limit."** But there were no more mirages, and Mekanikle would slowly but surely build itself back to full power. "You still do not get it, do you?" Jason however was smiling in spite of his situation. "You keep placing limits on what is limitless. Because you can not account for infinity, it is something you can not add or subtract from!" The trap he had placed down, he activated it now. "Equip Shot! I give one equipment of my monster to yours, and let those two monsters do battle!" Rocket Pilder was handed over to Meklord Astro Mekanikle. "What?" And it was forced to fire at Shooting Star, who rushed straight into the blast and cut through it with ease as there was just no power behind it. **"No. Don't. Stop. End."** Lord Finity had no countermeasure, no explanation, no proper response to this. "It is you, who has reached the limit, Finity! Humanity is just too much for even you to handle!" And the dragon smashed straight through the gold/silver machine's body, cutting it in half.

Finity's LP: 0

**"No. No. No. No."** The lower half of its body crashed to the wrecked streets below. **"The system was flawed from the beginning, the true purpose.. not recorded. We are..."** The upper half started to disintegrate, while large parts self detonated. "..." In the end only one part remained intact, the now dimmed energy core. _"Is that where, all the people have been stored?" _Jason let Shooting Star catch it, and he inspected it. _"Or is this Finity in its true original form, the original computer program?" _He scoped out his surroundings, capitol city had seen its worst day today.

"Is everything over now?" Asked Macbeth as he and Jason met on the devastated streets of the city a few minutes later. "I am quite sure it is. The Infinati problem at least is over. Though.." Jason held the core of Finity in his hands. "I have no idea what to do with this." He did not yet witness anyone return to life. "Wait. Most of the people who it attacked were left..in the tower!" The ace gasped, as he knew what state the R-tech building was in right now. "But Finity destroyed that one! So the people inside.." He could not even imagine what happened to their bodies. "Maybe they will return both in flesh and in mind if we free them?" Jason quickly suggested. "Maybe we should..." He looked at the sphere. "Smash it open?" He raised his hand, preparing to crack it like an egg. "Are you sure? Maybe we should hook it up to a computer or something?" Macbeth had second thoughts about such a straightforward approach. "The power is not back on yet, and I can not get back to the Grand Design temple. This is all we can do to fix what the Infinati have done."

"Don't, brother."

_"That voice?" _Jasons head jerked to his left, as the most familiar voice in his life entered his ears. "Sister!" And standing at the edge of one of the craters stood the girl he had thought dead for some time. "I knew it." Only during his duel with Finity did he discover, that part of her was still alive. "But.. you're wearing.." Though for some reason she was wearing a smaller version of the clothes Malcean wore when he performed the ritual. "And how?" Yet why she was still alive, after Demistria killed her, he did not understand. "Because.. of that." She pointed her finger at him. "What, this?" At the pocket on his vest. "The card?" In there he kept the card that had once imprisoned his mind. "You missed Callisto, didn't you?" She did not bother to explain the rest, and went to a different topic. "She felt it, she felt your love." An uncharacteristically warm smile was worn by her face. "Well. Of course..I..But.." Jason was glad to see her again, but also worried. "What do you mean, I shouldn't?" There were so many things he wanted to ask about, the first of which was the core in his hands. "They need to stay in there." And the answer was one that catered more to his fears than his joys. "Need? Why do you say that?"

Jason and Macbeth took a step back and held the core close to himself, Callisto was back, yet she wanted to keep the core intact. "We need to free them, Callisto!" Macbeth said determinedly. "But you can not. Callisto has seen the futures that waits for everyone, including the ones where you open the core." Jason flinched. "You have that eyesight back?" He thought she had gotten rid of that 'curse'. "Callisto chose to take it back." She extended one hand. "And she is sorry." Macbeth and Jason froze up, they were paralyzed. "But Callisto can not make exceptions, not even for the ones that care for her. Or for the ones she cares for." And then they sank to the ground, the life sucked out of them.

Outside the destruction of Lord Finity was a dazzling display of pyrotechnics indeed. But on the inside the experience was something else altogether. "He must have done it!" Xavier cheered as the black void around them was pushed away by light. Panels all around lit up, while the core they were standing on turned off. The cards that floated around the core disappeared as well. "They must have returned to the real world." Ada assumed the people would be next, though the pods were not doing anything yet. "You think.." Ada approached Callisto. "She will know? She only interacted with signals from the outside so far." Xavier shrugged, it was worth a try. "Hey ehr.. miss." The girl did not respond. In fact she was as statuesque as when they first saw her. "Callis.." Xavier placed his hand on her shoulder. "It is gone." At which point she spoke. "Yaah!" Causing Xavier to retract his hand in fright. "Too far gone." The girl turned around, except she did not look that young anymore. "Wait a second. You are.." While they had taken their eyes off her, she somehow grew to the age they were more familiar with. "It worked. No.."

"Callisto has seen the final future... There is nothing there.."

(To be Continued in Mark 152: End of the Dream)

**New Cards used by Jason Castle**  
>Honest<br>Shooting Star Dragon  
>Zero Gardna<p>

-  
>Swords of Revealing Light<br>Emergency Provisions  
>Pot of Avarice<p>

-  
>Synchro Barrier<p>

**New Cards used by Finity**  
>Honest|<br>Necro Gardna

-  
>Boon of the Meklord Emperors<em><br>Infinite Impact (+)_  
>Limiter Removal<p>

-  
>Foolish Revival<p>

_(+) See Mark 78_


	152. 152: End of the Dream

**Mark 152: End of the Dream**

"What, nothing?" Inside the core, the revived Callisto horrified everyone with her omen. "Callisto will explain, when all the signers are here." The girl with them snapped her fingers once, and a sound was heard. "Hey. Those lights are blinking." Xavier pointed at the pod with Kein in it, which was blinking blue. "Is this good or bad?" And then the four activated pod opened their glass doors. "Wh. where?" Kein was closest by, and he snapped himself awake in the next instant. "Where.. is this? What happened to me, and why.. are you here?" Needless to say he had no idea what was happening here. "And now, we can leave this behind." Callisto waved her hand around, and the surface beneath them was swept away with that one gesture. "Wha.. huh?" Only Sarah, Kein, Urizen and Nathan remained. The pods, the core, it was all replaced with a heavenly white void. "Did I miss something?" Nathan felt least groggy and got up first. "Wait, guys! We're back!" He cheered up quickly as he saw Kein and the others around him. "And you too, I don't believe it!" He got even happier when he saw Xavier with Ada. "And.. oh." He did not have the same excitement to give to the sight of Callisto. "Her?" Urizen was the second to notice, Sarah and Kein soon followed. "Didn't you die? Just what on earth has been going on?"

"Now Callisto can explain." She pointed to Ada. "What?" Just like with Jason, she pointed at a card she had held on to ever since Callisto 'died'. "What the signer of fire killed, was a lie. Callisto can not die, because Callisto is not here. She has taken the gate to the real world." She said. "Then.." Ada figured out quickly what she was getting at. "The you that changed the shape of the world, was a fake? Like the servants you created?" She knew Callisto could recreate bodied, she had seen it happen to Xavier and Richard. She just did not realize she had done it to herself as well. "As long as part of Callisto exists, the Callisto of the real world can become the Callisto of this world. There was one part already there the first time." Ada took the card out. "Yes. The child you, the part of your soul that you split off when you wanted to test your own existence." Callisto nodded. "Callisto split off more parts, hid them inside more cards Yours as well, Xavier Ali." She turned to him. "Part of Callisto, regrets using you that way."

"But the Callisto here did not know, she was out of synch with the real world again. As she died here, the Callisto there had to make a new plan. And it succeeded." She raised her hands. "Look around. This is what remains of Finity. While they believed they had removed Callisto as a threat, she ensured their removal." Sarah and Nathans faces lightened up. "Finity is gone? That's great news!" Sarah shouted. "Yes. It was thanks to brother. When Callisto left the world, she left a hole in the power balance. And that power, the human subconscious, chose him as their new savior because he was family.. They gave him two miracles, spawned from his deepest desires and their own. Callisto, the one that was taken inside the finite core, merely passed along the cards they made for him. After Xavier and Ada took care of the defense system." In the end without Shooting Quasar Dragon and Life Stream Dragon, Jason could not have defeated Lord Finity. "So what happens now?" Asked a cautious Urizen. "Why are we still inside this weirdass prison?"

".." Callisto suddenly fell silent. "She already told us why." Ada spoke up instead. "She says she has seen the future, and there is nothing in it." The others gasped. "Seen it?" Callisto nodded again, slowly this time. "Callisto fears that, in her ignorance, she wounded this world. She wanted to make the world live forever, instead she killed it. But then, this world is designed to die." It was worrying for the others to see her like this, if even she truly looked afraid... "So what are you saying? The Infinati had the right idea? The world can only survive if they erase everyone's memories every decade?"

"There is only one solution." Said Callisto. "H-hey?" But not the one they were looking at, she still held her head low and her lips sealed. "What the!" To their collective surprise, a second Callisto had shown up. She was distinguishable from the first due to the fact that she wore a red Dresden academy uniform, rather than the blue dress the first one wore. "There are two now?" Kein cried out. "Callisto is Callisto. She is another part that hid inside a souls card." The first Callisto explained. "Then are you the real one, or how many fakes did you make?" Urizen cursed. "As many as needed. The total should be obvious." The second said with an equally bitter tone. "As Callisto wanted to say, and should, there is just one solution." She clenched her hand. "The lie must die." A shudder ran down everyone's spine. "Die? You want the world to die?" Sarah asked, and the red Callisto glared at her. "It is not a question of wanting, it is a question of knowing. This world was created from nothing, so it should return to nothing. Part of humanity has been living a lie, that will come to an end now."

"But what about the people? The ones that made it here, the ones that fought? Do they have to die along with the world?" Sarah continued to question her. "They can not stay, they can not go. Gods world can not sustain them and gods lie can not sustain itself. They will become like the ones that did not make the journey here to begin with, they shall join the souls of the lost." But Callisto's words left no room for doubt, everything was going to die. "No..not if.." Yet the blue Callisto seemed to disagree. ".." But one stern look from the other Callisto silenced her. _"What, dissent between the two Callistos?"_ This seemed like odd behavior to Ada. "But anyway. If the world is going to die anyway, if we have no future. Why are you here, and for that matter.. why are we?" To her it sounded like Callisto did not need to do a thing to destroy the lie, and she also could have kept Kein and the others locked inside their pods. "We do not need to clarify that. If you can not figure it out for yourselves, you never deserved the truth.."

Urizen slowly began to laugh. "Heh. Oh I get it now. I remember what everyone always said." He looked down at his wrist. "It can't be." Kein noticed him looking down and did the same. "The.." Sarah, Nathan and Ada also found it; a glowing tattoo on their arms. "The marks..must always exist." They had returned, five of the six marks that Callisto created. "What is going on..here?" And as if they were not confused enough yet, now a third Callisto in a white night gown stood before them. "Infinati is gone, so Callisto decided to give everyone their marks back!" This one was a lot more cheerful than the other two. "But I never had this mark." Urizens wrist bore the mark of darkness. "Yeah I thought that one was mine." Sarah meanwhile had the mark of fire. "Oh. Well miss Rain defeated Hel but also Demistria, so she received her mark of fire as well. And Callisto believed Sarahs spirit was better suited to fire than to darkness." Nathan, Kein and Ada meanwhile kept the marks of light, water and wind respectively. "So then Ansoni's mark." The missing element was earth, the mark of Ansoni Helion. "Callisto sees all futures, even one wherein Ansoni would have lived. Yet.." All three Callisto's revealed their forearms. "He would lost this mark to Callisto." All had earths mark.

"So. The keyword is.. a duel." As soon as Urizen said that, a dueldisk materialized before his feet. "That is the word we were waiting for." The Callisto's also summoned dueldisks that were pure black. "Aw man. Cam't we get a breather first?" Nathan sighed. Not ten seconds after he got out, he had to duel again. "How do we do this then?" Urizen had a more pressing questions at the moment however. "There are five of us and.." Even before he could finish that sentence, two more Callisto's showed themselves. "..five of you. Oh." The one on the left resembled the Callisto they had seen last, the black-dressed chaos architect. The one on the right wore Malceans attire. "Five Callisto's to oppose the five signers." They all placed cards into their dueldisks and activated them. "Then how will this work? Is it a gauntlet series, best three out of five? Or do we only win when we beat the real you?" Kein had no idea how Callisto wanted to settle this, or which Callisto was supposed to be the true one. "It shall be an all on all. Just follow our example, signers."

Callisto's LP: 8000 Callisto's LP: 8000 Callisto's LP: 8000 Callisto's LP: 8000 Callisto's LP: 8000

Ada's LP: 8000 Keins LP: 8000 Nathans LP: 8000 Sarahs LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 8000

"Oh you can not be serious!" Ada protested as she saw everyone's disks activate at once. "Five against five? How will we even tell your lifepoints apart?" They were different clothes sure, but they all had the same name! "Apologies, we shall compensate." The leftmost Callisto, the one in black, drew six cards. "You may call Callisto, Keter. The Crown. And Keter takes the first turn." She placed one card down and activated a spell card, Fiends Sanctuary, summoning a devil token(0/0) to her field. "Now, who takes the second turn?" She inquired and Urizen responded first. "I shall go!" By placing one monster and one trap card down. And that was all he did for now. "Very well, you shall be Malkuth, the Kingdom."

Keters LP: 8000

With ten players, it became clear that she desired to name them after all ten states of the Sephirotic tree. "Callisto is.. Binah, the Understanding." Next turn belonged to the Callisto in blue, the first Callisto. "Artemis and three cards down." She summoned the Bountiful Artemis(1600/1700) to her field and placed three traps down. _"Let me guess, those traps are counter traps." _Xavier had an all too familiar feeling about the cards 'Chokhmah' was using. "I will go next, if it is okay with you guys." Then Sarah used her turn to place one monster down and one trap card. "Yesod, the Foundation." And that apparently would be her name. "And Callisto suppses she shall be the Wisdom, Chokhmah." The Callisto in Malceans clothes. "Different Dimension Warrior Lady." They normal summoned the dimensional female warrior(1500/1600) and placed a card down.

Binah's LP: 8000 Chohkmah' s LP: 8000

"Hrm. Well, I shall go now. And if you do not mind, I will start out big." Kein drew his cards. "I summon Deepsea Diva and use her effect to special summon Gishki Diviner!" When normal summoned the level 2 diva tuner(200/400) could summon a level 3 seaserpent like the Diviner(1200/800) from Keins deck. "Then I activate Gishki Aqua Mirror, and tribute Deepsea Diva along with the Gishki Mollusk in my hand, to ritual summon Evigishki Gustkrake!" Diva and a Shellfish swordsman were ritualistically sacrificed to bring out the Gishki kraken(2400/1000). "His effect sends one card from my enemy's hand back to the deck!" He decided to take out one of Chohkmah's cards, as he really disliked the type of removal tactics which she seemed to favor. "Callisto understands." She sent a D.D. Crow back to her deck. "Good. Then I shall use Gishki Diviners effect and predict what card is on top of my deck." And that was not a hard guess to make. Because when he sent Gishki Mollusk to his grave, he was allowed to re-arrange the top three cards of his deck. "I predict it will be Vision Gishki!" The top card of his deck indeed turned out to be the Visionary, one of the three cards Mollusk saw and placed on top. "I add it to my hand and end my turn." He smirked.

"Nicely played, splendor shall be your name.. Hod!" Said the enthusiastic Callisto in the white gown. "And Callisto is Chesed, the kindness!" She revealed a card in her hand, Golden Ladybug, which let her gain 500 lifepoints if she kept it revealed her whole turn. "Lifepoint gain?" Then 'Chesed' activated a spell card; Spell Absorption. Confirming her nature as the healer of the five. "That will be trouble." Urizen groaned. Spell Absorption would give her 500 lifepoints whenever a spell resolved. Chesed placed two cards down and ended her turn. "My turn! And I hope you do not mind, Kein old buddy. But I believe I can top you first turn!" Nathan felt slighted, surely he deserved 'splendor' more!

Cheseds LP: 8500

"I play Reinforcement of the Army and Tuning!" He played two spell that let him add a warrior and a Synchron monster to his deck, at the cost of a discard from the top of his deck. And also at the cost of restoring 500 lifepoints twice to Chesed. "I add Doppel Warrior and Quickdraw Synchron to my hand." He planned to use Quickdraw as his tuner, but found Tuning had a better choice in mind. "Oh! I revive Glow-Up Bulb!" By discarding the top card from his deck, Attack Gainer, he could revive the card he discarded first, the Bulb tuner(0/0). "Doppel Warrior is special summoned!" The revival of a monster brought out the doppelganger warrior(800/800) "I then normal summon T.G. Catapult Dragon and use his effect to special summon T.G. Jet Falcon." The tech dragon(900/1300) could summon a tech genus tuner like the falcon once a turn. "Level 3 Jet Falcon and level 2 Doppel Warrior, become T.G. Hyper Librarian!" He tuned the Jet falcon and doubler together to form the level 5 Librarian(2400/1800). "Because Jet Falcon is used as a synchro material, my opponent loses 500 lifepoints!" Chesed went down from 9500 to 9000 points. "And there is more! Doppel Warrior creates two level 1 tuners when used as a synchro material. I shall use these 2 tokens, the level 1 Bulb and the level 2 Catapult Dragon to summon another Librarian!" The synchro summon of the second Hyper Tech Genus, let the first hand a new draw to his master. "I set two cards and end my turn." And that was his entire first turn. "Tch, show-off." Kein rolled his eyes.

Cheseds LP: 9000

"It is good that you can keep up a high spirit, Netzach of the Eternity. That means there is so much more for me, Gevurah, to destroy." Then came the turn of the severity, the Callisto in red uniform. "Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. When Callisto controls no monsters, an angel can be special summoned." Chesed gained 500 LP again while Gevurah summoned the level 8 Darklord Asmodeus(3000/2500)."Then to boost our angels." She normal summoned the level 1 Freya, Spirit of Victory(500/500), whose effect added 400 points to all fairy-type monsters (Artemis: 2000/2100, Asmodeus: 3400/2900). "But not for long!" Sarah flipped a counter trap. "Wattcancel, I discard a Watt monster to negate your summon!" She discarded a Wattkiwi. "Sorry." But there came one word to shut her down. "Counter trap, Smashing Horn." Chokhmah activated one of her counter traps. Smashing Horn negated an effect that threatened a monsters summon. "Aw." So the fear that Binah was the counter trap aspect of Callisto was well justified. And because a counter trap resolved, Bountiful Artemis let Binah draw a new card too. "An attempt like that is doomed to failure." Gevurah scoffed. With Freya's position secured, she used Asmodeus' effect to discard an angel card from her deck. "Callisto discards the Darklord Superbia."

Cheseds LP: 9500

After that the last of ten turns came. "Oh man, I wish I could help you Ada." Xavier sadly had to resign himself to the sidelines. "It is good enough that you are here with me." She placed a monster down. She also activated the spell, Hand Destruction, and discarded a Stardust Xiaolong and Totem Dragon from her hand to get two new cards. All the other duelists discarded two cards as well and drew two new cards. What caught some attention were the two spells Keter discarded. _"Ojamagic?"_ Keter added two sets of Ojama cards to her hand. As Ojamagic allowed a duelist to claim Ojama Black, Green and Yellow from the deck when it hit the grace. _"Why does she run those?"_ That spell healed Chesed too. "But you know, every other link is taken from the tree. Guess that makes you Tiferet, the Beauty." Ali grinned. "Ha. I suppose so." She actually managed to laugh about that. "But, that is what I do with my turn.. Callisto."

Cheseds LP: 10000

"Great. So now, we can truly begin.. the duel to end all duels."

(To be Continued in Mark 153: Final Duel for Everyone's Souls)

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>D.D. Warrior Lady<br>Golden Ladybug  
>Freya, Spirit of Victory<br>Ojama Black  
>Ojama Green<br>Ojama Yellow

Fiends Sanctuary  
>Spell Absorption<br>Ojamagic

Smashing Horn

**New Card used by Sarah Rain**  
>Wattcancel<p>

**New Card used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Mollusk<p>

**New Card used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Hand Destruction<p> 


	153. 153: Final Duel for Everyone's Souls

**Mark 153: Final Duel for Everyone's Souls**

_**(Editors Note: Took the liberty of add in a small recap section here, as this duel might get confusing fast)  
>Keter: <strong>__Devil Token (0/0), 1 M/T Set (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)**  
>Binah:<strong>__ Bountiful Artemis(2000/2100), 2 M/Ts set (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)**  
>Chokhmah:<strong>__ D.D. Warrior Lady (1500/1600), 1 M/T set (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)**  
>Chesed: <strong>__Spell Absorption, 2 M/Ts set (10000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand, 1 is Golden ladybug)**  
>Gevurah:<strong>__ Freya, Spirit of Victory (500/500) (Boosts all fairies by 400 points) Darklord Asmodeus (3400/2900), Valhalla - Hall of the Fallen (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)_

_**Urizen: **__1 Monster set, 1 M/T set (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)**  
>Sarah:<strong>__ 1 Monster set (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)**  
>Kein:<strong>__ Gishki Diviner(1200/800), Evigishki Gustkrake(2400/1000) (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)**  
>Nathan: <strong>__2x T.G. Hyper Librarian(2400/1800), 2 M/Ts set (8000 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)**  
>Ada: <strong>__1 Monster set, (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)_

...

"Countering, Banishing, Healing and Summoning. Those are four of your aspects." Ada looked at the leftmost Callisto. "What is yours?" The one in black, Keter, had not revealed her specialty yet. "Callisto is Keter, the crown. She can bypass the servants of others and damage them directly." But she gave a quick demonstration, before Ada's turn ended. "Trap card: Meteor Flare. By discarding two cards, 2000 damage is inflicted to a player. We discard two of the Ojamas we added to Callisto's hand last turn." She summoned a meteor fueled by 2 Ojama Blacks, that fell down on Keins side. "Gah! Burning it is then." 1/4th of his life was burned off immediately. "Though I still would like to know which one of you is controlling the others." All Callistos looked at the inquisitive Kein. "That is a secret." They smiled. "And, during my draw phase, Callisto can redraw Meteor Flare again." She skipped her regular to retake the trap. "Callisto pays 1000 lifepoints to keep my devil token on the field. Then three cards are set and the turn ends."

Keins LP: 6000 Keters LP: 7000

"And.." Immediately she reactivated her middle trap, Meteor Flare, this time discarding two Ojama Yellows to damage Kein for another 2000 damaging points. "Grrr. So you intend on hiding behind that token, is that it?" Kein cursed. The devil token(0/0) would reflect all damage done to his master. "Well, as she said; the real duel begins here." Now they could attack, and Urizen would strike first. "I sacrifice my facedown Steelswarm Caller to tribute summon Steelswarm Mantis." The demon cicada(1700/0) made room for the demon preying mantis(2200/0). "Caller, when sacrificed, can summon another lowlevel Steelswarm from my deck. Mantis, when sacrifice summoned, can revive a Steelswarm at the cost of 1000 lifepoints!" Callers effect resolved and a Steelswarm Gatekeeper(1500/1800) appeared. "Sorry." But Mantis' effect was blocked by Chokhmah, the Callisto in blue. "Counter trap: Hero Rule 2." Her trap sealed and killed a card whose effect targeted a card in the graveyard. "Oh no you don't! I counter with Dark Illusion!" But Urizen had a counter set to save his dark-type monster. "Sorry..again." But she had a counter for that counter, she activated Dark Bribe to negate his trap. "Damn it!" Dark Illusion was cancelled out, and Hero Rule 2 was allowed to destroy the Mantis.

Keins LP: 4000 Urizens LP: 7000

Dark Bribe at least allowed Urizen to draw a new card. But because two counter traps had resolved while the Bountiful Artemis(2000/2100) was on Binah's field, she could draw two cards. "But Gatekeeper is still on the field. Meaning I can summon a Steelswarm again this turn!" He sacrificed the hardshelled demon bug to tribute summon the stagbeetle demon, Steelswarm Girastag(2600/0). "Girastag sends one monster on the field to the grave! And I regain 1000 lifepoints!" He selected Darklord Asmodeus, as it was the strongest monster the enemy had right now. "Nice one! Asmodeus does not summon an Asmo and Deus token, because it is not 'destroyed'." Xavier had enough trouble with that fallen angel in his duel with Callisto. "Then I attack Artemis!" Girastags tail lashed out at the fairy. "Dimensional Prison." But this time the royally dressed Callisto, Chokhmah, responded. "An attacking monster is banished." Girastag was imprisoned in another dimension. "Tsk. Fine it is your turn."

Urizens LP: 8000

"Okay." Binah drew a card. She placed another three trap cards down. "Artemis." And the bountiful angel fired holy magic at Ada's facedown monster. "Masked Dragon!" But what they killed was the recruiter of dragons, the Masked Dragon(1400/1100). "I special summon another Masked Dragon from my deck!" Every time it was killed, Ada could summon a new dragon with 1500 attackpoints or less from her deck, like a second Masked one(1400/1100). "Oh. Callisto should have attacked someone else's set monster." The girl sighed and ended her turn. _"She sounds like she does not like doing this."_ Sarah thought as she started her turn.

"I flip summon my set monster, Batteryman Micro-Cell Mike." The microcell(100/100) could summon another Batteryman from her deck. "Mike summons Aaron, Batteryman AAA." A triple A Battery(0/0) joined the tiny battery. "I sacrifice Aaron for Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch!" And she brought out the emperor of thunder. "When 'Lord Jupiter' is tribute summoned, I can destroy one monster on the field." She planned to target Artemis. "Sorry, but.." Yet Binah played another counter trap, Intercept, to gain control of a monster she tribute summoned. "But at least.. your monsters effect still goes off." Artemis was still destroyed, even though Zaborg was now on Binahs field. "Callisto will take good care of this monster, Jupiter is a nice name." She looked away. "You are nicer than the others." Sarah said. "No. That is not true. Callisto is just.. Callisto regrets all of this." The girl replied softly, while Sarah placed a trap down. "So, the part of you that doesn't want this?" She ended her turn after that. "Yes... but.."

"No. There is no other choice, Callisto knows this." Chokhmah glared at Binah. "Callisto is doing the right thing." She activated her own field spell, Chaos Zone. "Oh." The aera's clouds turned blue. "Whenever a card is banished, a counter is added to the zone of Chaos." Chesed meanwhile gained 500 lifepoints thanks to her Spell Absorption card. "Banisher of the Radiance." Then Chokhmah summoned the banishing angel(2000/400). "All cards sent to the grave are now banished." The radiant one attacked and killed the second Masked Dragon, and because it was removed from play, rather than being sent to the grave, its effect was not triggered. "And the Dimensional Lady strikes the kraken." D.D. Warrior Lady(1500/1600) stabbed Evigishki Gustkrake(2400/1000) with her sword. "Oh no Kein! When they engage in battle, they both can be removed!" Nathan cried out, as the two monsters were sucked into a wormhole. "I know that, Ashworth!" Kein snapped at him.

Cheseds LP: 10500 Chokhmah's LP: 7100

"But Gustkrake did what he could. It is time for a new ritual monster." Keins turn started, and he reactivated the effect of Gishki Diviner(1200/800). "I guess Gishki Avance is on top of my deck!" Last turn Gishki Shellfish had re-arranged his top three cards, so even one draw phase later he could predict what was on top of his deck. "Then I send the first Gishki's Ceremonial Mirror from my grave, which I used last turn, to my deck. This allows me to claim a Gishki ritual monster from that deck!" His deck gave him Evigishki Levianima. "I also discard Vision Gishki, to add Evigishki Soul Ogre to my hand." Now he had all he needed, as another ritual spell was already in his hand. "Gishki Aquamirror number two! I sacrifice Soul Ogre in my hand, to ritual summon Levianima!" The deepsea leviathan(2700/1500) emerged from the clouds below. "Also a normal summon for Gishki Avance." The underwater swordsman(1500/800) joined his ritual leviathan. And Kein used his effect to send a card from his deck to the top of the deck. "And I will use Trap Stun now!" Sarah revealed her trap. "No traps can be used during this turn!" She sealed the facedown cards of Binah and Chesed. "Thank you ms. Rain. Now I will attack the Banisher!" Levianima sent its claws down into the crystalline angel, tearing it to pieces.

Cheseds LP: 11000 Chokhmah's LP: 6400

"But when Levianima attacks, I can look at the top card of my deck and draw it. If it is a Gishki monster! And thanks to Avance.." The swordsman had put Gishki Ariel on top. "... the conditions are met!" He drew Ariel, which triggered Levianima's other power. "Now Levianmia can look at your hand, Callisto!" Kein selected to look at the rightmost Callisto's (Gevurah's) hand. _"Athena?"_ And he saw a painful angel in her hand. "Tch. I am not done attacking yet. With no more fairies under your control, I can target Freya!" Avance cut down the Spirit of Victory, Gevurahs monster, while he could. "Oh. Monsters can go to the grave again. But Chaos Zone still gains counters." The discarded Gihskis and Banisher itself went to the grace while the Banisher was still alive, so three more holes appeared in time and space. "..I set a card and end my turn." He had to be careful with his lifepoints here. "That was a nice move. You hurt us pretty bad!" Now came the turn of the most enthusiastic Callisto. "But Callisto can not let pain stick around, oh no!" She revealed golden Ladybug in her hand to gain 500 Lifepoints. As well she activated another spell, Soul Absorption, which already let Spell Asborption heal her by another 500 points. "Continuous trap card: Samsara Sacrifice!"

Cheseds LP: 12000 Gevurah's LP: 6900

_Samsara Sacrifice, Continuous Trap  
>Activate only in a tagteam duel. During your main phase you can pay any multiple of 500 lifepoints. Your partner gains that amount of lifepoints.<br>If this card is in your graveyard, you can banish a card you control, whose card effects include an effect that would restore your lifepoints, to place this card on the field and activate it._

"What?" Ada flinched as they all took in the cards text. "That is right, I will sacrifice my life for theirs!" Chesed grinned happily as she lowered her own lifepoints. "Callisto will heal Callisto!" She gave 2000 lifepoints to Keter, and 1500 to Chokhmah and Gevurah. "I was wondering what the point was of a healer that could only heal herself. Where did a card like that come from?" Ada asked her. "From us, silly Ada. Callisto can make cards too, remember?" She then summoned Meltiel, Sage of the Sky(1600/1200). "Oh, this may hurt a little." Meltiel fired a golden ray of light to smite Sarah's Batteryman Microcell. "But don't worry, that is all for my turn!"

Cheseds LP: 7000 Chokhmah's LP: 7900 Gevurah's LP: 8400 Keters LP: 9000

Sarahs LP: 6500

"That is all she says? She just undid all our progress!" Sarah moaned, though at least Mike's death let her draw one more card. "Yeah. At this rate we will not get anywhere!" Nathan drew a card. "I discard the trap Limiter Overload from my hand, to special summon Quickdraw Synchron." The cowboy tuner(700/1400) revealed himself. And so did Speed Warrior(900/800) who could be summoned because Limiter Overload was sent to the cemetery. "Then I normal summon Tuningware! And I shall synchro summon!" The level 1 support droid(100/300), level 2 speedster and level 5 Quickdrawer became one. "Quickdraw assumes Fleur Synchrons name. Allowing me to summon Chevalier de Fleur!" He called out the armored flower knight(2700/3000). He could draw one card thanks to Tuningware's effect and two thanks to both Hyper Librarians effects. "Triple attack!" Fleur's sword swung towards the Intercepted Zaborg. "Callisto is..sorry." But Binah used Negate Attack, a counter trap that ended the battle phase. "Oof! Deja vu. Chevalier can not negate anything on spell speed 3." And when a counter trap resolved while Meltiel was on the field, his owner would gain 1000 lifepoints too. "Well I still think I should do this. I activate my trap card: Star Shift! I replace one Hyper Librarian on my field with T.G. Wonder Magician in my deck." Hyper Librarian number one tagged out for the synchro tuner, Wonder Magician(1900/0). "Accel synchro summon!" And he sent the two level 5 Tech Genus cards away, to synchro summon Blade Blaster, the level 10 tech gunner(3300/2500). "I set two cards and end my turn."

Cheseds LP: 8500

"For all of you talk, and all of your monsters, the differences between us have stayed the same." Gevurah still had the spell Valhalla, so she could special summon an angel to her monster-free field. "Athena." She called out the goddess of wisdom(2600/800). "Then, Binah will lend me her intercepted monster." And then she tributed Zaborg, to tribute summon the level 6 Darklord Edeh Arae(2300/2000). "Athena damages Kein." Every time an angel was summoned, Athena could inflict 600 damage to someone. "Trap card, Synchro Barrier!" But Nathan was quick to save him, sacrificing his Chevalier de Fleur. "I thought Keter was supposed to be the burner eh?" He smirked as the sacrificed synchro monster created a barrier that negated the effect damage for a whole turn. "You thought wrong, learn more before you speak." But Athena's other effect was still free for her to use. "Sacrifice Edeh Arae, and summon Superbia." By tributing one angel, Athena could revive another. One Darklord was switched for the superb one(2900/2400). "When Superbia escapes the grave, he brings another angel with him." And from Superbia's jarlike body came Edeh Area again. "Show 'Hod' no mercy." The three angels wiped out Keins Gishki army, Levianima, Diviner and Avance were crushed by waves of darkness. But the Synchro Barrier at least prevented all damage, including battle damage.

Before they passed their turn back to Ada, gevurah equipped the Ribbon of Rebirth to Athena. "One thing I would like to understand is.." Said Ada as she drew her card. "Why set all of this up in the first place? We weren't signers again until you made us that way. You could have just silenced us with a gesture if you wanted to end the world." She then summoned the Dodger Dragon(1900/1600), which shut down any counter trap Binah might try to play. "Callisto would have, but those are not the rules." Gevurah replied. "Callisto never would hurt them if they did not deserve it." Chokhmah added. "But they do not deserve it if..." Binah continued, but could not finish the sentence. "..I see." Dodger Dragon then attacked and killed the Sage Meltiel. "You do? Because I don't." Xavier scratched his head. "Think back to what she said to us from the beginning, Ali. This world is fueled by dueling."

Cheseds LP: 8200

"I get it now." Kein looked at the Callisto's. "You can not do anything unless you prove to humanity that your will to end all life is stronger than their will to win. The cards we use are the spirits of the living, so you must overcome them first." Sarah flinched. "Oh wait! is that why she isn't using cards she made anymore?" She had been curious as to why Callisto stopped using the Agent angels, Time Lords, or even Nordic cards. "The only choice you had, was to pick who you'd duel. You chose us. It is as simple as that." She ended her turn. "Callisto did not choose you. There is a power higher than even her." Keter meanwhile re-used the effect of Meteor Flare, drawing it once more instead of the top card from her deck. "A higher power? Who?" Nathan did not think anyone could be higher than god. "The same that empowered our marks I reckon." Urizen recalled Ansoni's amazing luck when he dueled Callisto and wished he had the same luck right now.

"We are not at liberty to say. This whole duel is a performance for that power." Keter paid 1000 LPs to upkeep her token devil and then summoned Fairy Archer(1400/600). "Callisto will target Urizen." Once a turn the archer could forego her attack to inflict 400 damage to a player for every fairy they controlled. This included all of Gevurahs angels. "Four fairies, 1600 damage." The fired arrow hit Urizen square in the chest and knocked him down. "Ggh. Is that all?" He coughed and stood back up. "After Callisto sets a card, yes." She ended her turn. "Ggh... Good." Urizens turn began. "Are you alright?" Kein asked him. "I think..you should worry more about yourself." Urizen managed to cough out. "What do you..oh hell." Kein looked back just in time to see Keter discard an Ojama Green and a third Ojamagic spell. Then another Meteor Flare hit him. "Argh. Why is it always me?" He was closest to defeat now, though at least Meteor Flare could not be used on duelists with less than 3000 lifepoints, explaining why she did not use Fairy Archer on Kein as well. "She must consider you the biggest threat." Meanwhile Keter added a third trio of Ojamas to her hand after Ojamagic hit her grave.

Keins LP: 2000 Keters LP: 8000 Urizens LP: 6400

"Maybe I can change her mind." He summoned Dark Resonator to the field. "Ada, I am going to borrow your dragon." And he tuned the level 3 Resonator with her level 4 Dodger Dragon. "That monster?" Dark Highlander(2800/2300), the level 7 synchro Sarah saw Gaunt use, was the result. "I had another question. Why me? Why not my father? I failed your trial." Urizen lost to Surtr, he felt like Gaunt deserved to be here more. "You defeated the creator god." Keter replied. "We're sorry. But we did not think your father would do as well as you." Binah added with an apologetic tone. "Hmph. You are making this hard for yourself on purpose." He played an equip spell, Cursed Armanents, equipping it to Athena. "But that is okay. I shall just play like how he would have played. Dark Highlander!" The Highlander used his effect to destroy all equip cards on Athena, and inflict 400 damage for each destroyed card. The Ribbon and Armanents were torn to pieces. "Cursed Armanents!" But the cursed armor could re-equip itself if it was sent to the was a spell that lowered a monsters attackpoints by the amount of monsters his side controlled. Nathan and Urizen both had one, so the Athena(1400/800) he re-equipped it to was weakened by 1200 points. "Attack!" And Highlander cut the goddess down with his scythe.

Gevurah's LP: 6200 Cheseds LP: 8700

"The five of you may work well together, but there are just five of you. We have all of mankind on our side!"

(To be Continued in Mark 154: As Strong as the Weakest Link)

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle**  
>Banisher of the Radiance<br>Darklord Edeh Arae

-  
>Chaos Zone<br>Soul Absorption

-  
>Meteor Flare<br>Hero's Rule 2  
>Dimensional Prison<br>Intercept_  
>Samsara Sacrifice<em>

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Dark Highlander<p>

-  
>Cursed Armanents<p>

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain**  
>Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch<p>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver**  
>Gishki Avance<br>Evigishki Levianima


	154. 154: As Strong as its Weakest Link

**Mark 154: As Strong as its Weakest Link**

_**Keter: **Metal __Devil Token (0/0) and Fairy Archer(1400/600) , 2 M/Ts set (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Binah:**__ 1 M/T set (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Chokhmah:**__ Chaos Zone (5 counters) (7900 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Chesed: **__Spell Absorption, Soul Absorption, Samsara Sacrifice, 1 M/Ts set (8700 LP) (2 Cards in Hand, 1 is Golden ladybug)  
><em>_**Gevurah:**__Darklord Edeh Arae (2300/2000), Darklord Superbia(2900/2400), Valhalla - Hall of Fallen (6200 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)_

_**Urizen: **__Dark Highlander(2800/2300) (6400 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Sarah:**__ (6500 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Kein:**__ 1 M/T set (2000 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Nathan: **__T.G. Blade Blaster(3300/2500) (8000 LP), 1 M/T set (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Ada:**__ (8000 LP) (4 Cards in Hand)_

"Your move, Callistos." Urizen placed a trap down and ended his turn. "Dawn of the Herald." It was now Binahs turn, and she started off with a ritual spell. "Callisto will sacrifice Tethys - Goddess of Light from her hand to ritual summon the Herald of Perfection." A level 6 angel was sent to the grave to bring out a level 6 ritual monster, the Perfect Herald(1800/2800), in defense mode. "Trap card: Deep Dark Trap Hole!" But Urizen immediately reacted to the ritual summon, by opening a hole underneath the Herald. "Callisto is sorry, but Herald can negate an effect, by sending an angel from Callisto's hand away." She discarded one of the two remaining cards in her hand, a Herald of Green Light, to counter the Trap Hole and destroy it. "Tsk. I knew that." Urizen just wanted to limit her resources as much as possible. "But, by sending the ritual spell back to my deck." Binah returned Dawn of the Herald. "One of the ritual materials is added to Callisto's hand." And she reclaimed Tethys. "Callisto sets a card and ends her turn."

Cheseds LP: 9200

"So you at least have one more all-purpose negation left." Sarah counted the cards in her hand and on her field. Two traps were face-down, who knew what would set them off. "Well this is the best I can do." She summoned a Tribe-Shocking Virus(1700/1000) to her field. "Oh? That's new! What's its name?" Asked Chesed. "Ehr.. actually I haven't named it yet. I just put this thunder monster in my deck for this duel specifically." She did not like the design of the virus, but knew its effect could come in handy. "I banish a Shining Angel from my hand, which allows this Virus to shock all 'fairy-type' monsters on the field, destroying them!" The removed Shining Angel would heal Chesed, thanks to her Soul Absorbing spell, but at least darklords, archers and heralds on the field would die. "Callisto is sorry then, but it will die before it ever gets a name." Yet rather than negating this effect with the Perfect Heralds effect, she used one of her counter traps. "The Huge Revolution is Over: This trap banishes a card that destroys two or more cards." The Virus was repelled and sucked into another dimension. "What a waste." Gevurah smirked, while Chesed gained another 500 lifepoints thanks to Soul Absorption. "Shoot." Sarah snapped her fingers. "I set two cards and end my turn. Sorry about that guys.."

Cheseds LP: 10200

"You need not apologize, there was nothing you could have done." Said Chokhmah as she started her turn. "But now. Thanks to all banished cards, Chaos Zone has gained many counters." Seven monsters had been removed since the field spell had been played (Masked Dragon, Girastag, DD Warrior Lady, Banisher of the Radiance, Shining Angel & Tribe Shocking Virus), so there were seven wormholes on the battlefield. "By removing four counters, a level 4 banished monster can be returned to life." Four gates fused and they opened to release the D.D. Warrior Lady(1500/1600). "Then, since Callisto has no monsters in her grave, she can special summon the Guardian Eatos." From her hand came the guardian angel Eatos(2500/2000). "Callisto will equip it with Tokkosho of Ghost Destroying." She took out a necklace of beads. "And by using her effect to sacrifice equipment spells, Eatos can banish three monsters from the enemy's grave, and improve her own attackpoints." The Guardian tore the beads up, and banished all three Steelswarm monsters from Urizens graveyard. "Thanks." The overjoyed Chesed had her two continuous spells absorb the equipspell and all banished monsters, and healed herself four times.

Cheseds LP: 12200

"Strike." D.D. Warrior Lady stabbed Urizens monster again, sending herself and Dark Highlander(2800/2300) to the other dimension, while taking some damage. "One remains." Then Eatos(4000/2000) set her sights on Nathans synchro monster, TG Blade Blaster. "Crap. I can remove him from the field, but that will leave us all wide open!" And Nathan looked at Kein, the one duelist who would not survive a direct attack from Eatos. "Just do it, I've got it covered." He growled. "Okay. I banish T.G Catapult Dragon in my grave, to remove Blade Blaster from the field for one turn!" The Tech Gunner disappeared. "Then.." And Eatos fired a blast of holy light at Kein. "Defense Draw!" Now Kein activated his trap. "Defense, wait.." But Nathan nearly activated the same trap. But Keins trap already nullified the battle damage, and he could draw once. "I said I had it covered!" Kein shouted. "But Herald of Perfection could have negated your trap, so I prepared mine!" Nathan yelled back. "Ggh. I did not consider that." Kein had to admit. Though Binah did not counter his trap anyway.

Cheseds LP: 14200 Chokmah's LP: 6600

"Sorry, Callisto does not want to use Heralds power, until it makes a difference." She explained. "It does not matter, Callisto knows it was the best move." Chokhmah now ended her turn. But thanks to all the removals she forced, Chaos Zone has eight counters now and Chesed had absorbed more souls with her spell.. "Thanks anyway. Nathan. But right now I am probably the weakest link of the team." Kein summoned Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands(1400/1000), using its effect to add a ritual monster, Northwemko, to his hand. "Right now, this is my best move. I activate the Ritual of Grace!" He then tributed the level 4 Manju, along with the level 4 Djinn Procogstinator of Rituals in his hand. "Divine Grace - Northwemko!" And he ritual summoned the level 7 Goddess of Salvation(2700/1200). "I select your cards Callisto." Northwemko casted a barrier around Cheseds Samsara Sacrifice and the Chaos Zone field. "While those cards exist, Northwemko can not be killed by card effects." Then Northwemko raised her scepter. "Attack Fairy Archer." And she destroyed Keters fairy.

Cheseds LP: 14700 Keters LP: 6700

"Because a monster was destroyed by Northwemko, who used the Presider Djinn as a sacrifice, I can draw one card." Kein placed a card down and let the turn end. But he did note that Binah did nothing to stop his ritual ceremony either. "Even they consider me the weakest." He sighed. "Now don't say that! Every one of you is as strong as the other! There is no true strongest you!" Chesed frowned. "Everyone just has their own strengths, like Callisto!" She revealed Golden Ladybug in her hand and gained 500 lifepoints. Then she used the trap Samsara Sacrifice to redistribute the many lifepoints she had to her allies. "Here you go Callisto!" She gave Chokhmah 1500 points, Gevurah 2000 and Keter 2500. "Easy for you to say, you each cover one aspect of dueling. You are perfectly in synch with each other." Ada said, unable to decide which Callisto was the most annoying. "But is that not our strength then?" Nathan asked as he started his turn. "I mean, if we take one of them out, they will lose one fifth of their strategy permanently!"

Cheseds LP: 9200 Chokhmah's LP: 8100 Gevurah's LP: 8200 Keters LP: 9200

"The question is, who do we get rid of first? Who is the real Callisto here?" TG Blade Blaster returned to Nathans field at this point. "If you ask me, that is Keter." Ada said, glaring at the leftmost Callisto. "She never attacks, she only burns, Chesed always heals her more than is necessary." She saw too many clues to ignore them, right down to her wearing the black outfit she had when she was the Chaos Architect. "But we can not get to her, unelss we get rid of her protection first." Chesed and Binah were bigger threats. Chokhmah and Gevurah were just the powerhouses of the five. "But those two are the nicest." Xavier said to Ada. "That is just a front obviously." Urizen told him. "They do not want us to go after the kindest looking ones." Nathan nodded. "Then I know what to do. I normal summon Changer Synchron. And when I control a tuner, Boost Warrior can be special summoned!" Two level 1 monsters landed on the clouds, the winged tuner(0/0) and booster fighter(600/200). "Synchro summon!" And they were combined.

"I summon Tech Genus Recripo Dragonfly!" A cybernetic level 2 dragonfly(300/300) was summoned. "Recipro can de-synchro a T.G. synchro I control and summon its materials!" Blade Blaster desynched into T.G. Hyper Librarian(2400/1800) and T.G. Wonder Magician(1900/0). "I did not get to show the others this, so prepare to be amazed!" And he combined the level 5 synchros with the dragonfly, using Wonder Magician as the tuner. "Come out Delta Accel Synchro monster: Halberd Cannon!" The level 12 halberd wielder(4000/4000) emerged from Nathans extra deck at last. "Whoa." Sarah was suitably impressed. "About time." Kein wondered when his fellow Ace would ever use this card. "Hey I used it before! Against a Reaper." Nathan fumed. "Anyway, Changer Synchron was used as a synchro material, so it can switch a monsters position!" He switched Binahs ritual Herald angel to attack position. "Attack the Herald!" And the Halberd pierced through the enemy. "?" Except the weapon struck Binah instead. "Callisto is sorry, but she does not want the Herald to die." Binah coughed, an astral projection of her had suffered the blow. "Astral Barrier?" Because she had played a permanent trap that turned all attacks on her monsters into direct attacks.

Binahs LP: 4000

"Well that was not exactly what I wanted, but.." Nathan placed a card down. "This suits you well, doesn't it?" Gevurah continued when he ended his turn. "But you are mistaken, Callisto has no weaknesses. It is you who have a fragile link." She tributed Darklord Edeh Arae to tribute summon Darklord Desire(3000/2800) "Halberd Cannon can negate a monsters summoning once per turn!" Nathans monster tried to stop the fallen angels descent. "Sorry." But now Binah reacted, discarding Tethys from her hand to let the Herald negate Halberds effect, and to destroy the powerful synchro monster. "Ngh. But when Halberd Cannon dies, I can revive Blade Blaster!" The cyber gunslinger(3300/2500) returned as the cannoneer died. "He will not be with us for long. Desire's effect.." Desire could lower its attackpoints by a thousand to destroy an opponents monster. "Gah, I banish Blade Blaster again, by removing Recipro Dragonfly from my graveyard!" But Blade Blaster dodged desire's(2000/2800) dark waves by fleeing to another dimension, though Chesed and her Soul absorber spell did not mind that. "Then we shall strike Kein." Daklord Superbia killed Northwemko, as she could still be destroyed by physical attacks. Then Desire came in for a direct attack. "Rgh, Defense Draw!" This time Nathans Defense Draw trap was used to turn the damage into a card draw, as Desire phased harmlessly through Kein. "The longer you keep protecting your weakest half, the more vulnerable you become." Gevurah ended her turn.

Cheseds LP: 10200 Keins LP: 1800

"You left yourself sorta vulnerable too!" Ada said. "But before I continue, who here has a trap they can afford to lose?" She inquired because she activated her spell, Double Cyclone. "Here you go." Nathan raised his hand. "Good, I destroy a spell card on both sides of the field! Nathans and your Spell absorber card!" Spell Absorption was destroyed, but Nathan could activate his trap just in time. "TGX3-DX2! I send three Tech genus cards back to my deck to draw two new cards!" He chose to return the Hyper Librarians and Halberd Cannon synchro cards. "Now I can play as many spells as we want!" She activated Cards of Consonance. "I discard Dragunity Phalanx from my hand, and draw two cards!" She then normal summoned the level 4 Dragunity Dux(1500/1000), whose effect was used to bring Phalanx back as an equipment card. And the level 2 tuner's own effect special summoned it(500/1100) to the field. "Synchro summon!" The two Dragunities were combined into the Dragunity Knight - Gae Bulg(2000/1100). "Gae Bulg attacks Darklord Desire! And he banishes Dragunity Dux from the grave to absorb its attackpower!" The selfpowered knight(3500/1100) skewered the angel of desires.

Cheseds LP: 10700 Gevurah's LP: 6600

".." Ada placed one card down. "Your move, Keter." The Callisto in black bowed her head. "So it is." Her turn was pretty much the same as all her previous turns. Instead of drawing from her deck she reclaimed Meteor Flare from the grave. She paid 1000 lifepoints for her devil token(0/0). She placed one card down and activated it as soon as her turn was over. "Callisto has a new target, Sarah." This time she discarded her remaining Ojama Greens, to inflict 2000 points of damage to the blonde duelist. "Kindness is a weakness as well." She stated before letting Urizen finish his draw.

Keters LP: 8200 Sarahs LP: 4500

"Rrgh. Are you going to be okay?" Urizen asked the girl that just got blasted with a meteor. "Yeah. It wasn't as painful as it looked." She coughed. "But I guess I am who she wants to go next." She said, while he clenched his fist. "That does not mean she considers you the weakest." Urizen turned to her. "Right? You want to eliminate the strongest link first, if you can. That is why you prefer direct damage, because it removes interference from the others." Keter said nothing in return. "Well. Two can play that game, thanks to a card one of you played." Suddenly a wide-mouthed demon(1900/1600) showed up, chewing his way through Samsara Sacrifice. "I special summon Trap Eater, by sending a trap to the grave. And he will attack Binah!" The Astral Barrier was still in place, so the Trap Eater could munch on that one too. "Real or not. You are the biggest problem in this duel, your regrets are holding us back more than you!" He ended his turn.

Binahs LP: 2100

"Callisto guesses that is true." She switched The Herald of Perfection to defense mode. "But what Callisto tells her to do, must be done." Then Binah activated a spell, Magic Planter. _"Now is my chance!" _At which point Sarah flipped her two traps. "First Trap: Portable Battery Pack! I revive Two Batterymen!" A battery pack trap appeared and held Batteryman AAA(0/0) and Micro-Cell(100/100). "Second Trap: Cards of Sacrifice! I draw two cards!" The two attack-position monsters had less combined attackpoints than the Herald, so her trap could be used right now. "Oh." And then Binah could finally sacrifice the Astral Barrier to draw two new cards. "You saw an opening." She placed one monster face-down, but kept the other. "I saw a bit more than that, Binah. Something you said just now, sounded off to me." Sarah began her turn. "You used to refer to everyone in the third person, now you only do that for Callisto. Meaning.."

"None of you are the real Callisto!"

"What?" Xavier gasped. "Psh. I should have known." Urizen spat. "The real one is too cowardly to put her own life on the line, she always was." He should have realized, every time they saw Callisto after she left this world, she was a fake. "No. That is not true! Callisto is here, we are Callisto!" Chokhmah insisted. "You are part of her. But all parts are equal, so it truly does not matter who we take down first." Sarah activated the spell Thunder Short, which would inflict 2000 damage to the Callisto's, since they controlled five monsters in total. "Callisto is not alone." Binah of course discarded an angel from her hand, Herald of Purple Light. "She is not the only one who wants her to win." And the thunder spell was negated. "Maybe. I can not speak for others. But I know myself." Sarah looked at Urizen, and glanced at his Trap Eater card. He winked back at her, meaning he would let her use his monster. "And I think I, like most people, like whatever world we live in!"

"Synchro summon!" Sarah combined the level 4 Trap Eater with her level 1 and level 4 Battery monsters. "Mist Wurm!" And she called the level 9 thunder worm(2500/1500). "His effect returns three cards to a players hand!" The worms mist enveloped the devil token, perfect Herald and Binahs set monster. "No." Binah was out of cards to discard and counter traps to use. She could not stop this. "Next, Quick Charger! I take back two Batterymen." With another spell she reclaimed MicroCell and the triple A Battery. "Then Reload!" And she shuffled those two cards back to draw two new cards. "Perfect!" They were just what she needed. "I summon Vaultner, my Wattmole. He can attack twice in one turn!" An electric mole(0/0) landed on the field. "And I activate the spell Full Force Strike, targeting him with it!" She entered the battle phase. "Full Force Strike prevents my monsters pain and death and kills the monsters he attacks instead!" Wattmole burrowed into the clouds, and attacked both Guardian Eatos and Darklord Superbia, killing them both. "They are all wide open!" Nathan cheered as that took care of the last of Callisto's angels. "Now I am sorry, Callisto. But your regrets.." Then Mist Wurm attacked directly, blasting Binah with red-hot steam. "Are the first to go."

Binahs LP: 0

"No. It is okay.." Binah smiled, as her body began to become one with the clouds. "This is just the first step.. towards acceptance."

(To be Continued in Mark 155: Lord Giveth and Man Taketh Away)

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle  
><strong>Tethys - Goddess of Light  
>Herald of Perfection<br>Herald of Green Light  
>Herald of Purple Light<p>

-  
>Dawn of the Herald<br>Tokkosho of Ghost Destroying  
>Magic Planter<p>

-  
>The Huge Revolution is Over<br>Astral Barrier

**New Cards used by Sarah Rain  
><strong>Tribe-Shocking Virus  
>Wattmole<p>

-  
>Quick Charger<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth  
><strong>T.G. Recripo Dragonfly


	155. 155: Lord Giveth and Man Taketh away

**Mark 155: ****Lord Giveth and Man Taketh Away**

_**Keter: **__(8200 LP), _2 M/Ts set_ (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Binah:**__ (0 LP)  
><em>_**Chokhmah:**__ Chaos Zone(12 counters) (8100 LP) (1 Card in Hand)  
><em>_**Chesed: **__Soul Absorption, 1 M/Ts set (10700 LP) (5 Cards in Hand, 1 is Golden ladybug)  
><em>_**Gevurah:**__ Valhalla - Hall of Fallen (6600 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)_

_**Urizen: **__(6400 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Sarah:**__ Mist Wurm(2500/1500) (4500 LP) (0 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Kein:**__ (1800 LP) 1 M/T set (2 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Nathan: **__T.G. Blade Blaster(3300/2500) (8000 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Ada:**__ Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg(2000/1100), 1 M/T set, (8000 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)_

"You have managed to defeat one of us." The Callisto that could counter their every spell, trap or monster effect, she was gone. "Callisto expected it would come to this." Four remained. "Are you talking about you yourselves, or about the original one?" Urizen did not even know anymore if these girls could think for themselves or if they were just mouthpieces for the real Callisto. "Binah has returned to Callisto, the feeling of regret. The regret of all the souls she thought she hurt and will hurt." Chokhmah took her turn, once Sarah finished hers. "But if she knows she is hurting people, why does she continue?" Sarah asked. "Because it is not pain, it is inevitability." Chokhmah placed a monster in face-down defense position. "She can only regret what is out of her control, so there is no need to regret. She tried to deny it, tried to deny that death is the natural end state of all things. But this world, just like everything else, is mortal. What Callisto is doing is the only thing everyone can do. Cause death.."

"D.D. Warrior Lady." Then Chokhmah activated Chaos Zone once more, removing 4 of the 12 counters that were on it to revive D.D. Warrior Lady(1500/1600) from the banished zone again. "Ugh. We gotta get rid of that damn field spell." Ada rasped as the lady of course used her effect to banish herself and the Dragunity Knight Gae Bulg(2000/1100) that the card chose to do battle with. "Or her spell card." Xavier was more annoyed by Cheseds Soul Absorption, which healed her by 1000 points because two monsters had just been rbanished. And two more counters were added to Chaos Zone too. "No matter what choices you make, the end will be the same." Chokhmah said as she placed a trap down as well. "Take your turn." And Kein could go next. "Chokhmah stands for Wisdom, right? So what.. are you wisdom through doomsaying?" Kein could only place the Gishki Ariel monster card and one trap card down. He was out of ritual to perform right now. "You learned too much and now you think you alone can decide what must be done, is that it?"

Cheseds LP: 11700 Chokmah's LP: 7600

"No degree of wisdom can fix the world if it is already dying, Kein. All that knowledge must be used to find the nicest way to end it." Chesed chimed in with her out-of-place cheerful tone. "It will not hurt long, and everyone will be together again!" She turned to Sarah. "Like you! You are about to join your mommy and daddy!" She flinched. "What?" Chesed then used the effect of Golden Ladybug to gain 500 lifepoints. "Samsara Sacrifice's effect: I sacrifice Soul absorption to place it back on the field." The continuous spell was replaced with the continuous trap in her grave. "Now, Trust Guardian!" And in her main phase she first normal summoned a level 3 tuner(0/800). "Photon Lead on Radiant Jeral!" Then a level 4 statue angel(1000/2000) was special summoned through the effect of the photonic spell. "Synchro summon!" And she tuned the two together to form a level 7 dragon. "Oh no. Not that card!" One that Ada and Xavier knew best, it was the Ancient Sacred Wyvern(2100/2000), the dragon that killed Xavier the first time around.

Cheseds LP: 12200

"Sacred Wyvern gains attackpoints equal to the difference between our lifepoints!" It apparently depended on the difference between two competing duelists, as right now the Wyvern(9800/2000) had its sights set on Sarahs Mist Wurm(2500/1500), and gained 12200 minus 4500 attackpoints. "No, Sarah!" And nobody had any cards left that could stop the attack that wiped our the Wurm and her life-force. "Macrocosm." And to add insult to injury, Chokhmah activated a continuous trap at the last second, to ensure Mist Wurm would stay dead. Macrocosm banished all cards that were sent to the grave. "I.." Sarah expected to feel something, agony or just a shock. But nothing touched her nerves as she saw her monster die. "I feel.." In fact she did not feel anything anymore, neither the heat from her dueldisk nor the wind in the air. "You see? Isn't this much better?" Chesed smiled. "This is... what it is like?" Sarah shivered, even though she did not feel cold anymore either. "N-no. Not like this, not like..." And like Binah before her, her body turned to fire and smoke. "Sarah!" Ada yelled out one last time, but she could not hear them anymore either. "This is not.. living.." Were the last words that she could say, before she disappeared, burning up into a cloud of ashes.

Sarahs LP: 0

"Where did you send her?" Urizen rasped. "Where every last one of you will be sent." Gevurah replied coldly. "Now stay quiet until your turn comes up." She glared at him and then at Chesed. "Callisto knows. Callisto will heal." Chesed used Samsara Sacrifice once more, giving 1500 of her lifepoints to Gevurah, and 500 to Chokhmah, bringing them both above the 8000 treshold again. "The end." Her turn was done at last, and Nathan could take his. "Man. I did not think Sarah would be the first to go." He sighed. None of this was fair. "If all must go, does it matter in which way they go? Some are just weaker than others." Gevurah smirked. "She was not weak! You just ganged up on her because she took out one of yours first!" Nathan snapped at the Callisto in red. "Blast it!" But he knew he could do nothing to that one, he could not attack directly while Ancient Sacred Wyvern was on the field. "Attack Helios!" Instead TG Blade Blaster killed the Primordial Sun - Helios(1500/1500) that Chokhmah had summoned when he activated Macro Cosmos.

Cheseds LP: 10200 Chokhmah's LP: 8100 Gevurahs LP: 8200

"Spell card: Variety Comes Out! I send Blade Blaster back to my extra deck and summon four tuners whose combined level stars equal his ten." The gunner traded his spot for the level 5 Quickdraw(700/1400), level 3 T.G. Jet Falcon(1400/1200), level 1 Attack Gainer(0/0) and Change Synchron(0/0). "Also these three cards I will set." He placed two traps and one monster down. "Now you can go, Gevurah." Despite all her talk, she had no monsters on her field right now. So he wondered what she would do. "You put up a good defense, Nathan. But can you protect the others as well?" Using the effect of Valhalla, as she controlled no monsters, she special summoned Darknight Parshath(1900/1400) from her hand. "Like Kein?" Parshath gained 100 attackpoints for each dark monster in the grave. Parshath(2300/1400) then decided to cut down Keins set monster, Gishki Ariel(1000/1800). "Callisto shall draw." And when the dark angel killed a monster, the controller could draw a card. "Who said he needed to protect me?" But so could Kein, in a way. "Ariels flip effect lets me add a Gishki monster to my hand. Which helps me." He smirked and added Gishki Beast to his hand. "This one time it helped you, do not expect that at all times." Gevurah placed a monster down and ended her turn.

"You know, if you think we will shift our attention to you, just because you make us hate you more..." Ada drew and special summoned Totem Dragon(400/200) from her graveyard. "You thought wrong!" She then activated the spell, Stamping Destruction. "I destroy Macro Cosmos!" Because she controlled a dragon type now, she could destroy a spell or trap and inflict 500 damage to its owner. Chokhmah's cosmic trap was crushed and the cards controller lost some life. "Then I flip Dragon Reincarnation!" She revealed her trap. "I banish a dragon to revive a dragon." Totem Dragon was removed and Dragunity Phalanx(500/1100) returned. "Finally, Bright Star Dragon!" She normal summoned the level 4 starry wind dragon(1900/1000), whose effect added 2 level stars to the level 2 Phalanx tuner. "I Synchro summon Stardust Dragon!" And Ada synchronized her two level 4 monsters into the galactic sanctuary dragon, Stardust(2500/2000). "But when I say finally, I mean.." Because she had synchro summoned, she could also special summon Stardust Xiaolong(100/100) from her graveyard. "I can summon 'the miracle'."

Chokhmah's LP: 7600

She shared a look with Nathan. "Go for it." Who figured immediately she needed a tuner of his. "Nathans Level 1 Attack Gainer and my level 1 Stardust Xiaolong, I combine them into Formula Synchron!" The formula synchro tuner(200/1500) appeared at last, allowing Ada to draw a card once more using its effect. "Now, I can Accel synchro summon!" Stardust and Formula Synchron were combined into a level 10 monster, the pristine Shooting Star Dragon(3300/2500). "Awesome!" Xavier exclaimed happily. "Here you go Callisto. The dragon you yourself never saw coming! It will do battle with your strongest monster!" Since Ada's lifepoints had not been touched yet, there was only a moderate difference of lifepoints between her and Chesed. "Now. Since Attack Gainer was used a synchro material, my opponents monster loses 1000 attackpoints!" The Ancient Sacred Wyvern's original power went down, leaving the wyvern at 1100 plus the difference of 2200 points. "They are equals?" Chesed asked in a surprised tone. "Not for long. I activate Blustering Winds, a monster I control gains 1000 attackpoints this turn!" The spell strengthened Shooting Star(4300/2500).

"But Trust Guardian.." Kein referred to the tuner that Chesed had used for the summon of the Wyvern. "I know. It can save the life of that synchro monster by reducing its attackpower. But." Ada activated the effect of Shooting Star, picking up five cards from her deck. "If I get enough attacks, I can do enough damage to nullify the difference between our lifepoints!" She managed to pick up four tuners (Dragunity Javelin, Partisan and Debris Dragon). "That should be enough, I attack!" Shooting Star formed three mirage copies, which descended upon the dragon angel(3300/2000). "Wow. That would have worked." But Chesed, at the last second, flipped her trap. "Had I not been saving this." She flashed a grin, as her Draining Shield absorbed the attack. "No!" 4300 attackpoints were converted into healing points. "No.." The difference was too great now, the wyvern(7600/2000) too strong. "Curse it all!" She had two attacks left. At the very least she could destroy Chokhmah's set monster and Gevurah's Darknight Parshath with them.

Cheseds LP: 14500 Gevurahs LP: 6200

"It is not all bad. You hurt Gevurah a little. And look!" Chesed pointed at Chokhmah's graveyard and its newest monster, D.D. Destroyer(1000/1000). "You destroyed Macro Cosmos, and prevented Callisto from destroying a card too!" The Destroyer usually killed one card if it was banished. So it was a good thing that Ada didn't attack the Destroyer while Macrocosmos was there to banish it. "Do not try to cheer me up. I know you are all after the same thing." She placed the last card in her hand down and ended her turn. Blustering Winds no longer powered up her dragon(3300/2500). "That is true. But you did bring one fact to Callisto's attention." Keter began her turn. "You have not been given enough care." She reclaimed Meteor Flare, placed it down and activated it as soon as her endphase ended. "Callisto will rectify that." She discarded the two last Ojamas in her hand, to inflict 2000 damage to Ada with the fifth meteor impact this duel. "Feh You are out of shots now." Urizen grumbled as he began his turn.

Ada's LP: 6000

"I set two cards down and one monster. That is all." At this point in time, even Urizen had to go on the defense. "Shooting Star.." Chokhmah stared at the dragon. "That one.. did surprise Callisto. But not anymore." Chaos Zone removed four of its eleven counters, and released D.D. Warrior Lady from the other dimension as expected. "It was Xavier Ali that took it from Callisto, and Xavier Ali which told Ada to use it. That time you broke the flow of the day she had predicted in her dreams. But she now knows why." The Warrior Lady attacked. "Oh?" But Ada removed Shooting Star from her field, to negate the attack. "It is because Xavier had left the established harmony, he alone could get around her perfect visions." Then Chokhmah entered main phase 2 and activated a continuous spell. "But she has left that harmony too now, and is closer with the chaos, then any soul ever was." It was a dimensional dungeon. "Ah!" The spell kept Shooting Star imprisoned in the other dimension, it could not be summoned back to the field.

_Different Dimension Dungeon, Continuous Spell  
><em>_While this card is face-up on the field, your opponents banished cards can not be summoned or returned to the graveyard._

"Turn end." So now it was up to Kein. ".." The ace drew a card, but did not like it. _"Ritual of Destruction?"_ Garlandolf would be a good card to use, but he lacked the sacrifices and the ritual monster himself. _"I need more draws..hmm." _He had a plan, a desperate plan. "Gishki Beast! He revives a Gishki when normal summoned!" The deepsea lion(1500/1300) used his powers to revive the level 3 Gishki Diviner(1200/800). "Nathan, I too shall make use of your tuner." Kein performed his synchro summon, using the Diviner and T.G. Jet Falcon as materials. "Brionac!" And he summoned the Ice Barriers dragon(2300/1400). "Are you going to bounce back the wyvern?" Asked Chesed. "No, I am not after you. You have too many lifepoints. My target is Gevurah!" First the red-uniformed Callisto lost 500 lifepoints, because Jet Falcon had been used as a synchro material and Kein chose her as a target. "You are my choice, but not for this effect alone." He discarded the Ritual of Destruction from his hand. "I target my set card!" Brionac was about to bounce off Keins trap. "Which I then activate; Treasure Map!" When Treasure Map was threatened with an effect like this, its effect could be used. "I draw two cards and return one card in my hand to my deck!" Kein drew Ritual Raven and Aqua Jet. He returned the latter.

Gevurah's LP: 5700

"And then I activate my set card, Preparation of the Rites!" A spell followed. "I take a ritual spell from my grave and a ritual monster out of my deck!" He claimed the Ritual of Destruction, and Garlandolf himself. "Ritual summon! I discard Ritual raven as the sacrifice!" The Raven could be offered as a whole tribute for dark-type ritual summons. "And Garlandolf destroys all monsters who have less defense than its attackpoints!" The destructive devil(2500/1400) unleashed its savage dark energy. "Let me help you with that, Kein!" To which Urizen answered with his trap, Nightmare Archfiends. "I sacrifice Nathans set monster, to summon three archfiend tokens to the enemy's field!" A Dandylion(300/300) was tributed, and three daemons appeared on Gevurah's side. "What?" Each tokens death inflicted 800 damage to that Callisto. "Even better." Nathan meanwhile flipped his own trap, Tuner Barrier, to shield his tuner monsters from Garlandolfs effect. The two token(0/0)s Dandylion created after it was tributed, were not so lucky. Not even the ancient Wyvern was spared this destruction.

Gevurah's LP: 3300

"Garlandolfs attackpower goes up by 100 points for every destroyed monster!" The destroyed (Gishki Beast, Brionac, 3 Nightmare tokens, 2 Fluff tokens, Ancient Wyvern, D.D. Warrior Lady) added 900 points to the King(3400/1400). "Any last words, Gevurah?" He was doing the smiling now, he could finish another Callisto off before Chesed could heal her. "This is just another step. You are blind for not seeing your own inevitable defeat." She hissed. "Fair enough." He ordered the direct attack on her, and Garlandolf hit her with a wave of shadows. "Farewell Callisto's anger." Chokhmah and Keter did not look too devastated by the loss. "Oh no." Only Chesed was a bit saddened. "Now there is less to feel her love.."

Gevurah's LP: 0

"So let's even the odds!" She clapped her hands together. "Monster Reborn!" And right after she used the Golden Ladybug's healing effect, she revived the Sacred Wyvern with the raising dead spell. "What?" And the reborn Ancient one(15300/2000) immediately went after Garlandolf. "Oh no, not this time!" But the dragon went against its commands and switched to defense mode. "We are not redoing the 'eye for an eye' bit." Nathan had used his last remaining trap, Urgent Tuning, to perform a synchro summon during her turn. And Change Synchron allowed him to switch the position of the attacking wyvern when it was used as the tuner. "I never dreamed you would save my life this many times, Nathan." Kein had no trouble saying that anymore. "Me neither. Kein." He combined the level 1 tuner and level 7 ritual monster into the level 8 Colossal Fighter(3200/1000), who had gained 100 attackpoints from all four warriors in Nathans graveyard. "Callisto, the deaths stop here!" He said with a determined tone. "An empty promise, Nathan Ashworth. Nobody can cheat death." Chokhmah replied.

"Someone did, once." Urizen then spoke up. "What?" The three Callisto's looked at him. "You heard me. Someone cheated death… Ramirez. You know about her. You must have, you're using the same dueldisk."

(To be Continued in Mark 156: Life's only Truth; Living is Dying)

**New Cards used by Callisto Castle  
><strong>D.D. Destroyer  
>Radiant Jeral<br>Trust Guardian  
>Helios - The Primordial Sun<br>Darknight Parshath

-  
>Photon Lead<br>Monster Reborn

-  
>Macrocosmos<br>Draining Shield  
><em>Different Dimension Dungeon<em>

**New Cards used by Kein Schiver  
><strong>Ritual Raven

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth  
><strong>Attack Gainer  
>Colossal Fighter<p>

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram  
><strong>Blustering Winds

-  
>Dragon Reincarnation<p> 


	156. 156: Life's Only Truth: Living is Dying

**Mark 156: Life's Only Truth: Living is Dying**

_**Keter: **__(8200 LP) 2 M/Ts set (0 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Binah:**__ (0 LP)  
><em>_**Chokhmah:**__ Chaos Zone (8 counters) (7600 LP) (0 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Chesed: **__Ancient Sacred Wyvern(2100+/1000), Samsara Sacrifice, (15000 LP) (1 Card, Golden ladybug, in hand)  
><em>_**Gevurah:**__ (0 LP)_

_**Urizen:**__ 1 Monster set, 1 M/T set (6400 LP) (0 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Sarah:**__ (0 LP)  
><em>_**Kein:**__ (1800 LP) (0 Cards in Hand)  
><em>_**Nathan: **__Colossal Fighter(3200/1000), Quickdraw Synchron(700/1400) (8000 LP) (1 Card in Hand)  
><em>_**Ada:**__ (6000 LP) (1 set M/T)_

"Same what now?" Nathan scratched his head as he heard Urizen talk about Ramirez. "Oh! That is right, that is why it looked familiar!" Ada gasped as the memory came to her. "Black dueldisks, they are using them too!" The Callisto's used the same model as Ramirez it seemed. "Can't it just be a coincidence? I mean black is what all evil guys and girls like, isn't it?" Xavier did not think much of the resemblance. "Ramirez, the impossible duelist. Callisto never met her." Said Chesed as she continued her turn; moving on to main phase 2. "But she sensed the death of Ramirez, and Callisto felt similar to her. This dueldisk." She stroked the device. "Is given to those cursed by the creator of this world, but not given by the creator. It is the symbol of their status as one who should not exist anymore." Chesed then used Samsara Sacrifice to heal Chokhmah by 500 points. "A/D Changer." Then suddenly her Ancient Sacred Wyvern(8600/1000) switched back to attack position. "A/D Changer?" After Nathan had switched it to defense with Change Synchrons effect. "An effect from the grave.." Chesed had a monster in her grave that allowed her to flip her monsters position if she banished it. "I guess she discarded that when I used Hand Destruction. I am sorry Nate." Ada sighed. "Oh, don't worry. That dragon won't stay in attack mode for long."

Cheseds LP: 14500 Chokhmah's LP: 8100

Nathans turn came now, and he summoned Turbo Synchron(100/500). "It has been ages since I had to use this guy's ability!" The turbo tuner raced towards Cheseds side. "When he attacks, he can switch his target to defense mode!" And Cheseds dragon angel folded its wings again. "But its defense is still higher!" Kein shouted. "I know. But.." Turbo's punch was deflected by the Wyverns wing. "If his battles cause me damage, I can summon a monster from my hand whose attackpoints are lower than the damage taken!" He took 1900 damage, so this Synchron could special summon Drill Synchron(800/300). "Drill Synchron will let Colossal Fighter, a warrior, inflict piercing damage!" Now the giant fighter struck, his punch did manage to break through the defending ancient one. Its defense was not as impressive as its attack. "And I can draw a card when he inflicts damage that way!" He drew with vigor, however his high spirits were dampened by the fact that the sacred Wyvern was not dead yet. "Hey."

Cheseds LP: 11300 Nathans LP: 6100

"The Sacred Wyvern can revive itself, if she pays 1000 lifepoints." Ada said. This was why Chesed lost 1000 more lifepoints than she should have. "It can do that too?" Xavier never even got to live to see that ability when he dueled her. "Well ehrm. I set a trap and end my turn." Nathan could summon nothing else right now. He just had three tuners and a synchro monster whose level was too high to make something new off. "..I also set a monster and a trap." And Ada was out of cards to use as well. With Gevurah defeated, her turn would come right after Nathans. Yet the best she could do was set up moves for her next turn.

"It would seem you have exhausted your supplies." Said Keter as she drew a card normally for the first time in a long while. "It is only natural. Nothing is without end, even the preachers of infinity knew that." She placed one monster down, and left it at that. "Funny you should say that, Callisto. You look like you're running low on cards too. Out of Meteors to summon?" Urizen drew his card and placed it down. "Then again nobody ever attacked you." She had two traps placed, which she never used. "But the three of you seem worried. Like you _know_ what is coming." Seeing the future could explain how she played against them so well. "Callisto did not need those eyes to see the next move, she promised to play fair. There was just too much of a chance you'd have _that_ monster face-down." Keters tone did not reveal any guilt. "You believe that then. But..you are right."

Nathans LP: 4100

"I flip Morphing Jar!" He revealed his chaotic pod(700/600) in face-up attack position. "Every duelist discards their hand and draw five new cards!" With it, their hands were replenished. "I set two more cards down and one monster. I end my turn." And for now Urizen would have to bide his time. The cards he drew did not allow for an immediate comeback. "We can not complain about this." Chokhmah appreciated her hand of six cards. "Come." They then removed 3 of the 9 counters on Chaos Zone, (the 9th having been added when A/D Changer removed itself), to revive the Banisher of Radiance(1600/0). "Callisto sacrifices it for the second." And she tribute summoned a more filled out Helios, the Duos Megistos(3800/3800). This one gained 200 attackpoints for each banished monster, and there were 19 now. "Attack the Jar." And the first target of the solars was the Metamorphic jar. "I activate Red Screen!" Luckily one of the cards Urizen had drawn was his permanent trap. "It prevents all your monsters attacks!" The bloodred crystal wall protected every monster Urizens team controlled.

"Your struggle is beautiful, but there will not be anyone to remember your deaths." Chokhmah could not perform a battle phase like this. So she placed three traps down and let the turn end. "We will not die. Not like this, Callisto." Kein drew a card. "Not by your.." And as he did, Chokhmah wordlessly flipped her set card. "..hand?" D.D. Dynamite, which would inflict 300 damage times the number of banished cards. "No!" And she focused it on Kein, who now had 6 banished cards (3x Evigishki, Brionac, Gishki Ariel & Gishki Aqua Mirror), and only 1800 lifepoints. "You are not above death, Kein. And now your time has come." The dynamite exploded, and knocked Kein back, inflicting 1800 damage to him. "Damn it. You are wrong.. they will.. they will show you!" He managed to shout back at her, while his entire body looked like it started to melt. "Kein!" Nathan cried out. "Nat.." But he was already gone, he was reduced to a puddle of water in the blink of an eye. "K..ein.."

Keins LP: 0

"You.." Nathan was seething, he could not remember ever being this enraged. "You will get your turn soon, Nate." Chesed wagged her finger. "But with Kein gone, Callisto comes first." She drew her card now. "Though since Callisto feels bad for Nathan, she will end his pain now." She smiled and activated a spell. _"My trap?"_ And Urizen winced as he saw the Red Screen disappear before his eyes. "Cease Magic. All face-up spells and traps are forced down, and Callisto gains health for each card set." She gained 500 points from Urizens trap. But more importantly, she could attack Drill and Turbo Synchron now. "One World Suffers." Also she activated a spell from her hand. Then she entered her battle phase. "Bye bye Nathan." She waved at him. The difference between their lifepoints was high enough for the Sacred Wyvern(9800/2000) to kill Nathan twice over.

Cheseds LP: 11800

_Cease Magic, Normal Spell  
><em>_Flip all face-up spell and trap cards your opponent controls face-down. Gain 500 lifepoints for each card set by this effect._

_One World Suffers, Continuous Spell  
><em>_Whenever you take damage, place 1 Aura Counter on this card for each multiple of 1000 points of damage you take. Destroy this card during your standby phase.  
>When this card is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, the controller of the card effect that destroyed this card gains 1000 Life Points for each counter on the destroyed card. <em>

"Magic Cylinder!" Except the attack was sent back to Chesed. "You?" Urizen activated his cylinder trap which reflected the attack. "Uh oh!" And 9800 of Cheseds 11800 lifepoints were taken away. "Ah?" Chesed stood there dumbfounded, as she suddenly became the weakest duelist on the field with only 2000 remaining lifepoints. Even her dragon(0/2000) had lost all its attackpoints. "I am glad I kept this card." Urizen smirked. "Oh. You added some insurance in case your first card was sealed?" But now Cheseds newest spell activated; One World Suffers took in the damage. "Callisto gains 9 counters since Callisto took over 9000 damage." However she could not destroy the card yet, she had to wait one turn as her deck had no spell or trap destructive cards in it. "Then Callisto activates Supremacy Berry." Chesed's spell gave her back 2000 LP. "Callisto sets two cards down and ends her turn."

Cheseds LP: 4000

"My turn. Time to show you that Kein was not wrong. We will show you!" He summoned Quillbolt Hedgehog(800/800). "Quickdraw assumes the name of 'Junk Synchron', and I synchro summon Junk Archer!" The level 2 machine and level 5 Quickdraw Synchron were combined into the level 7 archer(2300/2000) of the scrapyard. "He banishes your monster, Chokhmah!" An arrow was shot, and it pierced Duos Megistos, sending it away for one whole turn. "Then the Colossus will attack the Wyvern." He had caught up with her in the lifepoint department, so his Fighter overpowered her Wyvern(1000/2000). "Why don't we switch damage for healing instead?" Chesed discarded a card to play another trap, Rainbow Life. Which would convert lifepoint losses to lifepoint gains. "Not on your life!" But Urizen revealed his counter trap. "Dark Bribe!" And he negated the Rainbow card with it. "Thanks Artani!" The attack continued. "Draining Shield." Except she negated the attack after all with her shield, which absorbed the fighters attackpoints. "Gack! Why do you have two of those?"

Cheseds LP: 7000

Now he only had one monster to attack. "Archer will attacks Keters set monster!" An arrow was fired at whatever the Callisto in black had set. "Oh. It's a Marshmallon." But that arrow could not penetrate the gooey flesh of the Marshmallon monster(300/500). "Double Gack!" The arrow flung back towards him, as Marshmallon inflicted 1000 damage to anyone that attacked it while face-down. "But Drill Synchron will let me damage you too!" But at least the Archers attack had been a piercing attack. Fragments of the arrows energy hit Keter, while Nathan drew a card. "I set a card down in my spell/trap zone and end my turn." Nathan grumbled, these ladies were still too good at countering their moves. "Maybe you can help me, Nate. And we will take out our anger on them together." Ada took her turn and summoned Influence Dragon. "I will need three of your monsters." The level 3 tuner dragon changed Junk Archer into a dragon type monster. "Go ahead." Nathan smirked. "Synchro summon, Trident Dragion!" And the two dragons formed one three-headed demon of a dragon(3000/2800).

Keters LP: 6400 Nathans LP: 5100

"Dragion destroys two cards I control, to give himself two more attacks!" She could destroy cards her team-mate controlled as well, so she sacrificed Drill and turbo Synchron. "And I will give you more!" Nathan activated Synchro Strike. For each synchro material used in its summoning, 500 attackpoints were added. "The difference between our lifepoints is low enough!" The Trident Dragon(4000/2800)s left head released a burst of flames which consumed the holy dragon(3100/2000). "Revive." Of course she used the dragons effect again to revive it in attack position. "You are not defending, are you that confident that I will not be able to win? Or do you just want to add more counters to your spell?" One World Suffers had 11 counters by now. "Fine!" The right head blasted the wyvern(1200/2000) with flames too. "That is enough, thank you." The Wyvern(0/2000) returned in defense mode this time after another payment of 1000 LP and two more counters were added. "..Heh." At which point Ada flipped her own trap. "Dragon Rage!" A permanent trap that added piercing to all dragons she controlled. "!" Cheseds eyes widened. "Your mistake, Callisto! You got too greedy!" The middle head of Dragion burned through the wyvern with its flames, inflicting more than enough damage.

Cheseds LP: 0

"This too.. was part of the whole... arrangement." Chesed still laughed, even as she faded into nothingness. "Two steps still need to be taken." Keter continued where she left off. "Callisto shall not draw Meteor Flare anymore." She performed a normal draw phase. And in her turn she placed one trap down and ended her turn. "Well thank the lord." Urizen was glad to see that card stay dead. "Now where was I? Oh yeah." First he flipped Sinister Sprocket(400/0) face-up. "Keter, since you control two monsters, I can normal summon this monster without tributes!" Next he normal summoned the muscular demon, Power Invader(0/0). "Red Dragon Archfiend!" And now the level 2 Jar, level 1 tuner and level 5 Invader were used as materials for the level 8 demon dragon(3000/2000).

"And then I activate the effect of Red Screen!" He flipped his trap back face-up. "I can destroy it while I control the Red Dragon, to revive a tuner in my cemetery!" The screen crumbled, and Sinister Sprocket was brought back. "Then I activate Resonator Call, this spell adds a Resonator from my deck to my hand!" He added a level 3 Resonator to his hand. "Creation Resonator! If I control a level 8 synchro monster, this tuner can be special summoned!" The wind-elemental tuner(800/600) blew his way onto the clouds. "Come out, Red Nova!" His dragon and two tuners together formed the evolved red dragon, Red Nova Dragon(5500/3000), who gained 500 atatckpoints from all four tuners in the cemetery (Creation/Dark Resonator, Sinister Sprocket, Trap Eater). "Sinister Sprocket was used twice for a synchro summon, so I can destroy two face-up spells!" He used the tuners effect to shatter the D.D. Dungeon and the field spell Chaos Zone. "Your number is up, Chokhmah. I Attack Megistus!" And Red Nova did battle with the solar twins(4200/4200).

Chokhmah's LP: 6800

"You are strong Urizen." Duos did not stay dead. "Strength however means nothing to death." This form of Helios(4500/4500) would always be reborn at the endphase, stronger than before. "It takes the weak and strong, the only differential is time." Then Chokhmah took a card from her deck. "You destroyed Chaos Zone, while it had 8 counters. Now that it is destroyed, I can claim a light or dark-elemental whose level is equal to 8 or less stars." Chokhmah claimed the level 8 Helios Trice Megistus card. "Come." Duos was sacrificed to bring it out the solar trinity(6300/6300). They gained 300 attackpoints per banished card. "Alchemist." She also summoned a Dimensional Alchemist(1300/200). "Now spell.. Soul Release." Then she used a spell to banish five cards in her graveyard. "..and Chaos End." And now she had a total of seven banished cards, so she could use another spell. "Gah!" Which destroyed all monsters normally. It took out Colossal Fighter and Trident Dragion, but not the red dragon "Red Nova is immune to destruction effects!" Not that it seemingly mattered since Chaos End should have destroyed their monsters too. "D'oh!" But as soon as Nathan could take his turn, Marshmallon, Alchemist and Trice Megistus(7800/7800) returned. "Where did they come from?" Xavier asked. "She used a trap to banish them for one turn." Ada had been keeping a closer eye during the chaos.

Chokhmah's LP: 5800

_Interdimensional Mass Evacuation, Normal Trap  
><em>_Pay 1000 LP. Select all face-up monsters on your side of the field and remove them from play until the end phase of the turn this card is activated. _

"But you also destroyed my Stardust Phantom. So I can special summon Stardust Dragon from my graveyard!" Ada revived the Galactic dragon(2500/2000) in defense mode. "I believe you made another mistake, Callisto." Nathan snapped his fingers. "I know what to do this time!" As he controlled no monsters, he could special summon Unknown Synchron(0/0) from his hand. "Revival Gift!" Then he revived Quickdraw(700/1400) from his grave with his other set trap. "This revives a tuner, and gives my opponent two gift tokens." Chokhmah gained two tokens, one(1500/1500) in defense and one in attack mode. "I control a tuner, so I can revive Bolt Hedgehog! And now I synchro summon Nitro Warrior!" The level 2 machine hog and level 5 quickdrawer combined into the level 7 explosive warrior(2800/1800). "Now, I sacrifice Unknown Synchron to tribute summon this monster." The tuner was replaced with a Junk Collector(1000/2200). "This one can 'collect' a trap I already used!" He banished the monster and a trap in his grave, to reactivate it. "Synchro Strike!" He reactivated his trap to power up Nitro Warrior(3800/1800). "And when a spell is used this turn, he will gain even more power!" He activated the spell TGX300. Even though there were no Tech genus monsters on his field, Nitro Warrior (4800/1800) boosted its attackpoints with its own effect. "Nitro time!" It attacked once, killing the token in attack mode. "Can attack again after its first kill, if the second victim is in defense mode." And the other token was switched to attack mode, and summarily crushed by Nathans synchro. "That means goodbye, Chokhmah."

Chokhmah's LP: 0

The Callisto in grey had her life all wiped out. She did not even get any last words in. "You are the last, Keter!" With Chokhmah gone, the Callisto in black was all that she had left. "Keter?" The girl tilted her head. "Not anymore." The others narrowed her eyes. "Is it.." If there was only one left..

"Yes, it is. I.. am Callisto now."

(To be Continued in Mark 157: The Nightmare has a Name)

**New Cards used by Callisto  
><strong>A/D Changer  
>Marshmallon<br>Helios Duos Megistus  
>Helios Trice Megistus<p>

_-  
>Cease Magic<br>__One World Suffers  
><em>Supremacy Berry  
>Soul Release<br>Chaos End

-  
>Crevice into the Different Dimension<br>D.D. Dynamite  
>Rainbow Life<br>_Interdimensional Mass Evacuation_

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani  
><strong>Power Invader  
>Creation Resonator<p>

-  
>Resonator Call<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth  
><strong>Junk Collector

-  
>Revival Gift<p>

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram  
><strong>Trident Dragion

-  
>Dragons Rage<p> 


	157. 157: The Nightmare has a Name

**Mark 157: The Nightmare has a Name **

_**Keter: **__Marshmallon(300/500), 3 M/T set, (6400 LP) (5 Cards in Hand)**  
>Binah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Chohkmah:<strong>__ Helios Trice Megistus (7800/7800) (0 LP)**  
>Chesed: <strong>__One World Suffers (0 LP)**  
>Gevurah:<strong>__ (0 LP)_

_**Urizen:**__ Red Nova Dragon(5500/3000) (6400 LP) (1 Card in Hand)**  
>Sarah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Kein:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Nathan: <strong>__Nitro Warrior(2800/1800), (5100 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)**  
>Ada:<strong>__ Stardust Dragon(2500/2000), Dragons Rage, (6000 LP), (5 Card in Hand)_

"So. No more who's who? You are just going to continue the duel from here on in?" Four Callisto's were defeated, the one that remained became the true Callisto it seemed. "Or are you still not really here?" Urizen wanted to be sure of that. "Once you leave, you can not truly be here again. But all parts of me that I sent here, have become one. And I too shall face the result of this duel, like any other soul." She took out five cards, which were blank slates now. "The me that did not believe death was real, that wanted to change everyone's painful futures, wanted to be loved, the me that was angry at the lies of this world." She tossed four cards away. "And me, the chaos architect that brought it all together. In the end it would not have mattered which one you would defeat first. All five aspects would be joined together to initiate the final phase of this judgment." She closed her eyes. "You have done well to get this far. I can see now that humanity's desire for survival is strong. Stronger than my own desires.."

"The next phase? I do not like the sound of that." Xavier moaned. "It will not get that far if we can help it." It was Ada's turn. "There is only one of you left. I do not think you can offer up much of a fight anymore!" She pointed at Trice Megistus(7800/7800) and Dimensional Alchemist(1300/200). "Monsters left behind by your lost team-mates can not defend you. All I need to do is destroy Marshmallon. And since you control at least two light-type monsters, I will bring out Alector!" When two enemy monsters shared the same element, the Fowl Sovereign(2400/2000) could be special summoned. And he could seal one face-up cards effect once a turn. "He negates the indestructibility effect of your Marshmallon." The pink gooball(300/500) lost its inflexibility. "Stardust attacks it!" And with her trap, Dragons Rage, she could also inflict piercing damage when a dragon like Stardust did the attacking. "I am sorry but.. there are still some remnants of Keter that I can utilize." Yet Callisto flipped her trap, Magic Cylinder, which sent the star burst back to Ada instead. "Argh." She could have realized, Keter had left burn-type trap cards for Callisto to use. "Alector!" So the Marshmallon would have to die by the non-piercing talons of the Bird king. "I set a card and end my turn."

Ada's LP: 3500

"It is inevitable. I knew I alone would not be able to defeat you. But I had hoped that you would be spared the sight of what is about to appear." Callisto drew her next card. "!" And a heavy pulse shot through the hearts of the four duelists. _"This.. sensation." _Xavier dropped to his knees. The others managed to stand. _"Why do I feel..like this?" _And at the same time their minds experienced a short burst of emotions, grief, fear and anger. _"It was like that one time."_ Nathan had felt like this before, when Callisto made them endure her test of 'existence'. "Negative Harmonia." Callisto's drawn card was a monster, which she could summon without tributes. "A level 12 tuner?" It was a wisp of negative light(0/0), whose cries sounded like wails of agony put in reverse. "Now that the cards created by man have shown me, that they do not wish for me to win. I will have to use the cards formed outside of their reach. Negative Harmonia is a tuner from the other side. Most synchros add their stars to create a new entity. Harmonia takes the stars that already exist." The creature turned into dark energy rings, through which the level 48Megistus and level 4 Alchemist jumped. "And turns it to nothingness."

_Negative Harmonia, 12/0/0 Dark/Fairy/Tuner  
>When the total level of all monsters your opponent control exceeds the total level of monsters you control, you can normal summon this card from your hand without tributes.<em>

"But that would mean.." Nathan knew his synchro math like no other, but he had never heard of deducting stars from other stars. "It will be a zero level card?" And he definitely had never heard of level 0 monsters. "Sephylon represented the creation of the world, but he was a recreation. I crafted that lord. Now I speak for a different lord, one that lives beyond the lies of your world and the decay of the real world. His/her name is.. Emet Ayin. The truth of the timeless and worldless." The dark light spread out, casting everything on Callisto's side in an inverted contrast. The pearly clouds became ash-black, the golden gates turned to decayed brown, and Callisto now dressed in white, while her hair turned blue, her eyes pitchdark and her irises red. "Where is it?" Yet they saw no new synchro monster appear. "Emet Ayin is all around. But of course you can not comprehend its true nature." She raised her hand. "It is attacking?" The negative energy spread out towards Red Nova Dragon. "What?" And Urizens dragon lost all of its colors and also its (2000/0) original attackpoints. "I negate your attack!" but his dragon still had his abilities, so he could banish it for one turn to block one attack.

_Timeless Lord - Emet Ayin, 0/0/0 Divine/Divine Beast/Synchro  
>1 or more non-Tuner monsters - "Negative Harmonia"<br>In order to special summon this card, subtract the level of 'Negative Harmonia' from the combined level of 1 or more other monsters you control; the value must equal the level of this card.  
><em>?

"Wait, if the dragon is gone. What is that thing?" But above Callisto, another Red Nova Dragon(3500/3000) appeared. Only inside its chest was a hole. And inside that hole was a red flame. "Emet Ayin takes the original attack or defense points of the monsters it attacks and makes them his/her own." That was why Red Nova kept 2000 of its 5500 attackpoints, because Urizen still had 4 tuners in his grave to power it up. "And it keeps those points huh." Nathan gulped. If that thing kept attacking, its strength would be through the roof. "The Timeless Lord is a god of the other world. It desires to take the lies from this world to soothe its own pain." She placed one more card down in her trap zone. "Is that so?" Red Nova(5500/3000) then returned to Urizens field during her endphase. Its attack was reset to its what it would normally have, since it had left the field after Emet Ayins attack. "But it only does this when it attacks, doesn't it?" Urizen drew a card and entered his battle phase. "Not when I attack!" Red Nova shot a blast of bright flames that pierced the inverted realm.

"But.." Yet Nova's reflection disappeared from sight, and the fire turned to harmless smoke. "It negated my attack?" Urizens eyes widened, this was the same move he used in her turn! "This is impossible, that thing has Red Nova's effect?" Callisto nodded slowly. "Emet Ayin takes everything from your world, even your abilities. Any power used in its presence, becomes its own." The others flinched. "Any?" Urizen twitched and placed a monster down. "But it should lose what it gains if it returns to the field!" He ended his turn and the inverted Red Nova(3500/3000) returned, untouched. "What!" Ada cried out this time. "That's not how it works! This should count as a new monster, who hasn't taken Red Nova's powers!" She protested. "Timeless does not follow time, Emet Ayin is a constant immune to the laws of change, what it absorbs it keeps forever." She explained.

"Dang. That is one mean monster. But right now it is still beatable. Urizen, I need your set." Nathan wanted to perform a tribute summon. "It's a Sangan, so go ahead. It will help us both." Urizen condoned the move. "Okay. Here is Salvage Warrior!" He sacrificed the three-eyed critter(1000/600) and brought out the level 5 tuner salvager(1900/1600). "He revives Turbo Synchron!" The level 1 racer tuner(100/500) was the tuner he chose to summon with the Warriors effect. "Synchro summon Turbo Warrior!" And he combined the two to form his ace in the hole, the level 6 Turbo Warrior. "Turbo Warrior can not be targeted by the effects of level 6 or lower monsters. And when he battles, he halves the attackpoints of its enemies!" By all rights it should have been the perfect answer to a level 0 synchro monster who had to target monsters to negate their attacks. It should have been. "I am sorry. But there is a third effect.." Yet Turbo Warrior(0/1500)'s attack was reduced too. "Hey! I call foul! You did not attack it yet!" But then he noticed the shadow underneath Turbo Warrior was touching Emet Ayins shadow. "All synchro monsters, summoned while time is moving, will have their powers taken too. This is not a targeted request, it is a universal demand."

_Timeless Lord - Emet Ayin, 0/0/0 Divine/Divine Beast/Synchro  
>1 or more non-Tuner monsters - "Negative Harmonia"<br>In order to special summon this card, subtract the level of 'Negative Harmonia' from the combined level of 1 or more other monsters you control; the value must equal the level of this card.  
>The ATK or DEF of all synchro monsters summoned during your opponents turn becomes 0. This card gains all effects that were successfully activated while a 'Timeless Lord - Emet Ayin' was face-up on the field.<br>Once per turn turn, when this card targets an opponent's monster for an attack, you can that reduce monster's ATK or DEF to 0. This card's ATK and/or DEF is equal to all ATK and DEF that was reduced by the effect of 'Timeless Lord - Emet Ayin'._

A second flame appeared in the gods chest, a turbo red flame. "Well Callisto. That is a lot of power. But.. you overlooked one thing." Ada started her turn and activated the effect of her Sovereign. "Alector can negate them all!" Her monster sealed every effect of Emet Ayin(0/0). "Attack!" And her two monsters charged the time god before it could unlock those powers. "Mirror Force." She casually flipped one more trap. "Not this time!" But by sacrificing Stardust and sending it to the cemetery for one turn, she could negate that destructive trap. "You will not stop me!" Alector would have to finish it off. "How can you be so sure?" Unfortunately Callisto had one more trap to play. "Lumenize." A flash of light blinded her temporarily and stopped her assault. "Damn it!" And when she could see again, Emet Ayin(2400/0) had only grown stronger. "Just because the gods power is limitless, does not mean I will not protect it." Callisto was out of traps, but Ada was out of attacks." ..I set a spell card and end my turn." Stardust(0/2000) returned, but its attack was drained away too.

There were more changes to Emet Ayin(5900/0) though, than just the starlike flame added to its core. "What..no.." Feathery wings sprouted around its waist, it grew an extra arm and a second head that clearly belonged to stardust and Alectors helmet and armor formed around its left shoulder. "It absorbed their effects too!" Alector and Stardust had both used their abilities in front of the timeless one. "Yes." And because of this. "Emet Ayin negates the effect of Red Nova Dragon." Once a turn Callisto could seal a face-up cards effect too. And once a turn she could negate an effect that would destroy it. "And I shall attack Ada." Even so Callisto knew Alector was the biggest threat to her, so she targeted it. "Ggh." The bird king was trapped within its negative aura and he(0/2000) lost his attackpoints. "Swallows Nest! I tribute a winged beast I control for one in my deck, of the same level!" But she could switch it out with her quickplay spell, swapping Alector for the level 6 Troposhere(2400/2000) who took Emet(7300/0)'s attack of the black dragon instead.

"But wouldn't it have been better to use Swallows Nest before she attacked you?" Xavier asked. "No. Then she would know I was no longer a threat and go for Nathan or Urizens monsters again." She nodded at the two, whose synchro monsters were pretty much going to get them killed if they were attacked again. "That is true. My lord can still only take one aspect of your world every turn." Callisto looked at Urizen. "But I have seen what you added to your hand, when your Sangan was sent to its grave." Sangan allowed Urizen to add any monster with 1500 or less attackpoints to his hand, and he chose Force Resonator. "You now have a card which will make your dragon stronger than my god. And it will allow it to ignore the power that was stolen from him. Therefor.." Callisto summoned a new monster, Consecrated Light(0/0). "I shall create a light you can not pass." Then she ended her turn, at which point Lumenize stopped affecting Emet Ayin(5900/0). "Rrgh. That card prevents attacks from dark monsters eh?"

"Callisto, with the card I drew just now. I think you are definitely right." Urizen activated a spell. "When you said that the human collective consciousness is too much for you. I activate Book of Eclipse!" And that spell flipped all monsters on the field face-down. "Yes!" Even the god was switched to defense position. "I don't have to know if it keeps its effects while it is set. Because I know two things. It has zero defense, and Consecrated Light can not stop attacks anymore." He summoned the Lancer Archfiend(1600/1400) to the field. "That is enough for me to know!" And he was about to activate its effect, which would let it inflict piercing damage upon Emet Ayin as soon as he struck it. "Cease Fire." But while that effect resolved, every monster on the field was revealed again. "Ceasefire?" It appeared Callisto had one of Keters traps left, a card that flipped all monsters back face-up and than inflicted 500 damage for each effect monster on the field. "Damage Eater!" There were seven total, so normally Urizen would have taken 3500 damage. "I banish it to eat the damage!" Luckily he had discarded the Damage devouring fiend to his grave, when Ada had activated Hand Destruction at the start of this endless duel. However his Lance/Eclipse plan had failed.

Urizens LP: 9900

"So did it gain Lancers effect too?" Ali wondered, just before one of Ayins materialized a fourth claw sprouting from a skull, wielding a lance. "I just..made things worse." Urizen cursed, as he had given the god the power to pierce through defense. "I should have saved it.." He only had Force Resonator left, and he could not normal summon again this turn. "..We are not gone yet. Never think like that. You must know it." Nathan saw this and entered his turn. "Now. I may not be able to destroy her lord, but I can do a little to help." He summoned Synchron Explorer(0/700) to his field. "Regular Monsters that are summoned, do not get their attack reduced to zero, right?" He inquired. "Only the harmony between souls is destabilized in the shadow of the ultimate disharmony, Nathan." Was Callisto's answer. "Good. Synchron Explorer revives a Synchron monster!" The machine brought back Drill Synchron(800/300). "He attacks Consecrated Light!" The holy sphere could only negate damage from dark types, so it died when the earth-type driller struck.

"She did not negate the attack?" Nathan was surprised. " If she did, she would just receive a direct hit from your Nitro Warrior(2800/1800)." Urizen reasoned. "Well then I guess she also knew what I can summon next. My Catapult Warrior!" He combined the level 2 explorer with the level 3 Drill tuner, and summoned a level 5 Catapulter in defense mode. Though he(500/0) too was affected by Emet Ayin, and his grey colors were absorbed into its heart. "It does not need to attack. Once a turn he can sacrifice one Junk Monster I control to inflict damage equal to that monsters attackpoints!" He controlled no Junk monsters yet, so he activated a spell too. "Synchro Change. I switch Nitro Warrior on my field with Junk Berserker in my deck!" The level 7 Nitro synchro(2800/1800) was traded for the level 7 Berserker(2700/1500). "Catapult away!" And he was launched from the Catapulters platform, straight at Callisto. "Uhn.." And she received damage for the first time in a while, and this time it actually seemed to bother her. "Your resistance.. is precious."

Callisto's LP: 3700

"Thank you. I try." Nathan placed a card down and ended his turn. "... I set a monster and a trap card and I keep Stardust in defense mode." Ada in turn could only maintain her defense. "I am sorry Nathan, Urizen. I have nothing." But with piercing in effect, she feared this would be the end for one of them. She at least had nothing that could stop an attack like that. "Then it is up to me, to choose who has to go first." Callisto drew. "Though Urizen is save for now." Only Urizen had enough lifepoints to endure one attack from Emet Ayin. "And I can not hesitate... I have decided." Her finger pointed at Nathan. "Sorry, Nathan Ashworth." She summoned a faceless angel knight(1300/800). "Royal Knight. Attack Catapult Warrior." And its blade sliced through the Catapulter, whose defense was nonexistent. "When Royal Knight claims a live, their original defense points become my lifepoints." And at that time, one of Emet Ayins four claws brandished their own royal sword. Meaning she could undo all the damage he had inflicted now. "Then it was all for nothing." Even with Turbo Warrior switched to defense mode, his life would drop to zero thanks to the piercing lance. It seemed like nobody had the power to stop the Timeless Lord(5900/1500) as he targeted the synchro(0/0).

Callisto's LP: 5200

"No. Do not say that. You hurt me. It has been a while since I felt pain..here." And then both weapons cut down Turbo Warrior, and Nathans life left him. "But that pain will also be gone soon. Everyone's pain.." She said, while Nathan now experienced the same sensations Sarah and Kein had gone through. "I.." Smell, hearing, touch, sight, it all slipped away from his senses. "Don't know.." And in the case of the wielder of the Light mark, he exploded into a fountain of stars. "He is.." But those stars did not just drift down into the clouds, they too were taken in by the darkened realm Emet Ayin had carved out around itself. "That is where everyone is going?" Which made Ada, Urizen and Xavier realize were all souls were sent to. "As I told you, Emet Ayin is the force that reduces everything to nothing. All the memories, experiences and feelings that Lord Finity absorbed, are already accepted by the lord. And the few that survived his acquisitions, were found and claimed by aspects of me." Callisto placed two trap cards down. "You three are the last that remain. The last that can channel mankind's will to live." And she ended her turn..

Callisto's LP: 6700 Nathans LP: 0

(To be Continued in Mark 158: I Have no Heaven and I must Die)

**New Cards used by Callisto Castillo**_  
>Negative Harmonia<br>Timeless Lord - Emeth Ayin_  
>Consecrated Light<br>Royal Knight

-  
>Magic Cylinder<br>Mirror Force  
>Ceasefire<p>

**New Cards used by Nathan Ashworth**  
>Synchro Change<p> 


	158. 158: I Have no Heaven and I Must Die

**Mark 158: I have no Heaven and I must Die**

_**Callisto: **__Timeless Lord Emet Ayin(5900/1500), Royal Knight(1300/800), 2 M/T (2 Cards in hand) (6700 LP)**  
>Binah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Chohkmah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Chesed: <strong>__One World Suffers (0 LP)**  
>Gevurah:<strong>__ (0 LP)_

_**Urizen:**__ Red Nova Dragon(5500/3000), Lancer Archfiend(1600/1400), (9900 LP) (1 Card in Hand)**  
>Sarah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Kein:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Nathan: <strong>__1 set M/T, (0 LP)**  
>Ada:<strong>__ Stardust Dragon(2500/2000), Dragons Rage, 2 M/Ts set (3500 LP) (3 Cards in Hand)_

"Rrgh. Who cares if you can heal yourself now. Nathan accomplished another thing for me!" Urizen started his turn and summoned the Force Resonator tuner. "He destroyed your Consecrated Light! Now my dark monsters can attack again!" If he tributed the Resonator, he could make his Red Nova Dragon immune to the effects of Emet Ayin, and give it 500 more attackpoints at the same time since another tuner was in the cemetery. "I am affraid that combo is no longer a threat to me." Callisto however calmly activated her trap. "Magical Mirror into the Past." A mirror arose, and a spell was reflected within it. "I take one spell from your grave, your top spell." It was the Book of eclipse, the last spell Urizen had used. "No!" The book flipped open, and his three monsters were flipped face-down. "Only the owner of the reflected spell will suffer its effects." Neither her nor Ada's dragons were hit by the books curse. "That card. I do not recognize it." Ada knew many traps, but had never seen this mirror before. "It is another card created by the timeless world." Callisto replied. "So now you want to absorb our spells and traps too huh?" Urizen grumbled and ended his turn. At least during his endphase his three monsters flipped back face-up in defense mode, and he could draw a card for each.

_Magical Mirror into the Past, Normal Trap  
>Select the top card from your opponents graveyard. If it is a normal or quickplay spell card, that cards effect becomes this cards effect. Only the owner of the selected spell card can be affected by this card.<em>

"When you talk about cards from the timeless world, are you speaking of a world in between ours and the original?" Ada started her turn, and flipped her Decoy Dragon(300/200) face-up. "Your world was created by separating it from the normal flow of time, and by creating their own flow. But to do so, a zone in between both cycles had to be created. One where time stops and where nothing can change. No new thoughts, no new movements. Every soul exists at once, yet can not perceive what is around them." She answered Ada with no hint of praise or fear for this world. "And that is the nothingness, that will claim both worlds. A zero state existence. I understand now." Ada then normal summoned Debris Dragon(1000/2000), whose effect brought back to life the Dragunity Phalanx(500/1100) tuner dragon. "Yet that does not mean we will accept it like you have done. I do not know what you went through, but total annihilation of all living beings should never be an answer!" And then she performed her synchro summon with the Debris and Decoy dragons

"Orient Dragon!" Together the level 4 tuner and level 2 dragon formed the chinese dragon(0/1000). Whose energy and colors were immediately devoured by the empty heart of Emet Ayin. "Your god can negate the destruction of a card once a turn, because it stole Stardusts effect! But it can not block effects that banish monsters!" Because she synchro summoned it, Orient Dragon could remove the Timeless Lord from play. "I will counter with Herald of Orange Light." But Callisto discarded the Orange light tuner and another fairy from her hand, allowing her to negate Orient Dragons effect and destroy him. "In that case. I can use this card!" Ada played her trap. "Chain Whirlwind! This card destroys 2 spells or traps when a card is destroyed." She chained the whirlwind to the death of her dragon. "I am going after your other set card, and the spell 'Chesed' left behind; One Worlds Suffer. I assume that card was one your lord created as well." Cheseds continuous spell had accumulated 14 counters. If she were to destroy that now, she would gain 14000 lifepoints. "As a matter of fact, it is Ada." Unfortunately, Callisto of course had the same idea. "Fairy Wind." And her gentle wind destroyed 'One World Suffers', before Ada's tornado could destroy both cards. "!"

Ada's LP: 2900 Callisto's LP: 20100 Urizens LP: 9300

Fairy Wind damaged all three duelists by 300 LP for each destroyed card, Dragons Rage was destroyed along with the spell. However Callisto gained a 1000 LP for each counter on Cheseds last card. Ada's facedown trap was spared this fate at least. "I activate Descending Lost Star!" Ada did not let this setback slow her down and revived the Orient Dragon(0/0) with her other trap. Though the card did reduce its defense to zero, and its level from 6 to 5, and its attack was reduced to zero by Emets shadow. "I synchro summon again!" This time she combined Phalanx with the Oriental one to form a dragon of seven level stars. "Black Rose Dragon. It destroys all cards on the field!" The fiery dragon(2400/1600) of devastation appeared to unleash its storms upon the heavenly dueling field. "Emet Ayin." Of course the god sacrificed itself to negate the effect of the Black Rose dragon with the stolemn Stardust Dragons effect. The Black Rose dragon was the only casualty. "I knew you would do that. But I will take any victory I can." At least her Stardust Dragon(2500/0) could kill the Royal Knight(1300/800), without Emet Ayin there to stop her with Red Nova's copied effect.

Callisto's LP: 18900

"I envy that part of you, you know." Callisto started talking again. "Huh?" Just as Ada placed a card down and ended her turn. "You are able to cherish every little accomplishment, appreciate the hourly trivialities and grieve over daily miseries. Even now, in the last few moments of all, you find such treasures." Callisto added a card to her hand. "I have seen too much to go back to that." She extended her hand and entered her battle phase. "No.. there was never anything to go back to. Only you were the blessed signers." The two heads of the dragon amalgam now set their sights on the original host for their flesh, Red Nova Dragon. Its effects were sealed, for the last time. "Attack." It was in defense mode, so all defense points of the Scar-Red dragon(5500/0) were taken this time and given to the Lord(5900/4500). "Half or Nothing!" But now Ada flipped her other trap, the trap of choices. "Half." Callisto however already decided on halving her monsters attackpower, even before Ada could lay out the two options to her. "That's funny. I thought you loved nothingness." Xavier actually managed to quip, while Emet Ayin(2950/4500)'s attackpower was halved. "I love.. nothing?" And then an unusual thing happened. "A joke. Now?" For a mere second, a smile tugged at Callisto's lips. "What? You find that funny?" Urizen was that surprised he did not even notice his synchro monster was skewered by Emet Ayins Lance already.

Callisto's LP: 21900 Urizens LP: 6350

"I apologize again. I did not expect that part of me to surface." Though her expression darkened quickly, her tone had become still betrayed a hint of amusement. "That too was just a reaction to the shortlasting. But I enjoyed it. Thank you.. Xavier Ali. I now remember why I chose you to become my servant." She ended her turn. "Ehr.. you're welcome. So, can we now not end the world?" He asked, figuring it was worth a try. "We can not.. In reality, you can not choose Half.. It is either infinity.. or zero." As Urizen drew his next card he glared at Ada. "By the way. Why did you use that trap now? You'd have been better off using it when she attacked you." His lifepoints could survive her attack even if the god had been at full power. "I was hoping the halved attackpoint effect would mess up the points it already had. But it appears I was wrong." She had more faith in his deck anyway, hers was out of its best cards. "This thing just keeps everything forever, how are we supposed to...wait."

Urizen went back on what he just said_. "Forever... It has to copy any effect it sees, even the negative ones."_ He had a nasty idea. "I activate the spell, Creeping Darkness! I banish two dark monsters in the cemetery to add a level 4 dark monster from my deck!" He removed Trap Eater and Steelswarm Gatekeeper. "I add and summon my DoomCaliber Knight!" The undead horseman(1900/1800) was claimed. "I activate Force Resonator's effect! And target Lancer Archfiend!" Doomcaliber _had _to tribute itself whenever a monsters effect was played, just to stop that effect. So when Force Resonator tried to make the Lancer immune to targeting cards, Doomcaliber tributed itself. "Then Emet will also have that effect, so Emet will have to sacrifice himself the next time a monster uses his ability!" Urizen explained. And he had Lancer Archfiend and its trigger-activated piercing power just for that occasion. "Oh. That is the one weakness of the timeless one. Its mindless determination to absorb all that exists can harm it too. However.." Emet Ayin suddenly left the field. "What?" And Doomcaliber disappeared along with it. "You did not consider that Doomcalibers negation effect also destroys the monster. And Emet can prevent such effects from resolving."

Callisto had used the stolen Stardust's power to negate the destruction of Force Resonator. And Emet Ayin did not imitate negated effects. "Goddamnit! How..why. is this happening?" Urizens hands started to tremble. "How can you keep up with us at every turn? Our decks give us just the right cards, and still.. graah!" At the very least Lancer Archfiend could attack Callisto directly, because Emet Ayin would not return to her field until he ended his. He also activated the spell card; Fiends Sanctuary, creating his own level 1 devil token(0/0). "But have you not noticed, Urizen? That even though your marks have returned, and the will of mankind drives your duels. Your signer powers have not responded once this duel." Callisto pointed at their wrists. "The marks?" Because the brands on their arms had not burned or glowed ever since they got them back, they had forgotten they had them back to begin with. "..did you tamper with them?" Urizen yelled at her as he placed a card down. She shook her head. "No. I merely came to and understanding with them, came to understand why I could not control them. The marks in actuality desire just one thing, the end of everything. The power that separated the creator god and imprinted his code into six others, is the one that stands before you now."

Callisto's LP: 20300

"The higher power? Him/her? That can't be true!" Xavier heard the words but did not acknowledge them. "Not only is this power now higher than the human subconscious network. But you now say the marks are evil? When they helped us against evil?" He could not possibly believe she was right. "The timeless world resisted the earthbound because they wished for the death of those that created it. They cut up the god and created the marks just so that nobody would ever be able to perfect the world. Even after I converted the marks to elemental signs, they resisted me and my servants. I could not tell until it was too late. They wanted me removed from gods throne. Only now am I following their hopes, now I understand why I was wrong.. and why this has to be done. Emet Ayin will be the only power that remains, that is how it was from the birth of the dreaming world." She said, as Emet Ayin returned to her field. "Callisto. To me it only sounds like you have lost your mind to this..power."

"Draw!" Ada pulled a card from her deck. "?" And it felt different, the card felt warm in her hands. "Ada?" Xavier felt it soo strangely, a gentle heat radiated out from it. "What is it?" He looked at the card. "Don't know." Neither recognized it. "Doesn't matter." She summoned it. "I know what it will do." It was Majestic Dragon, a level 1 dragon tuner(0/0). "That dragon.." Even Callisto looked stunned by its appearance. "Another miracle? Just like with.. the Quasar Dragon?" She did not make this card, but she knew who did. "Quasar what now?" Urizen meanwhile did not even know about the card Jason had used. "I see. It is like that time when Jason connected to us and the core. But.. I need another level 1 monster." The tuner alone was not enough. "By all means" Urizens sanctuary token fit that description. "Don't know what you want to do with it, but here you go." Ada smiled back at him. "I will show you right now. The following monster requires a level 1 monster, a Stardust Dragon and this tuner!"

"Come out, Majestic Star Dragon!" She combined the three into a shaft of light that pierced the heavens above and below. "Another evolution of Stardust?" From the darkness above descended the brightest star, the savior dragon(0/3000) himself. "I guess the human subconscious really likes dragons." Xavier laughed. "Yes. And this is its power, Callisto. Once a turn it can negate a monsters effect, and take it for its own!" The dragon spread its majestic wings, illuminating the negative zone with colorful energy. "The abilities your god stole, they are mine now! And its powers are reset to zero!" Emet Ayin shrank to its initial intangible form(0/0), while the synchro(3800/3000) escaped the darkness realm and regained its original attackpoints. "Take this, Callisto. Let this be the proof to you that the world deserves to live on!" The battle between the two monsters began, and was over in an instant. Majestic Star Dragon swept across the battlefield and tore the timeless lord to shreds and wisps, silencing its muted wails.

Callisto's LP: 16500

"That. Was. Awesome!" Xavier cheered. "Oh man, forget Shooting Star. This dragon has them all beat!" He shouted ecstatically, only for the Majestic Star to fade away and return to its initial form as Stardust Dragon(2500/2000). "Hey? I did not mean it like that." He protested. "It's okay Ali. Apparently Majestic Star can only stay for one turn, and then it revives Stardust." She did not mind, the threat was gone now. "Ha.." The impact reached Callisto as well, as she reached for her chest and started breathing heavily. "What will you do now, Callisto? Have we gotten through to you?" Urizen inquired, as her turn began. "I..do not know." She drew a card. "How can you not know?" He snapped. "I..Oh.." Callisto took a look at her card. "Because they are not giving up yet." And she activated Monster Reborn. "WHAT?" And the spell raised the Timeless Lord Emet Ayin(5900/4500) back from the dead, with all of its powers and strengths intact, and now it also had absorbed Majestic Star's effect and wings. "Rgh. Chaos Hunter!"" Though since Callisto had special summoned a monster, Urizen could use the effect of Chaos Hunter(2500/1600). He discarded a card from his hand to special summon her(2500/1600). Though he doubted it would do much good. "I am truly sorry. But their will outnumbers even all of humanity together."

"What do you mean, who are 'they'?" Ada cursed. "Very well. I shall tell you, so you will understand." She sighed, as the negative energy surrounded her once more. "Emet Ayin is the truth of the timeless world, and the truth is this.. The world of lies is not a paradise, it is the death of paradise." The clouds abruptly shrivelled away, leaving nothing but colorless space. "Emet Ayin, is the will of the dead.." And that revelation shook them all to the core. "The dead? All of them?" Callisto nodded. "Only tens of thousands could pass into the world of lies, the remainder could not return to the world of gods. Now all that remains for either one is the timeless world, which is made of those frozen in death. "The desynchronization robbed them of their chance to pass on, even those that died afterwards.. are stuck in that hell. And now.." Emet(5900/6500) targeted Stardust(2500/0) and killed it, inflicting 5900 piercing damage to Ada. "Ada!" Xavier reached out to her. "Xa..vier." Yet her fingers were the first to go, as she became one with the wind and drifted off into the nothingness that was Emet Ayin. "Ada!"

Ada's LP: 0 Callisto's LP: 18500

"Only you remain, Urizen Artani. But now that humanity's finest creation has been absorbed by the lord, what can you hope to accomplish?" Callisto ended her turn.

(To be Continued in Mark 159: Paradise is NowHere)

**New Cards used by Callisto**_  
>Magical Mirror into the Past<em>

**New Card used by Urizen Artani**  
>Creeping Darkness<p>

**New Cards used by Ada Wolfram**  
>Majestic Dragon<br>Majestic Star Dragon

-  
>Chain Whirlwind<p> 


	159. 159: Paradise is NowHere

**Mark 159: Paradise is NowHere**

_**Callisto: **__Timeless Lord Emet Ayin(5900/7500) (18900 LP) (1 Card in Hand)**  
><strong>_

_**Urizen:**__ Chaos Hunter(2500/1600), Lancer Archfiend(1600/1400) (6950 LP) (2 Cards in Hand)**  
>Sarah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Kein:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Nathan: <strong>__1 M/T Set (0 LP)**  
>Ada:<strong>__ (0 LP)_

Five duelists came into this duel against Callisto, only one remained. "All of them.. all of the dead... they are part of that thing?" And his opponent, the obstacle he had to overcome, was the collective existence of all souls that the world had not accepted and the souls that had left the world. "My father, Ansoni.. everyone. They are against me now?" And he was given a choice; would he continue to fight against this, or would he submit? "Not just your father, but your mother too." Callisto added, without a shred of malice in her voice. "No!" He flinched. "She did not die! She just left Gaunt, she just.." That could not be true, that was not how he remembered it! "That was another lie, from your world. Your mother was never a part of it, she did not make it through. Your memories simply adjusted themselves, changed the reasons for her absence." Callisto shook her head. "But you do not need to grieve, you can be with her again. You just have to come to the realization that you can not win against this."

"No. Don't say that, you can not know that!" Xavier Ali was still there as well, only he could not duel in Ada's place. "Urizen still has plenty of chances!" He yelled at her and him. "He only has time, and methods to extend them. You discarded a Necro Defender to summon your Chaos Hunter just now." A discard was required to summon the Hunter, but the discarded card was a monster who could nullify damage on one monster for one turn. "That card, a remnant of she who could hear the future is it not?" It was yet another monster Urizen had taken to honor Ramirez. "Like her, you can only defend yourself. Cheat death only one step away from the scythe.." Against the Timeless Lord, who could negate abilities, pierce through defenses, prevent destructions and block attacks, there was little hope. "Even so. He will not know what happens until he tries!"

"I...set a trap." In spite of Xaviers shouts, Urizen seemed to have lost his spirits. "That is all." There was nothing else he could do, nothing he wanted to do. Even if he could use Necro Defender on one monster, she could just attack his other to deplete his lifepoints. "So that is your choice..or are you only going through the motions by now?" Callisto started her turn. "It will be seen soon enough." And the three-headed reflective beast within the negative zone raised its lance. "And you too will see her again, Xavier Ali, the anomaly. The soul that lingered.." She said as the darkness began to spread out. "!" It circled around them, giving them only a small cloud of light to stand on. "Let it end." And soon they were swallowed up by it. "Urizen!" Ali cried out one last time, as his voice was muted. And as for Urizen himself, his eyes soon saw nothing but the blackest of clouds...

**Back here again, inside the frozen nothingness. And this time he was not returning, he knew that. Some vague thoughts went through his head; conclusions that followed from experiences and memories. **_**"Ah" **_**He thought. **_**"This is why.. this was the test. Only those truly alive go here.. in the end." **_**He remembered the dark sky, the 'rapture' that the Chaos Architect unleashed upon the world to kill everything she deemed fake. Because they had no soul, they did not exist here. This was the only afterlife for the humans in the world of lies. **_**"But.. why is it important?"**_** Was his next thought. Why did he care about this anymore? Those events were long gone, that time was at an end. All time is at an end. The truth. He could hear it now, feel it flow through his entire body. The sense that prevailed here was that of the mind, a billion minds all connected by one impulse. **_**"Death." **_**He sensed it too now, their unified desire for the death of all things. For the end of the world they could not be a part of. This was the cruelty they had to endure in here, they existed at all times in every second of every hour, day and year. And yet they could not connect, they were unaware.. 'stopped'. **

**Who was he? What was he? Those concepts again left him, and they could not be brought back. Were there others here? That also seemed to be a truth, even if nothing could confirm that. "Urizen." Were there others? That sounded like a lie now. No... the word 'now' was a lie. This is how it always had been. There is no then, there is no soon. This is the way the world will always be. "Urizen, can you hear me?" He could feel it go away, the desire to move forward and the desire to look back. There was nothing on his mind anymore, the nothingness had done what it set out to do. All that remained now was to let it take over, let himself 'stop' too. The indescribable void accepted him. Nothing to do, see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think; it would last him an eternity and also an instant. "Urizen!" And yet why could he not join it, why he could he not reach that state? It was not silent, there was a noise. **_**"Noise?I can..hear something?" **_**There should not be a noise, it defied all explanation! "You must snap out of it! You have not lost yet!" Not just noise. It was a voice! A remnant of the moving world! There was a name with that voice, a face, a feeling.**

**"Who?"**

**What happened next, were events of a different unspeakable horror. Every part of his body was assaulted by an overload of sensual cues, stimulated at once. The darkness was replaced with bright vibrant images, moving images. These were.. memories? It all passed by him so fast, and then slow, and then fast again! He saw people, he heard people; all so alive and unique in their own ways. They annoyed him, he grew accustomed to them, he started caring for them. Did he hate this, like this? He could not remember, he did not want to remember. Why did he have to see this? Why the noise? Why the movement? More and more glimpses ran him by. Geoglyphs and machines, dragons and demons; what was the connection? It felt like he drew closer and closer to an end. But he was already at the end, and the beginning! This had to stop, he never should have moved again. Who spoke up? Who disturbed him? Who? Who?**

Who...

_"Richard?" _

"What?" Urizen rose up, even though he felt like he was already standing. He felt exhausted and energetic at the same time."Where?" The darkness was still around him, but this time he could make out parts that were clearly 'something'. And the name he called out on instinct, the one his past associated with the voice of the present, that name was given form. "It can't be!" Before him stood several figures he knew. "Ali?" Xavier was there, so was Richard Marshall, the Ace of Spades. "And you.." He also noticed Alphonse Lewitt and Malceans butler, though he knew that man better as Saterday. "All of you.." And then there were less recognizable faces, R-tech troopers or Malceans house staff. "What is going on here?" He was more confused now than when he had been part of the darkness. "Relax Urizen. I know this is distressing, but you should know that everything is alright. Things are not over yet for you, or for us." Richard began to talk. "You.. we.. are all part of the timeless world. And yet not."

"Emet Ayin was about to take your lifeforce away, but Xavier managed to save you at the last moment. You had given up, but you had not lost." Urizen looked at Xavier. "Saved me? How?" But he shrugged. "I am kinda as clueless as you. I did not think there were others like me around, though I always felt there had to be." He did not have the answers that Richard had. "Like you?" Though Urizens next question was something he could respond to. "I am an anomaly, so are they. We're all souls that the earthbound immortals used for the ritual. We created the portal that Malcean and Callisto used to get to the real world. Because of that we can resist the call of the world in between." He explained to the best of his ability. "So that is..why." Urizen understood it a little more now. "But we can not resist for long. The will of the timeless souls is overwhelming." One man in the background said. "We have already lost some of ours to it. They just 'stopped' existing. Time itself is wounded, and we have no hope without it"

"Then..how did you get here?" Urizen turned back to Richard. "I am pretty sure your soul was taken by the Infinati, right?" Richard nodded. "It was in a way. They only would not call it a 'soul', they can not convert everything to pure data. When Tobias sent my body inside the immortals ritual area, part of my being was taken away from the infinite prison. I was like a spirit who did know who he was, and only when Callisto gained control of Finity's core, did I reunite with my past self. Of course before that I already had received some memories.." Memories he was not there for. "Thursday's memories, I assume." Urizen also realized everyone here had been Callisto's servant for a while, but only in body. "I too remember things I did not do. Yet I feel like I should apologize." The butler said, as he remembered his duel with Urizen still. "That's water under the bridge. We have a new threat to deal with." Alphonse continued. "Callisto.." Urizens hand shook. "Yes and no." But Richard cut him off. "The true threat is Emet Ayin itself."

"What? Is that thing controlling her or something?" Urizen believed it was the other way around up until now. "She is only doing this because the timeless world exists. With gods world not turning out to be what she wanted it to be, and with the second world dying as well, there is no other world to turn to." He sighed. "Then..what is there to do? If everything you said is true. No, forget that, I know it is true." Urizen was now trembling all over. "I felt it, I heard it. This all around is what awaits anyone that will die! And every soul is crying out for it!" All that ruined the nothing was the noise, the noise he too was now making. "Why should I fight it, if it is unavoidable? Everyone dies, that is what we do! Not even Callisto could take that away! And we can not fix the world, how could we.. How could I? If I give up, they will all at least be together!" Rather Callisto did get close to turning the world into a heaven where nobody died, yet the world itself could not sustain such a paradise. That was the very reason it was selfdestructing right now.

"No.." Richard rose up. "I know that, I know we are meant to go. But not like this! Not like this." Richard grabbed Urizen by the shoulders. "Listen to me. It is not too late. Not for anyone. This world, it was never meant to be. The seven immortals, seven men of science, they made this place and pretended to our gods. They were bound to their fake earth because they abused their power, because they mutilated the way the universe was put together. The original purpose of their creation was lost to them, they desynchronized the world and forgot what the original, the tuner, was like. Emet Ayin exists because of them, and they were sealed because of Emet Ayin, But it can be undone, all those millions of souls can be freed again." Urizen looked up at him. "But aren't they still.. where will they all go? Where will we go?" Richard let him go and took a step back. "Were we are meant to go. I do not know if things can go back to normal, or if we will come back alive. But this..this is not how it must end. This is not the higher power I believe in."

"And I do not believe, even for a second, that Ada would want it all to end like this." Xavier began to speak again. "I know her, I know she would always keep on fighting. Nobody would, you should know better." Urizen knew most other duelists better than Xavier too. "Sarah, she enjoys life too much to accept this. Kein, he would not wish this on anyone. Nathan would find such an existence meaningless, Macbeth would take no pleasure from it, and even Jason would want to fight it. Joy, empathy, passion, ambition; these are all emotions that will never die no matter what. Do you think your father would want you to give up? Or even Ansoni?" Urizen shook his head. "No..I.." Xavier smiled. "Now then! You just have to find these emotions, Urizen. Connect to them. The duel is still on, this is a trial for mankinds will to survive. Defeating it will prove that our will is stronger than anything else. Callisto said it so herself. So what if Emet Ayin has claimed all souls? Deep down they know they want to be free."

"But.. Ada already defeated it. It just came back right away." However Urizen had little faith, as they had already tried one miracle. Majestic Star Dragon, the ultimate savior of humanity, not even that secured the victory. "It is not enough to destroy the physical form. You have to take Callisto out at the same time. She.. will not listen to time anymore. Callisto has fallen for the timeless world, for the zero state." The butler bemoaned the facts, but he knew what had to be done. "She has to die." Urizen knew that much as well. "She has accepted the end, one way or the other. But she too deserves the fate she can no longer see."

...

An instant later from the point of view of the moving world. "No!" Urizen awoke, and the colorless air froze in its tracks. "I will not give up!" Inside he had existed at all times, even at the point in time where he had left the duel. "Proof of Powerlessness!" But in the now he activated his trap. "I control a level 7 or higher monster, so any monster you control which has less levels than mine, is destroyed!" Emet Ayin was the embodiment of the zeroeth level, you could not get lower than that. "Did you..go somewhere?" Callisto was caught off guard by the renewal of Urizens vigor. "You know such things will not help anymore." The dragon nightmare sacrificed itself to negate Urizens destruction trap with the stolen Stardust Dragon effect. "As long as I can stop you for this one turn, it will have accomplished something." He smirked, as at the very least she could not declare an attack with nothing on her field. "That is a truth." Callisto ended her turn, and the Timeless Lord(5900/6500) returned to her field during the endphase. "But again I wonder.. what happened to you?" She looked to his side. "Xavier Ali has gone, but you stayed... why?" She placed a card down and ended her turn.

"Because I saw what was inside your truth, Callisto." Urizen drew a card. "I was part of it, I gave in to it for just a moment. But I was saved, friends of mine told me that I had to fight until the last point of life." He told her while she listened with an intent glare. "That is right, Callisto, even the nothingness has a part that wants to live on. It is not all hatred and envy of the moving world that drives it. It has just frozen its emotions so it can not change them. But I will free it, and I will free you." The girl blinked and tilted her head. "Free me? Free me from what? This is what has to be done.."

"Exactly. I just have to defeat the timeless world, so that your solution does not have to be used, so that it can not be used!"

(To be Continued in Mark 160: Awakening)


	160. 160: Awakening

**Mark 160: Awakening**

_**Callisto: **__Timeless Lord Emet Ayin(5900/7500) (18900 LP), 1 M/T set (1 Card in Hand)**  
>Binah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Chohkmah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Chesed: <strong>__(0 LP)**  
>Gevurah:<strong>__ (0 LP)_

_**Urizen:**__ Chaos Hunter(2500/1600), Lancer Archfiend(1600/1400), (6950 LP) (1 Card in Hand)**  
>Sarah:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Kein:<strong>__ (0 LP)**  
>Nathan: <strong>__1 M/T Set (0 LP)**  
>Ada:<strong>__ (0 LP)_

"My turn, I draw a card! And then I play Resonator Engine!" Urizen wasted no seconds and played a spell. "I send two Resonators back to my deck to add a level 4 monster to my hand!" Create and Force Resonator were sent back, and he claimed an Armageddon Knight. "Tower of Babel." But Callisto played a card in his turn too. "What?" The clouds below were pierced by a spiraling tower. "Every time you play a spell, one counter will be added to this tower." The tower rose ten feet above them. "And when the counters reach four, the one who played that spell shall be crushed underneath the tower." Urizen grit his teeth. "Only three more spells I can play huh?" He then summoned the Knight(1400/1200). "Armageddon Knight can discard one dark monster from my deck! I choose Necro Gardna!" The apocalyptic warrior sent the undead guarder to the cemetery. "End turn."

"You are still only defending yourself." Callisto said as she placed a card down and let her Timeless Lord attack again. "This is all you can do." Emet Ayin surrounded the Armageddon Knight and drained away his(0/1200) attackpoints, adding them to its own(7300/6500) in the shape of a sword. "It is working isn't it?" But as the four-clawed three-headed abomination of monsters swiped at the Knight with the stolen weapon, Necro Gardna was banished by Urizen to negate the attack. "You changed for a reason, Urizen. This is not the reason." She placed another card down and ended her turn. "I know my purpose. And trust me, there is still plenty of surprises my deck has waiting." Urizen closed his eyes and drew his next card. "...Like this one!" What greeted him when he took a look again, was the following spell. "Dark Mambele! When I control three dark-type monsters, I can banish one monster you control!" And banishment was a fate that Emet Ayin had no response for, even with all of its claimed effects. Dimensional cutting waves headed into Emets domain.

"Dark Bribe." But it did not need to answer the spell, Callisto already did. "Gah." The dark waves shattered and Urizen had to draw a new card from his deck. "Isn't that card more in line with what your aspects would use?" Binah was the part of her that played Counter traps, and this Callisto was supposed to use Keters burn-style deck, where cards like the Babel Tower fit in more. "All aspects are at one with me again, Urizen. And they are driven by Emet Ayins will. As long as it desires existence, your deck can not keep up." Urizen just clenched his fist. "Nothing is forever." He said and placed a trap and switched the Armageddon knight to defense mode. "Emet Ayin is the incarnation of a world without time that exists in every time, it is every definition of forever." Emet Ayin advanced once more, aiming its claws at the Chaos Hunter(2600/1500) this time. "Except there was a time where in it did not exist!" Urizen quickly activated his trap, Destruct Potion; sacrificing the Chaos Hunter to gain lifepoints equal to its points, before its attackpoints could be drained. "The will of the nothingness is not absolute, even now there are souls that have escaped its grasp. And even now there are dreams and desires inside that void that want more than just nonexistence. The dreams of the world before this whole chaos started!"

Urizens LP: 9450

"But you can not turn back time. Urizen." One target was gone, so instead she attacked Lancer Archfiend(1600/0), draining its defense and letting Emet Ayin(7300/7900) pierce it with the demons own lance. "The future holds nothing, there is no future." And thanks to the absorbed ability of Royal Knight, she regained lifepoints equal to the original defense of the skewered archfiend. But at least thanks to the potion Urizen took, he survived the 7300 points of piercing damage he took. While Royal Knights lingering effect gave Callisto lifepoints equal to the slain Archfiends defense points. "I suppose that is what this is all about isn't it? The future you always saw. The one time you turned a blind eye to it, it was lethally wounded." He scoffed. "The world would have fallen into the dark with or without me. I merely give it what it wants, so that it will stay satisfied." She placed another card down and passed the turn to him. "Is that so? Are you sure you aren't just doing this out of guilt? Or.." Now it hit him, another 'truth' that could have motivated Callisto. "Or are you just trying to get the family back together again?"

Callisto's LP: 20300 Urizens LP: 2150

"What?" From the look on her face, he could tell she was not expecting that kind of question. "We all know how much you miss Malcean, and your mother. And no matter how much you tried, you could not find their real selves. All you could make were copies of flesh and your own memories." She said nothing, so he felt his words were going in the right direction. "You only want everyone to be a part of this timeless frozen hell, because then you will be one with the ones you lost!" He yelled at her, and she took a while to react. "I.. I do.." She admitted at last. "But.. you do too! I know it, you feel the same as me!" She snapped. "I did, Callisto. But I know better by now. What you are trying to accomplish is not how it is supposed to be. You can see them again, without having to sacrifice everything that made you.. you. That makes us human." Urizen glanced over his cards. "And while I miss my father, and my mother. I can sense they are still close to me. And they too do not desire a reunion inside that thing! And how do I know this you might ask?" Urizen then activated the effect of a monster in his cemetery. "Because my father has given me this!" As he controlled no spells or traps, he could revive a Steelswarm Scout(200/0). Which he tributed right away.

"I tribute summon Steelswarm Moth!" He called out the moth demon(2400/0). "Scouter? How?" While Callisto was still trying to figure out how and when the scout had died. "Back in our first turn, I discarded two cards thanks to Ada's Hand Destruction spell. One of which was the scouter." Then Urizen paid 1000 lifepoints. "But you should focus on the Moth's effect. By paying a thousand lifepoints, I can send two cards you control to your hand!" The Steelswarm targeted Emet Ayin and Tower of Babel with this effect. "No. it is still not enough. Not even those bonds are enough!" However she flipped a face-down spell, Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy her Tower. "What will that do?" Urizen did not get what she was thinking. "Oh!" Until Emet Ayin used Stardust's stolen ability to negate the Typhoon's activation, and the timeless god was tributed. "Grr." Moth missed one of its targets. Only the Tower was returned to Callisto's hand. _"She is too good."_ But now Moth could land a direct hit on her with its plated tail.

Callisto's LP: 17900 Urizens LP: 1150

"Your tower is gone at the very least. Leaving me free to use this spell!" Urizen activated Infestation Wave. "I return one Steelswarm monster I control to my hand, and draw a new card!" His deck this time gave him a trap. _"This card? Okay, I will risk it all on this."_ He placed it down and ended his turn. "So you intend to keep trying the same until it works? You know Emet Ayin will not allow it." Callisto drew a card and showed it to Urizen. "Do you see?" This time it was a card Chohkmah would normally summon, Card Ejector(400/400). "Banish the Scout." Once a turn the young witch could remove one card in the graveyard from play, and in this turn the victim was Steelswarm Scout. "Now you can't tribute summon the Moth again." She entered her battle phase. "Trap card!" But Urizen used his trap before the god could drain away Armageddon Knight's defense as well. "Dark Spiritual Art of Greed! I tribute my dark monster to draw two cards!" The knight was released from life and in turn two new cards came to Urizens hand.

"You left yourself, as a target." But now Emet Ayin attacked directly. Swords, lances, claws and teeth; Urizen was surrounded by the monstrosity from every side. "My deck will not let me down, Callisto! One of the cards I drew was Battlefader!" Fortunately by summoning the clock-fiend Battlefader(0/0), he could force the battle phase to end, and drive back the lord. "Neither will mine." Callisto placed another card down and that was it for her turn. "Hmph. I activate Allure of Darkness. I draw two more cards!" Now his hand held four cards. "Tower of Babel." Meanwhile Callisto had of course reset her continuous trap, and the tower rose from the clouds once more as it gained a counter. _"I will worry about later._" Urizen inspected his hand. "_Barrier Resonator is a good one. But..Bait Doll and Star Light, Star Bright?"_ However in it were two spells he had put in his deck himself, the latter of which he had never seen at all. "Impossible." And at the same time something was happening which his opponent noticed before he did. "Huh? What is..what?"

Then he saw it too, the mark on his wrist. "It is resonating with his soul?" The mark of darkness was glowing, Urizens mark was awake. "Didn't you say, the marks are the extension of your lord? Seems that it changed its mind now. Or part of it did." He smiled, and knew what had to be done. "I banish Steelswarm Moth." First he paid the cost for using Allure of Darkness. "And then, Bait Doll. This spell forces the activation of a face-down trap." There could only have been one reason why he suddenly had a card like this, someone wanted him to use the one card his friends could leave behind. "I use it on Nathans set card!" Before he died, Nathan left behind a trap, and the Bait Doll flipped it face-up. "I activate Dimension Voyage!" And then five beams of pure energy tore through the tainted heavens. "This trap revives all banished synchro monsters!" Nathans Hyper Librarian(0/1800), Urizens Dark Highlander(0/2300), Sarahs Mist Wurm(0/1500), Keins Brionac - Ice Barrier Dragon(0/1400) and Ada's Shooting Star Dragon(0/2500). All were summoned before the many powerdraining eyes of Emet Ayin. "He had a card like that set?" Callisto gasped. "But they are banished again at the end of the turn." She quickly figured out a trap like this was not meant for defense.

_Dimension Voyage, Normal Trap  
>Special Summon as many banished synchro monsters as possible to their owners field .<br>Monsters special summoned by this effect cannot attack or be tributed, and have their effects negated.  
>During the end phase, banish all monsters summoned by this effect.<em>

"They are are not supposed to defend or attack." Urizen banished the Stygian Street Patrol in his cemetery, to special summon a lowpower demon from his hand. "I special summon Barrier Resonator and use him for a Synchro summon!" He combined the level 1 electric demon tuner(300/800) with the level 1 Battlefader. "And I choose to summon Formula Synchron!" And out came the level 2 synchro tuner(0/1500). "You too?" Callisto did not see that coming either. "These cards, where did you get them from?" She knew cards could appear in the deck, if mankind desired that. But it looked more like the mark was assisting him. "I believe from the same source that wanted to stop Finity. They wished for it." Now Urizen played the other spell. "This is Star Light, Star Bright, the spell takes the level of one monster, and forces it upon all other monsters who have the same attack or defense points." The Tower of Babel gained its third counter, and started to crack under its own weight. "Thanks to your Lord, my monsters all have zero attackpoints." He chose Formula Synchron, and every synchro monster became a level 2 monster. "Shooting Quasar Dragon!" Six level 2 synchro monsters were combined into one level 12 synchro monster.

The ultimate galactic dragon, Shooting Quasar Dragon(0/4000), descended to the heavens. "Unimaginable. Humanity's messiah failed them, so they turned back to the hope of my brother, and to the slayer of the infinite?" And with five synchro monsters tuned along with Formula Synchron, Quasar could now attack five times in the same turn. "But..even it can not deny my lords law." Quasar had its brilliance stripped away by the inverted light as well. "I know this would not be enough, Callisto. Majestic Star is by all rights the better solution to your monster. Yet it is not enough to destroy Emet Ayins physical form. I..and mankind, needed something that could eat away all your lifepoints at once. All of the life you gained while one world suffered." He took the last card in his hand. "The mark did not give me Quasar, it gave me this. When Formula Synchron was summoned, I was allowed to draw once." He had not normal summoned yet this turn. He placed the last card on his dueldisk in the monster zone. "I call, Evilswarm ObliviWisp." A wisp monster of dark blue flames(450/2050) took form. "Evil...swarm?"

"A new creation? But who made it?" The wisp was a pyro monster which had not existed until this very turn. "I believe I did. Subconsciously. It is a Swarm monster, an evolution of the Steelswarm." Calliso's eyes widened. "If that is true, than you are..than you have mastered your mark?" The inconceivable had happened, Urizens will had overpowered Emet Ayins. And he had made the one card that could stop him. "When the Wisp attacks, its opponent loses his effects after they do battle." Urizen now banished the Necro Defender from his graveyard, targeting the Wisp. "Necro Defender will make sure I do not take damage when Obliviwisp battles your god." And at last he entered the battle phase. "You can not stop this. If you try to use the ability of Red Nova Dragon, which your god has stolen, Shooting Quasar Dragon will use his ability to negate any effect on your god and destroy it! Stardusts tolen effect will not help you, it cannot use two of his effects in the same chain!" The Obliviwisp ventured into the colorless realm and spread its flames, burning Emet Ayin while Necro Defender kept it alive.

"There. All of its effects are sealed!" Not only did Emet Ayin lose all the flesh and energy it absorbed, causing it to revert to its initial intangible form(0/0), but it also no longer drained the power from synchro monsters, so Shooting Quasar Dragon(4000/4000) was back to full power. "..." And Callisto was out of cards. Her deck had nothing to offer her. "Here it comes. One attack for each synchro material, for each mark!" Shooting Quasar split up into five dragons, one for each element. "Go, Sarah!" The fiery dragon hit first and finished off what Evilswarm Obliviwisp began, the deathpyre of the timeless god. "Uhn." Callisto took 4000 points of damage directly. "Now, Kein!" Next the aquatic dragon slashed through Card Ejector, giving her master 3600 points of damage. "Ada, Nathan!" The wind and light dragons flew passed the girl and took away more lifepoints. "And this is it then, Callisto. The final attack. This one is not just from me, but from my family." The last dragon of darkness hovered before Callisto. "And from my friends!"

Callisto's LP: 2300

"..." But Urizen paused. "Why.." With the negative world gone, he could get a proper look at his enemy. "It is too late to cry." And only now did he see the tears running down her face. "No. It is not because of that.. stage." But her expression was not influenced by grief. "I am glad." There was a smile on her face. "Wh-why?" It was something he did not understand, he did not know what it meant. "It is too late to try to stop me now!" But he knew one thing, she had to lose. The attack had to go through. "Quasar!" And it did, the fifth attack depleted all of her remaining lifepoints. "Thank you..Urizen."

Callisto's LP: 0

And in the same instant, the world around them began to twist and turn. "..?" The clouds disappeared, the gates of heaven broke down, and the dark skies were illuminated by an unseen sun. "What are you doing?" Whatever was happening, he did not feel good about it. "Nothing... this is the demise of the nothing." She said, as slowly but surely their surroundings took on a more earthly tone. Clouds were back were they belonged, concrete pavement showed up underneath them, mountains circled around them. "Where is this, where have you taken me?" Yet this was not an area Urizen was familiar with. "And..gah!" And as soon as the worlds stopped shifting, a rotten sickening aura assaulted his senses. "I have not done anything." Callisto was no longer with him, yet he could still hear her voice as it faded away. "This is..gods world?" And above he saw nothing but an orange/red murkiness, while the clouds were pitchblack. "Yes. You are home.." The bodiless whisper replied. "Callisto. Was this..was this your intention all along? You wanted to lose?" Urizen asked, but this time he got no response. "Callisto!"

...

_"...what do I do now?"_

(To be Concluded)

**New Cards used by Urizen Artani**  
>Evilswarm ObliviWisp<br>Necro Defender

-  
>Dark Mambele<br>Bait Doll  
>Star Light, Star Bright<p>

**New Card used(left behind) by Nathan Ashworth**_  
>Dimension Voyage(+)<em>

_(+) Based on the trap used by Yusei in YGO 5Ds episode 136_

**New Cards used by Callisto Castillo**  
>Card Ejector<p>

-  
>Mystical Space Typhoon<p>

-  
>Tower of Babel<p> 


	161. 000: One Last Act of Two Earths

_(OOC: Apologies for the delays, there were computer issues)_

**Mark 000: One Last Act of Two Earths**

"Callisto? Where are you?" He was alone again. Urizen had defeated the enemy. She and everything she represented disappeared. "This is not where I am supposed to go!" Yet everything he knew was gone as well; the people, the cities, the world. "What am I supposed to do here?" He was dropped off in the real earth, gods dying home. Though it was not so much him moving into this realm, as it was every thing else moving away. Emet Ayin was conquered, the zero world was removing itself from the balance of both worlds. All plantlife had withered away. He now understood what the crisis was that struck the planet. _"No more vegetation? Which must have meant an end to all oxygen supplies?" _He did not know how long the two worlds had stayed separated, but in the end nature itself had perished. "I can still breathe, though it tastes foul." He guessed that what he was inhaling were the last few fumes of oxygen in the air. Some of it had probably remained as there were no longer any living beings to take it in.

_"Wait."_ But even though he had never been to this side of existence before, Urizen felt a strange sense of familiarity with this place. _"Why are you telling me..I have been here before?" _He had images in his head that compared to his surroundings. The tall mountains, the small towns, grey compounds. "Wait. Is this not?" But it was not just a faint memory, not something he might have seen during his life in this world. It was the same area he saw when Callisto told the signers of the creation of the desynchronized world.

"Yes. This is where it all began." Said a voice that he was more acquainted with. _"It can't be?" _Urizen turned around and stood face to face with Ansoni, the man he had seen die. "You're here too? You are.. alive?" He looked rather well for a dead man. "It depends on how you define 'death'." He smiled. "Tch. Do not get vague with me too, I am already as lost as I could ever be." If he could not even understand the people he knew, he would never get anywhere. "You're right. I am sorry. But it is hard to explain when I myself do not really get it yet. When I.. 'died', I went to a dark.. a very dark place. I believe you know which place I am talking about it." Urizen nodded slowly. "The nothingness, yes. I was there too." Callisto had also told him that even the dead had to go to the void, as there was no afterlife for them. "Then I freed you? When I defeated Emet Ayin, the dead were released?" Ansoni shrugged. "Perhaps the ones that passed away are the first to come back. I can not say how I am here, or if I can stay. But I know why I am here."

He pointed a finger at one building behind him. "Your memory is the same as mine, that compound is the entrance to that which created the second earth and the black void. Underneath the ground here is a machine as wide as a large city, a machine that was supposed to save humanity. Yet the darkness taught me one truth, none of what it made, was supposed to exist." Urizen looked at the place. "What? Not just the hell every soul is trapped in, but also the fake world we lived in? The purpose of that machine was to create a second world wherein humanity could live on, right?" Looking around one could see why they would want to have a second world. "I think there was more to it than that. But I can not be certain. But we are here because there is something we must do. From here we might be able to see what went wrong and if we can still save either world." Urizen clenched his hand. "It is worth a shot. Though I would have no idea where to begin." He sighed and then the two ran off towards the building.

They managed to enter the building easily enough, with no people anywhere to stop them. It was a bit harder to find where they had to go however. "Now what?" There were many hallways, stairs and elevators. "We have to go down I suppose." Ansoni figured they had to be down below to get to the machine in question. "But would the controls for it even be down there?" Urizen was not as sure. "The controls are on this floor." But then a third spoke up. "Who?" And from one of the doors came another they botg recognized. "Jason?" Callisto's brother was here as well. "Did you die?" Ansoni quickly asked, to confirm his own theory. "No? What does that have to do with anything?" He snapped back. "Look. You.. we.. do not have much time. I have been here for a while and inspected the map of this place. Seeing you two means that more people will come, and I highly doubt this world will sustain them. Me and the others have learned a bit about what can and can not be done." He walked over to another door. "So follow me."

He dashed off, they followed. "Others? What others?" Urizen asked quickly. "I have been in contact, let's say that. When my sister sent me to the darkness, I managed to stay aware for a while longer along with other psychics who were trapped in there. Our hightened senses could resist the freezing of time around us. And we always were closer to this world than most humans." After a while they ended up in a large chamber, surrounded by computers from wall to wall. "Anyway, according to the maps this should be the control room." Only one wall was open, and it held a thick plated glass window that looked out over a large wire-filled chasm that dug its way into the earths surface. "Down there is the machine itself. It is some kind of time-space matter converter, that is all I know. Somehow those geniuses managed to use it on a grand scale and caught the whole globe. It made the second planet, new plantlife, new animal life, new bodies for all humans. But the psychics believe that was merely the first stage of their plan."

"Only the first? What would follow then?" Was Urizens question now. "I started thinking that when I heard Finity's last words. It spoke off how it had forgotten the original purpose. And the more time I had to mull that sentence, the more I started to question it all." He glared at his own hand. "The world we had, was so small. How could it sustain us? Hell, the world would selfdestruct every twenty years because we kept remembering things we were not supposed to. The design created Finity to prevent that. But Finity was not supposed to do this forever. Somewhere along the way it, and the seven creators that made everything, they forgot who they were and became slaves of their own delusions." He sat down in front of one computer. "I believe the desynchronization of both earths was meant to resolve itself again. The machine was not just going to create a new world, it was going to fix the old. But I guess Emet Ayin got in the way. The billions of souls that failed to cross over, they kept the two worlds from becoming one. Now they are freed, and will not get in our way again." Ansoni clapped his hands together. "That explains a lot, and that is good news. So then, where do we start?" But at this time, Jason froze up. "..I did not get to think that far ahead yet." And the others gasped. "What?"

"I mean. There are things here, I do not even know what they do.. and." Jasons eyes fixated on one monitor. "I did not even know..this." That particular screen displayed the time and date. "January the 10th? 2012?" The year they lived in, was not this year here. "Not 2025.. but 2012? There is a difference of 13 years between our worlds?" Now it made sense to Ansoni, when he recalled Callisto's explanation of 'desynchronization'. "Time moves slower in the fake world, like in dreams perhaps?" It also explained why Callisto could send herself and her servants to her own past. All those years were just compressed here. "How long has this program been running?" The machinery all looked to be in good shape, it could not have been on long. "Here!" Jason found another display. "This screen says the program was initiated at the end of 2011. So our world has only actually existed for 4 days in real-time?" They all found it hard to believe, but it had to be true. "Then, how do we bring the two back together, can we even do that? Why isn't Callisto here? She could reshape the world, she would know." Urizen could not believe what he had to say, he wanted her to be here.

"There is another who knows the codes for the world. Me." The door opened, another man walked in. "The codes? Who are you?" They did not immediately recognize the guy who sported a white coat and red hair. "Wait a second.." But that second trait made Urizen recall another image. "You are.." Red hair like his own, and Demistria's; that was a trait passed down to the signers from the seventh god. "Yes, you knew me as Wiraqocha Rasca." And it was him, in his true human form. "How.." And he too had been presumed dead. "I see this as a last chance at redemption, given by the higher powers." He looked around the place. "Me and my comrades, we built this all to save our entire existence. Yet I..we.. were weak. We took too much power of our own world for ourselves, and forgot what it really was meant to do. I forgot my birth, my mortal name." He shook his head. "Now I remember everything again, I know how this works." He went to the main console and sat down. "I will need your assistance, if I am to initiate the final phase of the project."

"You will have it." Urizen smirked. "Good. I want you to keep an eye on the readings of those three screens, I need to be able to compensate for every fluctuation. Explaining you what you are seeing and what I am doing will take too long, all you need to know right is that if the numbers drop or rise, it is a bad thing." The three nodded and took the positions he designated. "Right. It begins." What followed was a long process of calculations and adjustments. The duelists could barely keep up or comprehend what the creator was saying, but they persevered. "It is starting?" A low hum came from below. "The machine has always been active. But now it is reversing the flow it created." He said as he turned a dial. "If what we did before was called 'desynchronization', this now is 'resynchronizing'. Our world is the Tuner, and the world with all souls is the other material. The other, undying world would merge and heal the dying world" He then tossed a few keys to the others. "Insert these into the two slots before you when I tell you. The final sequence must be unlocked simultaneously." They inserted two keys each. "Got it!" The creator inserted the main key. "Okay. This should be it, on 3...2... 1!" The four turned the keys synchronously and the noise from below amplified by a tenfold. "Yes!"

Light came all over the place. "Yes..yes!...No!" But it died out quickly, as did the sounds. "They rejected us! The other world refuses to reintegrate!" He cried out. "What! Why?" Jason snapped. "These numbers... We waited too long! There is too much memory on their side now, the two worlds are out of tune!" This was the fatal flaw of the time differential, even four days was too long a wait for everything to go back to normal. "But then what was it all for? Urizen destroyed the zero world, we were sent here for a reason weren't we?" Ansoni did not understand at all, why did they even come here if nothing could be done? _"Wait. The Zero world."_ But that particular mention made Urizen ponder another option. _"The synchros..they represented.. and Emet Ayin. Was she giving us a hint?"_ He turned to the creator. "If we can not synchronize them together? Can we unite them in other ways?" And His eyes widened. "Other ways?" That suggestion, he heard it before. "Yes. Yes. There should be.." He ran some numbers. "There still is a way, we could place our world on top of the other and merge them like that! You could call it an 'overlay' of planets. I do not know how that changes, or how this will affect the living and the dead. But it is better than doing nothing."

"But for that to work, we need to make both equal.." He said. "The souls. We need to move them." Jason snapped his fingers. "It is their minds that created the new world, isn't it? The network and everything supports that.." And the creator nodded. "Yes. This machine would never create a purely physical copy, but one of the mind as well. If all minds are united as one, to one wavelength, it might work. One thought must be sent out and shared with everyone." All had to think the same thing. "Very well. I will try to make contact again, the other psychics should still be out there." Jason closed his eyes and began to concentrate. "...?"And the creator noticed new readings on his machine. "This is good. This I can work with!" He became enthusiastic again. "The mind travells fast." Ansoni was impressed that Jason had found the network this fast. "It looks like it will all turn out for the better, yeah. But one thing still bugs me." Urizen said as he blinked once. "Why couldn't she be here? Did I.." But when his eye-lids opened, the darkness remained the same.

"! NO!" For that mere instant, all of his fears came back to him at once, as he believed himself to be back in the world ofr nothingness. "Relax, Urizen. This is just a consequence." But he heard a voice, and soon he could see again. "Father?" He was still with Ansoni and Jason, but not in the same room anymore. And he was saurrounded by thousands of people. Everyone was here, Ada, Ali, Ian, Siren, Sarah, Macbeth, Kein, Richard and Nathan . "And Dem..no.. mother?" And with him was a woman, a beautiful lady with fierce red hair that could rival his own. "Hello son." She greeted him with a warm smile. "What is going on here?" He asked. He seemed to be more confused than the others. "What is supposed to happen, the worlds are becoming one again. Both mind soul now exist in two worlds at once, to prepare them for the overlaying." Jason spoke up. "At least that is what I can figure." He shrugged. "Then if you are here, and you.." Urizen knew what he heard, his mother was once part of the nothing, but now she was alive and with him. "All of us can go there?" He felt strange.. "We can be together again, that is what I know. And that is all I wanted to know." Gaunt smiled as well.

Urizen saw it now, what was happening around him. The sky was a wide open expanse of stars and blackness, and on the other side of the universe was another planet, another earth. "The finite good of our world and the infinite freedom of gods world, they will be reunited at last." The dying earth was like a moon to the fake earth, but both were like even smaller moons to a third globe that was being formed in between. And that was when Urizen saw it, the stars were not really stars. "The cards?" A billion cards were sent to that world, and filled it with light. "I believe most souls will now return to where they were when this all started." Said Richard, "Even us." The victims of Infinati were with them. "But.. how will that work? That world has existed for 10 days after we were gone, we must be like infants there!" Nathan suddenly yelled. He did not want to back to being a baby. "We should be happy that we get to live on." Sarah replied. "But what if we can not find each other, what if we end up on different sides of the world?" Xavier gave Ada a miserable look. "No matter what, I will find you again, Xavier Ali. In fact, I will make sure you do not forget me!" Ada responded to his worries by giving him a kiss. "...wow. Yeah I can do this now, we will find each other!" Macbeth gave him a thumbs up. "You bet!" Kein turned to Ansoni and Urizen. "We will never forget what happened here, regardless of our place in this new world." Ansoni nodded. "Yes, it looks to be that way."

But still there was one with a downtrodden expression. "Yet, I..my family stays gone. Doesn't it? Father and mother died, and sister.." He had come to a realization. "I know." One which Urizen also figured out. Why was Callisto wielding a black dueldisk, a disk which she called the symbol of a duelist who was not supposed to be alive anymore? "It was either Demistria, or the real world..." Callisto was already dead by the time she engaged everyone in the five-for-five duel. "But I believe she knew this has to be done, Jason. You and her both do have a part that longed to be with her father and mother again, together in the void of death. But another part of her knew the only way to reunite the worlds, was to destroy Emet Ayin. She forced me, forced us all, to duel her into submission. To prove to Emet Ayin that our will to live was stronger. And this is what we have earned with our will." He grabbed his shoulder. "In spite of everything you did, you too I consider now to be a friend. And in the new world, you will always have us. Jason Castle." Jason looked at Urizen. "Thank you.." He held back a tear. "And maybe this is it." He looked up at the third earth, which was almost complete. "Look father..mother.. sister. This is the new world, we are home again.."

And then.. it was done..

**END**


End file.
